2009 FBS Bust Player: Mark Reynolds

Team: Arizona Diamondbacks
Bats: Right

Position: 3B

There is one thing that you can not take away from Mark Reynolds, and that is his raw power. The guy knows how to put baseballs in bleachers. Unfortunately, his plate discipline is down right embarrassing. In his rookie season, Reynolds hit 17 homers and 62 RBI, but he struck out 129 times in only 111 games. His power increased in 2008 when he connected 28 times for 97 RBI in 152 games. That is the good news. The bad news is his batting averaged plummeted 40 points and he broke the single season strikeout record with a ridiculous 204 Ks. Taking a look at his minor league numbers might be misleading because he never played higher than AA, and he never played more than 37 games at that level. Lots of players can mash in the mid-minors, but are completely lost when they get to AAA, never mind the majors. Reynolds has many holes in his swing and he is unable to lay off a bad pitch. The guy can send a mistake pitch a long way, but now that he is in the major leagues he will have a hard time keeping his batting average over .250 or keeping his strikeouts out of record breaking frequency. If you are looking for power, there's no doubt that Reynolds will supply some, but until he learns how pitchers are getting him out, he will struggle to be consistent.

Prediction: .246 average, 23 HRs, 81 RBI, 176 Ks, 79 runs