1994 Rookie of the Year Countdown – Shane Reynolds

Welcome to the first installment of the countdown to the Rookies of the Year in 1994.  Partially in recognition of the 20^th anniversary of the strike-shortened 1994 season, and partially because I said “that guy beat out those guys?”, I think this will be a lot of fun for everyone.  That year, there were 11 players who had at least one vote in the National League, and nine that had at least one vote in the American League, so the first couple will both focus on the bottom two National League players.  After that, we’ll alternate back and forth.  Today’s honoree is Shane Reynolds.

Well, this is awkward.  After a lot of research on the internets, no one seems to know how Shane Reynolds became a baseball player.  I’m assuming this means he went undrafted, and since he attended the University of Texas, he figured he’d just go play for the Astros.

After toiling around in the minors from 1989 through 1992, achieving a 34-32 record, the Astros called him up on July 20^th, 1992 to start against the Pittsburgh Pirates.  In 3 2/3 innings, he gave up six runs on eight hits, including two home runs, and had two walks and strikeouts.  Fortunately, Pittsburgh starter Jeff Robinson wasn’t much better, also giving up six runs in 4 1/3 innings.  Reynolds received a no decision as my dad’s favorite baseball player, Paintsville, KY native Willie Blair, earned the victory that day by being in the right place at the right time and Doug Jones shut the door for the Astros 11-8 victory.

1993 saw him return to the minors where he went 10-6.  He also got some time in with the Astros that season, throwing 11 innings and only giving up one run.  This leads us to the magical season of 1994.

Reynolds was seemingly the long man out of the pen for the Astros in 1994.  The first 11 games he appeared in that season, he only threw 18 1/3 innings, going 1-0 with four holds.  He had 24 strikeouts vs. only five walks.  His ERA sat at 5.40, having given up 21 hits on a .417 BABIP.

On May 11, the Astros decided he was now a starter.  He lost his first start, getting a hard luck 1-0 loss to the Dodgers that day.  His only blemish that day was a solo home run he gave up to Raul Mondesi in the bottom of the sixth.  He would only allow one other hit and no walks to go along with his eight strikeouts in seven innings pitched that day.  Overall, in 10 starts between May 11^th and June 29^th, he was 4-3 with 11 walks and 51 strikeouts on a 2.64 ERA.

He went back to the bullpen for seven games between July 2^nd and July 17^th, going 2-1 with a hold.  He had nine strikeouts vs. two walks to go along with his 3.21 ERA.  One of those wins was in a seven inning relief appearance against the Pirates.

He had four more starts between July 23^rd and August 9^th.  His first start from returning to the rotation was against those same Pirates, pitching a masterful 11-0 shutout where he gave up only four hits and had 11 strikeouts with no walks.  Overall in those four starts, he was 1-1 with 25 strikeouts vs. only three walks and a 2.30 ERA.  His final appearance of the season was a three inning relief appearance on August 11^th vs. the Padres.

Overall that season, Shane Reynolds went 8-5 with a 3.05 ERA.  He had a WHIP of 1.202 and had 110 strikeouts vs. 21 walks.  For his efforts, he received one vote in the Rookie of the Year voting.

For his career, Reynolds was a decent fourth or fifth starter type, going 114-96, with 20 complete games and seven shutouts.  Never one to mess around with the strike zone, he gave up 1935 hits in 1791 2/3 innings pitched.  He had 1403 strikeouts vs. 419 walks, and had a 4.09 ERA.  He twice led the league in games started, and was an All Star in 2000.  In 1996, he finished 9^th in the NL Cy Young Award voting.  He was a six time 10 game winner, with a career high 19 in 1998.

Speaking of 1998, perhaps the thing that he’s most famous for is being the losing pitcher in Kerry Wood’s one hit shutout of the Astros on May 6^th of that year, where Wood would strike out 20 batters.  Reynolds also pitched a complete game that day, but gave up two runs in the losing effort.  The funny thing is that after four innings that day, both players would have eight strikeouts.  Reynolds would only amass two more from that point forward; Wood was just getting started.

So that was the first installment of a look back at the Rookie of the Year voting in 1994.  Next up – Javy Lopez.