As the Pittsburgh Pirates rebuild moves along more than halfway through the 2021 season, glimmers of hope have begun to sprout in numerous different directions. Ke’Bryan Hayes has been great defensively, Ben Cherington and company have been retooling the farm system, top prospects are moving in the right direction, and Bryan Reynolds is becoming a legit star in the making.
Reynolds sprung onto the scene with the Bucs two years ago on April 20, 2019, after Starling Marte collided with Erik Gonzalez in the outfield, resulting in a trip to the then-disabled list. Pittsburgh acquired Reynolds from the San Francisco Giants on January 15, 2018, alongside recently DFA’ed reliever Kyle Crick in the Andrew McCutchen deal.