Mark Reynolds does his job. He does it better than just about everybody.
So when he struck out for the 205th time on Tuesday, breaking his own major-league record for strikeouts in a season (with a week and a half still to play), he knew the questions were coming.
"So what?" Reynolds said after Tuesday's game, to MLB.com. "We won the game today, I got 100 RBIs, it was a good day."
While nobody sets out to break a dubious record, Reynolds isn't alone among good players with not-so good records. Who do you think has the most losses all-time? Try some guy named Cy Young (316). He also gave up the most runs.
The top five on the all-time walks list? Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, Phil Niekro, Early Wynn and Bob Feller. All five are in the Hall of Fame.
The all-time leader in grounding into double plays? Hall of Famer Cal Ripken. Times caught stealing? Rickey Henderson.
Get the point? Reynolds has 43 homers this season, second in the National League. He drove in 100 runs on a team that doesn't score many. His name is being put up there with whiff machines such as Rob Deer and Steve Balboni, but Reynolds backs up his strikeouts with production.
Said his manager, A.J. Hinch, to USA Today: "Deep down inside, I'm sure [the strikeouts record] bothers him more than he likes to admit, but at the end of the day, 40-plus home runs, 100 RBIs, and his average is inching back to .270 — that's a hell of a productive season."
Comments
give the guy a break. balboni and deer were nothing more than D.H. at least reynolds is A every day player