Detroit Tigers: 3 players that could return, 2 that are expendable under new regime

2 players that are expendable: OF Victor Reyes

It’s been a roller coaster ride for Victor Reyes during his time in Detroit. A rule-5 pick back in 2017, he played sparingly in 2018 and he was pretty bad—almost like he hadn’t played above Double-A or something.

But in 69 games in 2019, he hit .304 with a .767 OPS. He followed that up with a solid campaign in the shortened-2020 season. He’s always been a slightly below average hitter for most of his career. He’s finally hitting the ball harder this year, as evidenced by his 44.2% hard hit rate, but one thing is still dragging him down: the lack of walks.

His career walk rate is 3.8%, which is putrid, and certainly won’t get it done under Scott Harris. His career strikeout rate of 22.3% is okay, but he’s always been a high chase rate guy. He doesn’t do a good job of controlling the strike zone, which makes him a prime candidate to be non-tendered this offseason.

That’s why I think Baddoo gets the nod over him. Baddoo has shown the ability to draw walks. Reyes never has in parts of five years as a big leaguer.

I know he’s turned into a bit of a fan favorite—especially for our own Jon Erkkila. But he’s just not a very good player. Sorry, Jon. At the end of the day, Victor Reyes is a fourth outfielder at best.