Alex Reyes – Memphis Flyer

This is my favorite column of the year, a chance for me to fill that mocking space on my screen with the sports-related subjects I’m most grateful to have in my club car on this train called life.

Gratitude. Give it a chance.

• I’m grateful for Year Seven of the Memphis Grizzlies’ “core four.” I wish we could come up with a more distinctive tag for our “fab four”: Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, Tony Allen, and Zach Randolph. They’ve earned that much, sticking together in one of the NBA’s smallest markets in an age when as many as five years with a franchise — for a single player, let alone a quartet — is considered lengthy. For some perspective, the Lakers’ great foursome of the Eighties — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, and Michael Cooper — played exactly seven seasons together. More recently in San Antonio, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Bruce Bowen broke up the band after seven years. Four years with one super-teammate (Dwyane Wade) was enough for LeBron James, and they won a pair of titles together. We won’t see another foursome like this at FedExForum.

Tubby Smith

• I’m grateful for Georgia Tech hiring Josh Pastner . . . and Memphis hiring Tubby Smith. Exhale. Last winter was excruciatingly uncomfortable for anyone in proximity to Pastner and the multiplying empty seats on game nights at FEF. And that contract(!) that made it all but impossible for the U of M to dismiss him. Thankfully, these kinds of divorces seem to unfold as they should. A good man is in a happier place. And a good program can aim to be great again under the wise watch of a man aiming to take a sixth program to the NCAA tournament.

• I’m grateful for an early look at Alex Reyes. The big righty appears to be on his way to stardom with the St. Louis Cardinals. It was nice to watch a few Reyes outings at AutoZone Park, the latest Redbirds coming attraction.

• I’m grateful for George Lapides and Phil Cannon and all they gave the Memphis sports community. Like days of the week, a sports community — its teams, its fans, its sponsors, its venues, its media personalities — has a “feel.” George and Phil brought a warmth — and distinct passion — to sports in Memphis. They live on in every one of us who attends a ball game now and then.

• I’m grateful for Mike Norvell’s energy and confidence. He’s the first Memphis Tiger football coach in generations to face an imposing task in filling his predecessor’s shoes. He has graciously saluted Justin Fuente’s achievements in building the program . . . while emphasizing it’s not where he and his staff want it be. Not yet. His prematurely gray hair gives Norvell the appearance of a man beyond his 35 years. So does his attention to detail and single-minded focus in making Memphis a premium program. It’s the hardest sports job in town.

• I’m grateful for my daughters’ continued commitment to team sports. One will play her senior high school softball season as an All-Metro outfielder, while the other played her first varsity soccer season as merely a freshman. They are bright, skilled, beautiful young ladies. And they know well the values that make a good teammate. Such is necessary in the wide world that awaits them.

• I’m grateful to be following in the footsteps — literally, and rapidly — of my 5K-running wife. Her commitment to not just running, but competing, is a healthy rebuke of any middle-age ceiling on athleticism. I’m especially grateful for her waiting for me at the finish line, one race after another.

• I’m grateful for you. And every one of the Flyer readers who give us a platform to share news, views, and analysis of the people and events that make Memphis such an extraordinary town. I appreciate your counterpoints, value your applause, and listen to your criticism. You give my job redeeming value.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

For various reasons, the 2016 season will be memorable for the Memphis Redbirds’ Alex Reyes. The 21-year-old pitcher (he turns 22 on August 29th) entered the season as the 7th-ranked prospect in all of baseball according to Baseball America. The ranking was a tease for the season’s first seven weeks, though, as Reyes served a 50-game suspension for a positive marijuana test following his 2015 season (split between Class A Palm Beach and Double-A Springfield). Even with his delayed Triple-A debut — a May 22nd outing at AutoZone Park in which Reyes struck out eight Fresno Grizzlies in four innings — the big righty was chosen to start for the World team in the annual Futures Game (an event that preceded the All-Star Game in San Diego). Tickling 100 mph on the radar gun with his fastball, Reyes struck out four and didn’t allow a run in an inning-and-two-thirds.

“That was my first chance to really show everyone my stuff,” says Reyes. “It was a fun experience, being on a big-league field. My father was in the stands. It was great, getting a small taste of what I feel the big leagues will be like. Being in the clubhouse with Moises Alou, having a one-on-one conversation . . . that was awesome. The first thing he told us was he wants to win. It was an all-star game, but it means something to a lot of people.”

In 12 starts for Memphis, Reyes is 2-2 with eight no-decisions. He has 79 strikeouts in only 55 innings, but with an ERA (5.07) that won’t make anyone forget Bob Gibson. As with most rising prospects at the Triple-A level, consistency and efficiency are qualities Reyes aims to strengthen before he takes up permanent residency in the St. Louis Cardinals’ rotation.

“I feel like I’m getting better,” says Reyes. “But [the Pacific Coast League] is a way different league than Double A. Guys here are a lot more experienced. You have some veteran hitters. A lot of guys have been in the big leagues. The results haven’t been there, but it’s been fun so far.”

Armed with every physical tool — starting with that three-figure fastball — Reyes is focusing on the subtleties of attacking hitters, and perhaps the most important tool in the box: his brain. “It’s not necessarily just throwing strikes,” he says. “It’s being able to throw down in the zone, being able to come up, go in. It’s being able to execute pitches whenever you want to, or when you really need them. Doing that on a more consistent basis . . . this is the level where that actually starts.”

“Alex has electric stuff,” says Redbirds catcher Carson Kelly, who first caught Reyes in 2014 at Class-A Peoria and won a minor-league Gold Glove last season. “Plus fastball. Plus curveball. He has the God-given ability, and now he’s putting the mindset and preparation into effect, which is the next step in getting to the big leagues. It’s fun being part of his development.”

The Cardinals’ current five-man rotation has been steady, if not stellar, this season. Adam Wainwright, Michael Wacha, Carlos Martinez, Mike Leake, and Jaime Garcia combined for every start until a pair of doubleheaders this month forced some juggling (including the promotion of Mike Mayers for a start on July 24th). With Lance Lynn presumably returning next season — he’s recovering from Tommy John surgery — St. Louis could have as many as six veteran starters blocking Reyes’s entry in the rotation. (The club has an option on Garcia’s contract.) Which means Reyes could follow the example of Martinez and begin his major-league career in the Cardinal bullpen.

“At the end of the day, I’d love to be a starter,” says Reyes. “But that’s a decision [the Cardinals] will make, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to give our team a chance to win. If they feel [bullpen work] is necessary to help the team win, I’m willing to do so.”

Reyes publicly apologized for his positive drug test and coped with his suspension the only way a pitcher can. He pitched. “It was tough when you see the rosters come out and players leave,” he says. “Mike Matheny took me into his office and told me how to handle the situation, to hold my head up. I was pitching every five days [in simulated games], up to 100 pitches.”

With his extended work in Florida, Reyes figures he has close to 90 innings pitched this season, a number monitored as carefully in baseball circles as stock trends on Wall Street. He was removed after just three innings (and 57 pitches) in his most recent start — Tuesday at AutoZone Park — in case the Cardinals need him this weekend. (A pair of recent doubleheaders has thrown off the Cardinals’ rotation.)

Reyes credits Randy Niemann — his pitching coach at Class-A Palm Beach — with a philosophy he intends to incorporate on his climb up the Cardinal ladder. “One of the most important things he asked me was, ‘What did you do before you signed [with the Cardinals]?’ It opened my eyes. When you get signed, you want to change stuff, because you’re competing at a higher level. But at the end of the day, what they liked in you is what they saw. So why not go back to that and harness it? Pitch the way you feel comfortable, and better yourself that way.”