Craig Reynolds (baseball)

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 1974, 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.[2] Reynolds spent the 1976 season in Triple-A with the Charleston Charlies before being called up in September when rosters expanded.

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.[3]

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.[4] After the season, he was acquired by his hometown Houston Astros in exchange for future AL strikeout champion Floyd Bannister.[5]

After Garry Templeton declined his invitation to the 1979 All-Star Game, National League manager Tommy Lasorda added Reynolds to his team.[6] 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.[7] "When you receive an award like that, you’re humbled by it," Reynolds said.

Reynolds suffered through a subpar 1980 season. That same year, however, the Astros won their first division crown in franchise history. On May 16, 1981, Reynolds tied the major-league record with three triples in one game and led the NL with a dozen three-baggers that season.[8] 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.