Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
You won\u2019t find Felix Reyes\u2019 name on MLBPipeline\u2019s list of the top 100 prospects in baseball. In fact, he didn\u2019t even make the list of the top 30 prospects just within the Phillies organization. <\/p>\n
But even without much external recognition, the 25-year-old utility player has hit .331 over the past calendar year, between double-A Reading and triple-A Lehigh Valley. He was named the Eastern League\u2019s Most Valuable Player last season for his standout performance in double A. <\/p>\n
And 19 games into the 2026 season, he was the first position player to receive a call-up to the Phillies from triple A. Reyes, who bats right-handed, made his major league debut Saturday, starting in left field against Braves left-hander Chris Sale. <\/p>\n
\u00bb READ MORE: Phillies prospect Felix Reyes is making an impression in Clearwater: \u2018He can crush the ball\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Reyes has never put much stock in top-prospect lists. <\/p>\n \u201cIn the end, it\u2019s just a list,\u201d he said Saturday through a team interpreter. \u201cWhen you read that list and when you check it, it doesn\u2019t tell you who the players are, who we are, as a person or as a player. So it doesn\u2019t tell you the story.\u201d <\/p>\n The 6-foot-3 Reyes, who is originally from the Dominican Republic and signed with the Phillies as an international free agent in 2020, impressed as a nonroster invitee to spring training this year. He hit .303 with a .930 OPS in 18 games, and cited his consistently positive mindset<\/a> as one of the reasons why. <\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a monster,\u201d Brandon Marsh<\/a> said with a smile. \u201cObviously a really, really, really good hitter, hits the ball hard, puts good at-bats together.\u201d<\/p>\n The Phillies hope that injecting a young player with the raw power that Reyes has into the lineup could be the jolt that the team needs. They entered Saturday on a skid of three straight blowout losses, including a 9-0 drubbing<\/a> at the hands of the Braves in Friday\u2019s series opener. <\/p>\n There\u2019s also hope that Reyes could help with the team\u2019s struggles against lefties. The team is collectively hitting .179 against left-handed pitchers, which is third-worst in baseball. Reyes crushed lefties last season, with a .371 batting average and 1.091 OPS in 89 at-bats against them. <\/p>\n Sale, the 2024 Cy Young winner, will certainly be a tough first test. He has a 3.27 ERA through his first four starts, and is holding righties to a .188 batting average. <\/p>\n \u201cHe can hit,\u201d Phillies manager Rob Thomson<\/a> said of Reyes. \u201cHe\u2019s a big man, but he\u2019ll surprise you how athletic he is. He\u2019s a lot better runner than people give him credit for. He\u2019s very intelligent, really good baserunner. He\u2019s played seven or eight games in the outfield. … He\u2019s really performed. So maybe this gives us a little bit of a shot of energy.\u201d<\/p>\n The move provides an opportunity for a reset for Otto Kemp, who had struggled in limited action. Kemp, playing in a left-field platoon with Marsh and only starting against lefties, was 2-for-20 so far this season. He was optioned to triple-A Lehigh Valley to get more consistent playing time and ideally get back into rhythm.<\/p>\n Reyes will get the next chance in the left-field platoon. Marsh started in center field against Sale over Justin Crawford<\/a>, a lineup decision that Thomson said he made because Marsh has past experience facing Sale, while Crawford does not. <\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Phillies place Jhoan Duran on 15-day injured list, send Otto Kemp to Lehigh Valley<\/a><\/p>\n The main question surrounding Reyes as he\u2019s risen through the ranks of the Phillies\u2019 farm system has been his outfield defense. Thomson said his biggest area of improvement is reading balls and routes.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom what [IronPigs manager Anthony Contreras] told me, he\u2019s gonna range around out there, he\u2019s gonna catch what he gets to,\u201d Thomson said.<\/p>\n Reyes also has corner infield experience, and it\u2019s possible he could occasionally see time at first to give Bryce Harper<\/a> a day at designated hitter, while Kyle Schwarber<\/a> moves back to left. Reyes could draw into the lineup as the designated hitter, too. <\/p>\n Marsh said he told Reyes that he has his back in the outfield on Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll get as much as I can,\u201d Marsh told him. \u201cJust worry about hitting today. And I\u2019ll do the best I can to cover that out there.\u201d<\/p>\n Reyes found out about his call-up late Friday night from Contreras, while he was in St. Paul, Minn., with the IronPigs. His first call was to his mother to share the good news, and he had a little trouble sleeping afterward due to the excitement. <\/p>\n Now, the unheralded prospect will get an opportunity on the biggest baseball stage. <\/p>\n \u201cHe put good at-bats together all spring, mashed the ball hard forward, and that\u2019s all we can ask for,\u201d Marsh said. \u201cAnd I feel like he\u2019s gonna bring a lot of good to us.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min You won\u2019t find Felix Reyes\u2019 name on MLBPipeline\u2019s list of the top 100…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,299062,591,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-616254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-felix-reyes-callup-mlb-debut-energy-braves","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}