Bryan Reynolds was fourth in National League Rookie of the Year voting in 2019 (Courtesy of GETTY IMAGES/Victor Decolongon)
Bryan Reynolds, a switch-hitting outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, comes in at #18 on the Keizertimes list of the 20 greatest Volcanoes players of all time.
Reynolds grew up in Brentwood, Tenn. and became a star baseball player when he was in high school. He ended up attending Vanderbilt University, where, even as a freshman, he proved to be one of the top players in the country.
Reynolds led the Commodores in hitting in his first season at Vanderbilt in 2014 with a .338 batting average, 95 hits, 53 runs scored and 54 RBIs. His outstanding production at the plate helped lead Vanderbilt to the 2014 College World Series title.
Although he had a slight dip in batting average in his sophomore campaign, Reynolds still produced at a comparable rate to his freshman season.
After hitting nine homers in his first two seasons combined, Reynolds went onto hit 13 bombs his junior year and also experienced career highs in RBIs (56) runs scored (59), walks (49), on-base percentage (.461) and slugging percentage (.603).
Reynolds skipped his senior season after being drafted in the second round by the San Francisco Giants in 2016. He made his professional debut for the Volcanoes later that summer — he was ranked the fifth best prospect in the Giants organization according to MLBPipeline.com.
In his 40 games in a Salem-Keizer uniform, Reynolds proved he was worth the high draft pick, batting .312 with five homers and 30 RBIs while slugging .500. He was promoted to the Augusta GreenJackets later that season.
Reynolds spent the entire 2017 season in High-A ball with the San Jose Giants and continued to make strides in his development, batting .312 with 10 homers and 63 RBIs.
However, on January 15, 2018, San Francisco traded Reynolds, along with another prospect and cash considerations, to the Pirates for veteran outfielder Andrew McCutchen — a five-time all-star and former national League MVP.
Reynolds was ranked the sixth best prospect in the Pirates organization at the start of 2018. He spent the year in Double-A and, despite missing time due to a hand injury, Reynolds still hit .302 with seven homers, 46 RBIs, 18 doubles and 56 runs scored.
He spent a brief amount of time in Triple-A in 2019 before being called up to the big leagues on April 20. Reynolds made his major league debut against San Francisco, the team he was drafted by, and recorded a base hit in his first game.
In a season that was full of some of the best rookie players in recent history, Reynolds was still able to establish himself as one of the top first-year players in the league.
Reynolds hit .316 for the season with 16 homers and led all rookies with 37 doubles. He was also second among rookies with a .880 OPS (on-base plus slugging) and had 68 RBIs on the season. His accomplishments put him in fourth place in National League Rookie of the Year voting.
While he hasn’t been as productive in the 2020 shortened season, Reynolds has still been an everyday outfielder for the Pirates.