Like his consistent swing, Bryan Reynolds thrives as low-maintenance player for Pirates

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

“I just want to be better all the way around,” Reynolds said Friday, after an intrasquad game at PNC Park. “I haven’t sat down and looked at any specific stat. There’s just a stat for everything, so I don’t want to waste my time looking at that. I just want to be a well-rounded player and get better at every aspect.”

That’s a tall task for the Pittsburgh Pirates left fielder, who was the model of consistency last season. He had team-bests with .314 batting average and .377 on-base percentage, tied Josh Bell for the team lead with 37 doubles and ranked second in OPS (.880) and walks (46).

The 25-year-old Reynolds showed new manager Derek Shelton what he could do this past spring, when he had a .517 on-base percentage and 1.149 OPS while drawing nine walks in 10 games.

“He’s one of those guys, in spring training you watch him and you’re like, ‘This guy is a really good hitter,’ ” Shelton said. “When you watch a lot of Pirate games, (it’s), ‘This guy’s really good — like really good.’ ”

Reynolds is proving to be a really good return on the unpopular Andrew McCutchen trade in January 2018, along with high-leverage reliever Kyle Crick. Reynolds was a Double-A prospect with a reputation for a good eye and a great bat at the time of the trade, and was injured early in his first season. He played only 13 games in Triple-A last season before being called up after an outfield collision between Starling Marte and Erik Gonzalez sent both players to the injured list.

Reynolds got a hit in his major-league debut last April, which was overshadowed when Cole Tucker hit a game-winning home run in his debut. But Reynolds continued hitting, tying Gregory Polanco’s club record with an 11-game hit streak to start his career, and stayed in a groove all summer.

Reynolds had his moments. He had a 17-game hit streak. His batting average only dipped below .300 only twice — at .296 on May 12 and .297 four days later. A switch hitter, he homered from both sides of the plate. And his finest game was in a 6-5 win over Miami on Sept. 5, when he made a spectacular diving catch in center field and hit a walk-off homer. Yet Reynolds did most of his damage under the radar, his .362 batting average on June 28 lost in the shadow of Josh Bell’s breakout season and first selection to the All-Star Game.

Shelton believes Reynolds is poised to draw national attention of his own.

“If you’re a hitting coach, this guy’s a dream,” Shelton said. “It’s a low-maintenance swing. The path to the ball is really good. He hits the ball hard, both sides of the plate. Bryan Reynolds is going to be a good player, and he’s going to be a good hitter for a long time.

“He’s going to be one of those guys that I think people outside of Pittsburgh are going to realize how good of a player he is. I don’t think people in the game realize how good this guy is going to be and how much he’s going to hit.”

That’s exactly how Reynolds likes it. Like his swing, he’s low-maintenance. Rather than talk about whether he will hit more doubles or home runs or drive in more runs this summer, Reynolds prefers to focus on the fundamentals of his swing. He spent his offseason concentrating on seeing the ball early and getting through to hit it, not his stats.

“I’m just approaching everything the same that I’ve always had,” Reynolds said. “I’m just going to go out there and play the best I can, do what I can to help us win. And as far as not getting respect, that’s not for me to worry about, so I don’t care.”