Milestone Hit For Reyes

Hitting a baseball. It's one of the hardest things in all of sports to be able to do. Now try hitting a baseball over 2,000 times. Hard to imagine right? Well it's happened at the Major League level, quite a bit. In fact there have been 279 players that have accomplished that feet. Now we can add another name to that list. Last night, against the Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim, Jose Reyes collected his 2,000th career Major League hit. It just so happened to be with the team that he started his career with.

It's kind of like life coming full circle for Reyes, who at this time last year, didn't even know if he was going to be on a big league roster. Reyes was at home last year because of that off-the-field issue, suspended until May 31 because of a domestic violence charge and then optioned by the Rockies down to Triple-A. He eventually was designated for assignment, released June 23 and snatched up by the Mets two days later. The rest is history, just like Reyes earned a little piece of history with his first-inning single off Alex Meyer. Reyes went 3-for-4 with a stolen base, a walk, two RBIs and his milestone 2,000th hit. Reyes became just the eighth active player in the 2,000-hit club, joining Ichiro Suzuki, Adrian Beltre, Albert Pujols, Carlos Beltran, Miguel Cabrera, Robinson Cano and current Yankee Matt Holliday. The single was Reyes' 1,396th hit with the Mets. He also had 370 with the Toronto Blue Jays, 184 with the Miami Marlins and 50 with the Colorado Rockies.

Jose Reyes has had an interesting fifteen year carer so far in the Biggs. He's played in 1,663 games, hitting .287 for his career, with now 2,002 career hits, 129 homers, 122 triples, 493 stolen bases, 660 RBI and 1,095 runs scored. Reyes ranks third in Mets history with the 1,396 hits, trailing Ed Kranepool at 1,418 and David Wright at 1,777. Reyes, in his prime, was one of those guys that you just had to watch play. He had an excitement and electricity about his game that only few others ever had. He could do a little bit of everything: hit, hit for occasional power, run, field, run with a ton of speed. He had the ability to electrify a crowd with the crack of the bat, because once he made contact, you knew that the possibility that anything could happen. A simple single for anybody else could possibly be turned into a double off the bat of Reyes because of that speed. He also had an infectious personality, you couldn't help but like the guy.

Since he left the Mets in 2011, after winning a batting title, he wasn't the same player. He had a decent year in Miami after signing a massive offseason contract with the Marlins. He then gets traded to Toronto in a massive multiplayer trade and things kinda just went south from there.. Two and a half average seasons at best, then he gets traded to the Rockies, where everything seemed to hit the fan. He had his off the field issues and really seemed lost. Now after getting his life back together and seeming to pay what he owed, he's back on the field once again. Sure he doesn't have the same spark he once did, Reyes is 33 years old and came up to the Majors a day before his 20th birthday. He still has flashes of his old self, sure, but its not exactly the same as his last stint here in New York.

After all that has gone down in Reye's career, the fact that he's been able to collect 2,000 hits in his career is pretty cool and says a lot about just how good a baseball player he really is.