Pittsburgh Pirates: Comparing the Rookie Seasons of Bryan Reynolds and Jason Bay

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PITTSBURGH, PA – SEPTEMBER 18: Bryan Reynolds #10 of the Pittsburgh Pirates in action during the game against the Seattle Mariners at PNC Park on September 18, 2019 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA – SEPTEMBER 18: Bryan Reynolds #10 of the Pittsburgh Pirates in action during the game against the Seattle Mariners at PNC Park on September 18, 2019 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images) /

Bryan Reynolds’s 2019 Season

Reynolds was acquired by the Pittsburgh Pirates, along with right handed pticher and former top prospect Kyle Crick, from the San Francisco Giants in the 2017-2018 offseason for former NL MVP Andrew McCutchen. Reynolds didn’t see any MLB playing time in 2018, but made a lasting impact the following season in 2019.

Reynolds batted for a strong .314/.377/.503 line, a 131 wRC+ and OPS+. He hit 16 home runs and a Pirate rookie record 37 doubles in 546 plate appearances. He also put up some of the best numbers among all rookies in baseball.

Of the seven rookies who had at least 500 plate appearances in 2019, Reynolds was second in wRC+, wOBA at .371, OPS, and fWAR, and led all rookies in doubles. Even if you look at rookies with at least 300 plate appearances, he still ranks top five in many of the stats. Reynolds was also an extremely clutch batter with a .356/.427/.701 line in high leverage situations.

Reynolds also wasn’t a bad base runner. He was worth 0.7 base running runs above average, while also having a 28.1 feet/second sprint speed. That made him a faster runner than Francisco Lindor, Mookie Betts and Jean Segura.

While Reynolds wasn’t an awful fielder, he wasn’t great. Overall, he did have +5 defensive runs saved, +2 outs above average and was average range wise with 0 range runs above average, but had a -3.5 UZR and arm runs above average mark.