Tigers See Victor Reyes As Part Of Outfield Solution

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.—With Justin Upton and J.D. Martinez traded away last summer and the team engaged in a full-on rebuild, the Tigers are looking for young players to step in to the outfield spots vacated by the veteran departures.

To that end, they selected Diamondbacks outfielder Victor Reyes with the No. 1 pick in the 2017 Rule 5 Draft on Thursday morning, giving the 23-year-old Venezuelan likely his first big league shot in 2018.

“We’d seen him for a while,” Tigers vice president of player development Dave Littlefield said. “He’s a good looking center fielder who can play all three (outfield positions). Switch-hitter that gets on base. Still a projection with the bat but very athletic and with our situation as it is, seemed to be a very good fit.”

Reyes, who originally signed with the Braves in 2011 and was traded to the D-backs in 2015, spent the 2017 season at Double-A Jackson and hit .292/.332/.399, numbers in line with his career averages. He followed up with a strong showing in the Arizona Fall League, hitting .316/.333/.405, stealing 12 bases in 13 attempts and making highlight-reel catches in both center and left field.

A switch-hitter who is much stronger from the left side (.307 AVG, .769 OPS as LHH, .238 AVG, .588 OPS as RHH in 2017), Reyes brings a discerning eye and a knack for line drive contact as well as speed on the bases. His outfield play is at times spectacular and at others head-scratching, but he is overall considered capable of playing both corners and continually getting better in center field.

“He just keeps raising his level of play to his competition, which is great to see,” said J.R. House, Reyes’s manager the last two seasons in Arizona’s system, in the AFL. “He has a knack for putting the barrel on the ball. He always ends up having nice numbers offensively. He’s a plus defender on the corners, still learning center but I think he’ll get better and better the more he gets to play it.”

As a potential plus defender with speed and contact skills, the one thing that has consistently prevented Reyes from profiling as an everyday player is his lack of power. Though physical with long levers at 6-foot-3, 170 pounds, Reyes has hit just 12 home runs in six minor league seasons.

He hit four home runs for Jackson last year, and Reyes admitted in the AFL that power is not a focus for him.

“I’m just continuing to try and work on improving parts of my game and the parts of my body to get a little stronger, but ultimately I’m not going to worry about home runs,” Reyes said. “They’ll come. I just don’t try and focus on them. I try and focus on making good contact and doing a good job.”

Littlefield acknowledged Reyes’ power shortcomings, but said he thinks they can be addressed.

“Strength is the major issue,” Littlefield said. “He’s a younger guy, kind of a slender build, has a good idea of the strike zone, works the count well, but just needs strength for the most part, and I think that’s why obviously he was probably available.”

The last three top overall picks in the Rule 5 draft—Miguel Diaz, Tyler Goeddel and Oscar Hernandez—managed to stay on big league rosters their entire first seasons.

The Tigers have center field depth with newly-signed Leonys Martin joining Mikie Mahtook and JaCoby Jones, but Littlefield said he doesn’t expect that to be a deterrent for Reyes to make the big league roster and become the latest top overall Rule 5 selection to stick.

“We’ll see how it plays out and how (manager Ron Gardenhire) wants to handle it, but we’re going in with the mindset that this guy is going to get every opportunity and we like him as a player,” Littlefield said. “He does have the versatility athletically to play all three (outfield spots), so that’s always a help. That’s kind of why we play. We’ll get out there and see how they compete.”