When the Colorado Rockies re-signed veteran first basemen Mark Reynolds in the offseason, many believed it was an insurance policy for the experiment of fellow signee Ian Desmond.
Well, now six games into the 2017 season Reynold’s has been more than an insurance policy for Colorado, he’s been a force.
Already Reynolds has managed to blast three home runs for the Rockies, while compiling a batting average of .409. In addition, Reynolds has driven in eight runs for the Rockies this season, which is good for second-best in the sport.
The offensive potential mixed with crafty play at first base are exact reasons as to why Colorado pulled the trigger to bring Reynolds back to the Mile High City for another go-around.
“[We’re] thankful that we have him,” Rockies General Manager Jeff Bridich said earlier in the week. “It was kind of a long and interesting road for him to come back here [to Colorado]. He had some other things that he was weighing. Obviously, we signed Ian Desmond to play first base, but we had a lot of conversations over the winter time, even prior to the season ending last year about how he felt about this organization, how we felt about him and what could be his role here and just his contribution to the club. I think there was a lot of seeing eye to eye.”
The red-hot start is nothing out of the ordinary for Reynolds, it’s rather about finding his stroke at the right time.
“You get a couple hits and you gain some confidence,” Reynolds said. “You ride it out as long as you can do it. Once that ball gets rolling you just try to bottle it up and see how long it lasts.”
That said, Reynolds has not been the only Rockies player to start the season off on a good note. Rather, the Rockies team collectively has coasted to a 5-1 record. The hitting is performing per usual; however, the pitching has been sharp which has been the deciding factor for the rox so far. With that, the level that Colorado is playing at currently is one Reynolds fully expected.
“We had a different feeling in Spring Training,” Reynolds said. “We knew we had a good squad. Our pitchers are maturing, the starters, our bullpen obviously with a bunch of veterans down there know what they are doing, and our offense is our offense. Our offense is one of the best in the league. It’s really nice to see that confidence we had in Spring Training carry over to the start of the season and get off to a hot start.
“Hopefully, we can just keep riding this thing as long as we got our guys throwing good and hitting good. It’s a good combination right now.”
Overall, the Rockies are sizzling right now, largely in part due to Reynold’s hot start on both ends of the spectrum. The minor league contract Reynolds’s signed over the summer is quickly paying dividends. Initially thought of as insurance at first base, Reynolds has taken off to start the season which has helped push the Rockies forward in the 2017 campaign.
