Right-hander Greg Reynolds grew up watching tapes of Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens throwing heat. “Those guys aren’t afraid of anybody,” he recalls. “And that’s what I try to bring when I go out there to pitch.”
Reynolds, ’07, knows that the road to the majors is long and winding. But as the No. 2 pick in the recent Major League Baseball draft, he’s in a good position to begin the journey. “I’m ready to start my professional career, and I’ll be a quick sign,” he said on June 6, the day he was selected by the Colorado Rockies.
“We knew Greg would go high in the draft,” coach Mark Marquess, ’69, said. “But number two? Very deserved, and he worked very hard for it.” The only other Cardinal player to be drafted that high was Steve Dunning, ’71, in 1970.
The 6-foot-7 Reynolds anchored the Cardinal this year, pitching five complete games in 18 starts and notching a 3.31 ERA. He characterizes himself as a “ground-ball-type pitcher,” which ultimately could serve him well in the Rockies’ mountain arena. “Any ball in the air has a good chance of getting out of [Coors Field],” he notes. “But I’m the type of pitcher who might be successful [there] because I have a hard fastball that’s tough to get in the air.”
Even though the Cardinal didn’t make it to Omaha for this year’s College World Series, Marquess says he’s glad the distractions of the draft now occur beforehand. The Cardinal entered the postseason with a 30-25 record. In the regionals in early June, Stanford promptly defeated North Carolina State, 7-2, Texas, 12-8, and NC State again, 17-7, to reach the Super Regional for the first time since 2003. But No. 4 Oregon State beat Stanford 4-3 in the opener of the best-of-three series, and ended the Cardinal’s 2006 season with a dominating 15-0 victory in the second game.
Three additional Stanford players were selected on the first day of the MLB draft: senior shortstop Chris Minaker (Seattle Mariners), senior catcher John Hester (Arizona Diamondbacks) and junior left-handed pitcher Blake Holler (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim). The following day three more players were chosen: senior right-handed pitcher Matt Manship (Oakland Athletics), senior second baseman Chris Lewis (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) and junior outfielder Jim Rapoport (St. Louis Cardinals).
