Top prospect Alex Reyes is ready to boost the Cardinals rotation
By Zach Houle
The St. Louis Cardinals will have young righty Alex Reyes make his first major league start today coming back from Tommy John surgery.
Right-hander Alex Reyes hasn’t seen a major league mound since September of 2016. Now, he will make his first major league start against the Milwaukee Brewers. The top prospect has been dominant in his time in the minors this season in 22.3 innings of work. It will be exciting to see his electric stuff on a national stage.
Furthermore, he has a hard fastball to push right by opposing hitters. His off speed stuff will be interesting to watch as he comes back to full health. Milwaukee is a great lineup, so Reyes will have tough competition in his first start back. Although, he should be up for the challenge considering his top prospect pedigree.
With that said, Reyes could come back even better than before. There has been tons of success stories from Tommy John where pitchers came back throwing harder. The young righty has a good head on his shoulders and it this start is huge for him.
With Reyes, the Cardinals will hopefully add another starter to their repertoire. They will be getting back their ace in Carlos Martinez soon, but adding another guy would be a huge boost. Especially a player like Reyes, who has ace potential. St. Louis is in the thick of things in the National League Central, so another arm will help against the Chicago Cubs and leading Brewers.
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Adding Reyes will further the clubs depth for the staff and give them stability for the long haul. Overall, the Cardinals have an intriguing righty who could add a dominant 1-2 punch with Carlos Martinez when healthy. That would put St. Louis up there with the Cubs in terms of a nasty rotation. The club is also awaiting Adam Wainwright’s return. So Reyes could be the missing piece to the pitching puzzle in St. Louis.