| ] Superstar in the making Reyes continues to improve on dynamic talents
Jackie Robinson would have loved Jose Reyes, the New York Mets shortstop whose mentor may be Rickey Henderson but whose dynamic energy on the field recalls Robinson. Baseball's tribute Sunday to the 60th anniversary of Robinson's debut was classy (thanks to Ken Griffey Jr.'s idea to honor Robinson by wearing his No. 42, an idea that spread with enthusiasm), touching (Andruw Jones giving the literal and figurative tip of the helmet to Robinson) and inspiring (C.C. Sabathia pitching with a higher purpose). Given Robinson's importance to American culture and society, Jackie Robinson Day should be part of our country's official calendar, not just the baseball season.
But in his own way, Reyes gives tribute to Robinson every time he sets foot on a baseball field. It's not only that Reyes, a Dominican, never would have been allowed to play major league baseball in the years before Robinson. It's also that Reyes is the closest facsimile that we have today to Robinson: the most exciting player in baseball, a joy to watch. No player can beat you in more ways than Reyes. Last season, for instance, he stole 64 bases and drove in 81 runs, becoming only the second player in 91 years to reach those thresholds (Joe Morgan in 1973 and '75) and only the sixth since 1900 (Benny Kauff and Hall of Famers Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins and Frank Chance are the others). The scary part is that Reyes, 23, still is learning the game and improving at an incredibly fast clip. "I faced him in interleague play a couple of years ago," Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer said, "and the way he swung at everything he should have been up there with a tennis racket in his hands. He's a totally different player now. He's made himself into a very tough out every time up." Moyer, for example, faced Reyes last Thursday with two outs and a runner at third in a one-run game. "I figured I'd get him to chase something just outside the zone,'' the pitcher said. But Reyes didn't bite on any of Moyer's three bait attempts, so the Phillies decided to finish the walk intentionally and take their chances with Paul Lo Duca. Reyes seems to be disproving a widely held belief that plate discipline, like speed, is an inherent ability that can be improved only marginally. Last season he doubled his rate of walks per plate appearance (.076) from 2005 (.037) and this season, though obviously early, he has doubled it again (.151). If Reyes can add 30 walks to the 53 he had last year, you're talking about a Hall of Fame quality player who gets on base 40 percent of the time, complementing 25-home run potential and a reputation as one of the best and fastest baserunners in the game. And, though Adam Everett is a better defender now, Reyes will get consideration as the eventual successor to Gold Glove shortstop Omar Vizquel, who has won the past two in the NL. Not all on-base percentages are created equal. Because Reyes is such a good basestealer, can hit for extra bases and is so fast, few players are better at turning times on base into runs. Last season, for instance, according to the Bill James Handbook, Reyes scored 40 percent of the time he reached base, trailing only the 41 percent of Jimmy Rollins and Hanley Ramirez. (The worst? By far, Mike Piazza at 11 percent.) This year Reyes has scored 13 of the 22 times he has reached base, an astounding 59 percent conversion rate. (Yes, the conversion rate must be considered in the context of the offense around a player, but it's a useful, if not definitive, tool for understanding an ability to create runs.)
Here's another way at measuring Reyes' progress: take his runs divided by his plate appearances to arrive at a kind of "runs average." He has improved from .135 in 2005 to .174 in 2006 to an impossible-to-maintain .245 start this year. Robinson, in his best year, posted a .190 runs average in 1953 -- at age 34 -- and a .163 career mark.
(As a way of comparison, Morgan's career runs average was .146, with a high of .189 in 1976, while Henderson posted a .172 career mark, including an amazing .223 in 1985.) Reyes began this week with 2,010 plate appearances, virtually the equivalent of Robinson's first three seasons in the big leagues (2,051). Their statistics at that juncture speak to their similarity: Name R H HR RBI SB AVG RAVG*
Reyes.. 314 538 34 196 162 .286 .156
Robinson 355 548 40 257 88 .312 .173
* Runs Average
Of course, Robinson was 28 by the time baseball allowed him to begin his major league career. We'll never know just how prolific his career might have been had baseball not held such an exclusionary policy before then. But keep an eye on Reyes now and for another five years, and you might easily imagine what Jackie might have done.
| 
