Pittsburgh Pirates Reynolds batted a solid .318 in his first professional season with the
Gulf Coast League Pirates, but with no power, and he committed 25
errors on the field. His game improved substantially in all areas by , when he batted .299 with six
home runs and logged a .957
fielding percentage while splitting the season at Double-A & Triple-A. He emerged as one of the Pirates' top minor league prospects, batting .294 over five minor league seasons when he made his major league debut in
1975. Reynolds spent the
1976 season in Triple-A with the
Charleston Charlies before being called up in September when rosters expanded.
Seattle Mariners The
Seattle Mariners selected
Grant Jackson from the
New York Yankees with their eleventh pick in the
1976 Major League Baseball expansion draft. A month later, they traded Jackson to the Pirates for Reynolds and
Jimmy Sexton. Reynolds immediately became the starting shortstop in Seattle, where his light hitting usually had him at or near the bottom of the M's batting order. His lack of
strikeouts and ability to move runners over, however, landed him in the second spot early in the
1978 season. He was batting .306 with three home runs, 29 RBI and 27
runs scored at the
All-Star break; he was the Mariners' sole representative on the
American League squad, but did not appear in the game. After the season, he was acquired by his hometown
Houston Astros in exchange for future AL strikeout champion
Floyd Bannister.
Houston Astros After
Garry Templeton declined his invitation to the
1979 All-Star Game,
National League manager Tommy Lasorda added Reynolds to his team. As a result, Reynolds became the only shortstop in MLB history to be selected to the AL and NL squads in consecutive seasons. He batted .265 his first season with the Astros, but more importantly, he helped solidify the Houston
infield with a .965
fielding percentage. After the season, he was presented with the
Danny Thompson Memorial Award for exemplifying
Christian spirit in the Major Leagues. "When you receive an award like that, you’re humbled by it," Reynolds said. Reynolds suffered through a subpar season. That same year, however, the Astros won their first division crown in franchise history. On May 16, , Reynolds tied the major-league record with three
triples in one game and led the NL with a dozen three-baggers that season. He ended the season tied for the league lead with the
San Diego Padres'
Gene Richards with twelve in spite of the
strike-shortened season. He played with the Astros for eleven seasons, finishing second only to
Roger Metzger in all-time games played at shortstop for the franchise. == After baseball ==