Olney: Packed All-Star field could mean some major snubs

In Mark Reynolds’ 11th season in the majors, he is having the best year of his career. In his service as a part-time player and well-used pinch-hitter in St. Louis in 2015, he learned to reduce the effort in his swing and control his swing better. Reynolds has cut down his strikeout rate dramatically and increased his batting average, and he is on pace to drive in about 130 runs.

His production is more than worthy of All-Star selection, but there’s a problem. Reynolds plays the same position as Paul Goldschmidt. And Joey Votto. And Ryan Zimmerman, Anthony Rizzo, Cody Bellinger, Eric Thames and Justin Bour. The field of first basemen in the NL is so strong that, inevitably, Reynolds’ All-Star…