Shorebird of the Week – April 30, 2015

Early on, pundits were convinced that Jomar Reyes would be the Shorebirds’ third baseman this year. The obvious question, though, was how the bonus baby – to the tune of $350,000 when signed just weeks before his 17th birthday in January 2014 – would handle himself in full-season baseball after a season with the Gulf Coast League Orioles last year.

It’s a small sample size, but through the first 19 games Jomar is playing quite well. His .284/1/4/.799 OPS slash line is very comparable to his GCL numbers (.285/4/29/.758 OPS in 53 games) and it took him until last night in game #19 to commit his first error (after committing 13 in 45 games last year.) You may not get the defensive wizardry of Manny Machado, but it appears Reyes can hold his own.

Another “wow” factor is his transition from the Dominican Republic to the United States. Most often, players from that nation spend at least a season with the Orioles’ Dominican League teams, but Reyes began his career here in the States and is playing full-season ball just a couple months past his 18th birthday as one of the youngest players in the South Atlantic League. According to Baseball Reference, Jomar is 3.5 years younger than the average SAL player, who is often a year removed from college or three years out of high school. Many kids his age are playing as seniors in high school.

The high expectations for Reyes began early, but so far he’s on track to meet them. And while some believe he may be in Frederick by mid-season, I don’t think there’s any rush to move Reyes up. Currently manning third base at Frederick is another gifted hitter fans may be familiar with in Drew Dosch, so unless the upper levels are ravaged by injury or a series of poor performances I wouldn’t be surprised if Reyes stays here all year and gets the opportunity to grow into some monster numbers. It only took him a couple weeks to move up the batting order from seventh to fifth, and I think he could be a solid #3 hitter by season’s end. Let’s see how he does now that the weather is getting warmer.