Is Pirates' Bryan Reynolds taking advantage of opportunity in center field?

Bryan Reynolds was as succinct as he was honest when asked to evaluate his performance during this almost-completed season.

“I think I played decent defense,” the Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder said, “and my offense was terrible.”

It’s difficult to dispute Reynolds’ latter self-assessment. Reynolds was hitting .180 heading into Monday night. But as a player who previously never hit below .300 over a full season at any level — high school, college, minors, majors — the offense is expected to return.

But what about Reynolds’ defense? He’ll be a three-year veteran by 2021 and could be at the (literal) center of it all for the Pirates.

Reynolds sure hopes so.

“I want to play center field,” Reynolds said Monday. “I really like center.

“I just think you get better reads, see better, and I really enjoy playing out there.”

Over the final three weeks of the season, Reynolds has been given a chance to establish himself as the center fielder of the Pirates’ future.

Pirates have competition in center with Cole Tucker, Bryan Reynolds trying the position

(Via TribLive) https://t.co/cdUCVRWO7S

— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) September 14, 2020

After the trade of Jarrod Dyson and the season-ending injuries to Anthony Alford and Cole Tucker, the Pirates turned to Reynolds, who played all three outfield spots last season en route to placing fourth in National League Rookie of the Year balloting.

But the 6-foot-2, 195-pound Reynolds has a background of playing center, and he hasn’t looked out of place.

“He’s done a nice job of it,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “His reads have been good. Hhis breaks have been good.

“He’s made really wise decisions. So, I definitely think he’s going to be part of part of the conversation. I know he’s excited to be playing there.”

Reynolds has repeatedly expressed a preference for playing center. He said he has worked with Pirates first-base coach and outfield-instructor specialist Tarrik Brock about making a decisive first step on his routes to batted balls.

After a top-five finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting last season, #Pirates Bryan Reynolds has a simple goal for this summer that doesn’t have anything specifically to do with his statistics. https://t.co/k15syZ6mLZ

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) July 12, 2020

“I don’t know what the metrics say,” Reynolds said, “but I feel like I’ve played good defense.”

The metrics agree with Reynolds’ assessment, albeit over a small sample size of 76 2/3 innings heading into Monday’s game.

Heading into the week, Reynolds’ defensive wins above replacement for the season (counting his time in left field) was 0.5 — tied for second-best on the team, according to baseball-reference.com.

More in-depth statistics paint an even better picture of Reynolds’ play over his first 11 games in center this season. Per fangraphs.com, no player in baseball has a better ratio of defensive runs saved per inning in center than Reynolds, who is credited with 2 DRS. For context, only 28 of the 58 players who have at least 70 MLB innings in center this season have a DRS above zero.

Among those 58 players, Reynolds ranks 11th in Ultimate Zone Rating per 150 innings (15.1). And in the most all-encompassing metric available via fangraphs, Reynolds ranks 16th in “DEF” among the 58 center fielders with at least 70 innings.

And in the most simple of metrics, Reynolds has zero errors in center field, either.

But is it all enough to prove to management he can be the Pirates center fielder to open 2021?

“There’s a possibility of that,” Shelton said cheekily.

Regardless of where he plays, though, Reynolds is generally considered one of the few guarantees from the current roster who figures to be in the Opening Day lineup in 2021.

“We haven’t talked about next year at all,” he said, “but I’ve enjoyed these however many games I’ve gotten in center. Just going to take advantage of it. Whatever happens next year, happens.”

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