Cardinals right-hander Alex Reyes has yet to pitch this season due to shoulder problems, and it now looks like Reyes could be missing significantly more time. Manager Oli Marmol told reporters (including Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat) that Reyes was shut down after he experienced some continued soreness in his right shoulder after a throwing session this week.
Reyes had already undergone an MRI, and perhaps ominously, is now looking for a second opinion before deciding on his next course of action. Marmol described the news as “very” discouraging, and noted that Reyes has “been through a lot…you hope he can make it back.”
Considered one of baseball’s very best prospects during his time in the St. Louis farm system, Reyes’ career has been a series of stops and starts due to injuries. A Tommy John surgery in 2017 cost Reyes the most time on the injured list, but his shoulder has also been a consistent source of concern for the last few years.
After tossing only 72 2/3 innings from 2016-20, the Cardinals opted to make Reyes a full-time reliever in 2021, and the result was both a healthy and impressive season. The righty posted a 2.48 ERA and a 30% strikeout rate over 72 1/3 frames as the Cards’ primary closer for much of the year, though Reyes was hampered by walks and home runs. This included the homer that ended the Cardinals’ season, as Reyes allowed Chris Taylor’s walkoff home run in last year’s NL wild card game.
Reyes received a stem cell injection in March, and after being moved to the 60-day injured list, wasn’t eligible to pitch until after June 8. It now seems unlikely that he’ll make that target date, and there would seem to be plenty of doubt that Reyes will be able to pitch at all in 2022.
Reyes turns 28 in August, and is earning $2.85MM this season in the second of three arbitration-eligible years. Should Reyes miss most or all of the 2022 campaign, he would receive only a minuscule raise or his salary would just remain at $2.85MM, which wouldn’t represent a huge financial outlay for St. Louis. A non-tender can’t be ruled out until we know more about Reyes’ injury status, but given how well Reyes has pitched when healthy, the Cardinals would probably lean towards retaining him to see if he can avoid the IL in 2023.
That is a huge classic. Great talent, but made of glass
Had to mention the Taylor HR.
Are Alex Reyes and Carlos Martinez Twins??
No, Alex has constant physical issues while Carlos has constant mental ones.
My Bad!! You are absolutely correct!!
Done
Man, sad to see. The trio of Hicks, Reyes, & Cabrera is incredible if they could just stay healthy and get right. I hope his shoulder isn’t fried. The good news is that even if he need surgery, there are many that have returned successfully.
Get well, Alex.
Don’t forget about Gallegos and Helsley.. Just imagine a bullpen where all 5 guys are healthy and not filling in for the rotation…
Anyone else noticed that Gallegos looked better as a closer’s set up man?? Rather than The Closer???
Helsley should be the closer if he can stay healthy if Alex Reyes is done for 2022. Sad to see, nasty stuff Alex has
What a waste of talent
No wasting talent isn’t when you can’t stay healthy, wasting talent is when you have it but choose crack cocaine, meth, or heroin instead
Maybe he should stop trying to pitch
This all could have been avoided had the Cardinals not foolishly self punished him for marijuana use. Way to virtue signal your opposition to the evil devil’s weed, StL.
That would have prevented his shoulder issues how?
This is the silliest comment I’ve ever seen on this forum. Kudos!
Henry Anslinger
4-6% increase in length of ligaments is the range you do not want to exceed or else it is going to snap. I think getting these measurements inning to inning so that way we have a better insight into how many pitches can be thrown.. It shroud be more about the measurement of the UCL than the number of pitches thrown. This could also help save the careers of some pitchers and maybe push others to the bullpen if they have electric stuff but can’t go more than 1 or 2 innings. Preventative damage control makes more sense than causing the damage and having to go through the costly surgery and recovery.
Are you serious? MRIs between 8nnings?
Yes, I am serious. Pitch count is so outdated and irrational. Why specifically 100 pitches? If we’re going to baby pitchers so much, at least do it in a scientific manner.
You do realize MRIs require specialized equipment and at least several minutes if not longer to perform, don’t you? And I thought we were trying to reduce pace of play….
Johan Santana, Mark Prior, Mark Mulder, Micheal Wacha, who else should I name? They are all reasons to baby pitchers. You do know how a MRI is performed?
