The Toronto Blue Jays and their fans should excited about the 2013 baseball season as Jose Reyes in one of the new faces in the club. Reyes is expected to be the spark in the Blue Jays' offense that makes the ultimate difference and takes the team to the top of the A.L. East and into the playoffs. Can Reyes put it all together and possibly even snatch up the A.L. MVP? Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports believes so and after studying some stats, this is what Reyes brings to the table that could catapult him to win the MVP honors.
Reyes struggled a bit in the WBC, but he proved to be valuable on both defense and offense. The biggest part of playing in Toronto is the artificial turf. Reyes causes havoc on grass, imagine when he figures out how to pound the ball into the turf and have it take huge bounces which will neutralize any play at first base. Once on base, Reyes is bound to swipe bases and get in scoring position.
Of course, Toronto has Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Batista who provide pop, but they were unable to take the Blue Jays beyond fourth place in the N.L. East. Batista was injured, so it completely took him out of the equation. With Reyes now in the batting order, the Blue Jays are set to become a force in the division.
Reyes knows a bit about awards. He's actually made it to the MVP ballot five times in his 10-year career. However, he's only broken the Top 10 once back in 2006 when he came in seventh place following a year where the New York Mets almost made it to the World Series. Reyes hit .300 with 19 home runs, 81 RBI, 17 triples, 64 stolen bases and a .354 on-base percentage.
He won the batting title in 2011 after hitting .337 for a struggling Mets team that went nowhere that season. He's going to be in a team playing with familiar faces a Melky Cabrera, Encarnacion and Batista are all from Reyes's homeland, the Dominican Republic. Not to mention that a lot of faces from the Miami Marlins will also join Reyes in Toronto along with former teammate, R.A. Dickey.
Reyes is in the perfect environment in Toronto, though he's in a distant country and away from his family. If he ever gets to lonely, he's just hours away from New York City where he can stop by Washington Heights and get love from his Dominicanos. There is no pressure on Reyes to perform since there is so much talent in the Blue Jays' lineup.
It will be interesting to see if the MVP will be awarded to a speedster. The last guy to steal a bunch of bases and win the MVP was Jimmy Rollins, who accomplished the feat after embellishing his stat line with 30 homers and 94 RBI.
The Blue Jays launch their season against the Cleveland Indians on Apr. 1 at 7 p.m. ET.