Marlins prospect Q&A: Sean Reynolds — drafted as a first baseman, thriving as reliever
%20(1).jpg "Sean Reynolds pitches in the Pensacola Blue Wahoos’ win over the Montgomery Biscuits on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022.")
It’s hard to miss Sean Reynolds around the Miami Marlins spring training complex. The 24-year-old is a towering human being at 6-8 and 240 pounds, with a personality to match his size.
He also has had one heck of a journey so far in his pro ball career.
Miami selected him in the fourth round (113th overall) of the 2016 MLB Draft out of Redondo Union High in California as a first baseman.
But after struggling to hit through his first four seasons — he had a .181 batting average from 2016-2019 while never playing above Single A — the Marlins decided to convert Reynolds to a reliever ahead of the 2021 season.
The move, so far, has paid off.
Reynolds has pitched to a 3.74 ERA with 103 strikeouts against 47 walks over 84 1/3 innings the past two seasons and reached Double A by the end of the 2022 season. He has been used in high-leverage roles, converting 12 of 13 save opportunities — including going a perfect 10-for-10 last season between High A Beloit and Double A Pensacola — and logging 12 holds over 69 total relief appearances. His fastball hits the upper 90s and he also has a changeup and a slider in his repertoire.
And this offseason, the Marlins added him to the 40-man roster. He is participating in his first big-league spring training heading into his seventh season of pro ball (he did not play in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
“It’s been a long road to get to this point,” Reynolds said.
Below is a brief Q&A with Reynolds, who opened up about the journey and what he’s hoping to accomplish moving forward.
When did the conversation happen in regards to you moving from first base to pitching and how did the process unfold?
“So in the summer COVID happened [2020], the minor-league season got canceled, and I was just bored at home honestly. I had an arm injury the year before and I was like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna start building up my arm.’ At the time, I was still playing and trying to hit and I just figured I should build my arm up and make sure that it stays healthy and then I was like started throwing and I was like ‘This kind of feels good.’ I had Nick Fortes come out and catch a few bullpens just as like a mess around to see if I still got it. [The Marlins] actually came to me in the fall that year and asked if I wanted to start a throwing program and just see how it went. I was open to it. And then I think I hopped on the mound first time and faced live hitters, I was in the mid 90s. So as soon as that happened, it was pretty much like ‘All right, done deal.’ And then the full transition happened at the beginning of the [2021] season. And then, yeah, it’s just kind of taken off from there.”
Have you been a pitcher before?
“Yeah. So if I’m being completely honest, I was a better pitcher my whole life and for whatever reason I just kind of ran into a really good season my senior year of high school and the Marlins liked what they saw enough to go ahead and pull the trigger as a hitter. I can’t say I didn’t work as hard as I could to try and figure it out, but hitting is hard, man. I’ve got a ton of respect for these guys that obviously do it in this clubhouse at the highest level, too.”
So you make the move and in two years, you’re already made it to Double A and were being used in high-leverage situations. How gratifying was it to see success again?
“You can ask any player in here and they’d be lying if they said success doesn’t breed confidence. There was definitely a lot of a lot of just telling myself I could do it at first, and then you know obviously you see the results start to come and that just keeps building. It was cool. For me, really, it was embracing the closer role as I care about winning more than anything. I want to be out there when those last three outs are being made. When it’s time to win the game, that’s when I want to be on the mound, especially when we got to the end of the season in the playoffs. Those are the situations I thrive on, when the moment’s the biggest. That’s when my game, I feel like, elevates to its highest level. It was kind of a perfect fit.”
What area of your game have you prioritized working on this offseason?
“Just throwing all my pitches with confidence and not letting one bad pitch take me away from using that pitch. That’s something I did a really good job of in the second half last year, just going out there and just letting go of the what if and throwing all my pitches with confidence. Just kind of continue that in camp once it comes game time. Preparation is done. We’re getting into live batting practice next week, and then games will be short after, so it’ll be fun. It’ll be a nice little test and I’m looking forward to learning a lot still and just competing.”
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