I get the attempt at mitigation but there is ALWAYS going to be injury when a person makes a living throwing a ball like that. It’s an unnatural, traumatic motion that no arm is meant to go through. Injuries will always be a part of it.
Well, considering teams are concerned with pitchers to the point that they irrationally select 100 pitches are the limit, and they’re paying pitchers so much, why not invest in checking this information? I’m not saying injuries won’t happen. I’m saying that they can detect possible issues sooner and bring the player out of the game before it becomes an issue. If the length of ligaments doesn’t decrease after rest, as it would normally, they can be put on the injured list without having to go through the surgery. At that point, teams and player can decide how they want to move forward. Do they want to try and get surgery done or turn the pitcher into more of a bullpen piece.
It makes so much more sense than just letting a pitcher throw 100 pitches and then removing him.
I get what you are saying, but I do MRI’s for a living and a shoulder takes about 30 mins then another 10 to 15 at a bare minimum to have it properly read by a radiologist. In game imaging is just not applicable
They haven’t irrationally decided 100 was the limit. You’re straw-manning. The limit used to be waaaay over 100, we now know it’s too much. 100 is just round number fans use. NO analyst or coach is beholden to such fan misconception.
Can’t bring them out for the next inning until their blood work is back from the lab either!
@bighiggy
Well, it’s not like technology doesn’t improve. I’ve read about a complete MRI reading within 10 minutes being possible in the near future. Does anyone still drive a horse and wagon to work?
@Cosmo2
Uhhh… pitch limits exist everywhere in all levels of baseball. Problem is, it’s not based on science but fantasy.
@hollidayfever
As opposed to, Can’t bring him back into the game for a year and a half to just recover from the injury and then another 3 to 6 months to ramp up workload and get back into the game again. All while the team pays for these guys on the IL. Sounds like a great investment.
Would baseball be the best application for this tech? Sure seems this, like many many many other things, would be a waste of resources in this world. Just trying to put things in perspective
10 minutes is still way too long.
Meanwhile, the 100 approximation (although pitchers are sometimes still allowed to go up 120-130 pitches depending on how they’re doing) isn’t irrational but determined after years of observation to be the best point for avoiding overuse while maximizing value.
@stollcm
Well, baseball uses a lot of technology to perform their game. Do we really need instant replay? Why can’t we just accept the call as is? In the end, we’re spending more time waiting for the call than to just move on an play.
What about radar? Why do we need to use it? What does it matter to the batter if that pitch was 97 or 95? It’s just a gimmick to the fans to say Ooo, Awww!
See, I can play that game of Would baseball be the best application for this tech?
@Lanidrac
I understand that it is still way too long, however, given the fact that we’ve invested so much into these players, it makes no sense to run them out as much as possible to the point that they are injured and then only to waste that money to have them on the IL for 2 years essentially. 10 minutes per inning vs. 2+ years or more. I’d rather have the stars stay on the field as much as possible vs. having them sitting.
You are way oversimplifying things. No team forces a pitcher to pitch a certain amount of innings or pitches but yes there are general rules about how far NOT to go. You are conflating fan chatter with the much more complicated and yes, scientific, plans that teams implement. Bottom line, pitchers will always get hurt. 100 pitches, 80 pitches, 29 pitches… you can MRI them all day, they’ll still be injuries. Bottom line, you are not privy to some info that major league teams aren’t and you are way oversimplifying how teams handle pitchers and what research and science the certainly do use.
Good job. Seems you completely missed my point. Or should we look at the replay?….
Do we really need baseball or MLBTR no, but we’re all here?
Fortunately, the Cards are realistic about what they have in both Reyes and Hicks. They are happy to get what they can from them, but they don’t count on either as foundational pieces. This news has zero impact on this season or their future plans.
Still a damn shame that the cards couldn’t at least get a couple of good starter seasons out of him like they did CMart though.
Maybe it’s time to move on from Reyes. He just can’t seem to stay healthy long enough to make any real impact
cardinals are ruining arms by having minor league starters called up to pitch in relief
Plenty of teams do that; no evidence that it causes more injuries. Folks love to just make stuff up around here.