The A’s have agreed to a minor league contract with infielder/outfielder Pablo Reyes, per Baseball America’s Chris Hilburn-Trenkle. Presumably, the deal includes an invite to Major League Spring Training, though the team has not formally announced the deal or indicated as much. Reyes was outrighted by the Brewers last month and subsequently became a minor league free agent.
Reyes, 29, has appeared in parts of four Major League seasons, logging time with the 2018-19 Pirates and the 2021-22 Brewers. He’s appeared in 147 Major League games, tallied 323 trips to the plate and posted a combined .238/.307/.361 batting line in that time. Along the way, he’s played 355 innings in the outfield (mostly in the corners but 68 innings in center), 171 innings at third base, 54 innings at second base and 47 innings at shortstop.
While Reyes received just 16 Major League plate appearances in 2022 (going 4-for-15 in that short stint), he enjoyed a solid year in Triple-A Nashville, batting .273/.348/.439 (110 wRC+) with 11 home runs, 27 doubles, a pair of triples and 15 steals. Reyes has fanned in 15.5% of his Triple-A plate appearances across the past two seasons, showing a good knack for contact, and has also walked at a 9.2% rate.
Reyes is out of minor league options, so if he earns a spot on the big league roster with the A’s at any point, he’ll need to stick or else be placed on waivers before he can be sent back to the minors. He’ll have to vie for a job in Spring Training and perhaps early in the season in Triple-A, but his right-handed bat could be a natural complement to a platoon-heavy A’s club that’ll feature lefties like Tony Kemp, Seth Brown and perhaps some combination of Vimael Machin, Cody Thomas, Cal Stevenson and Conner Capel. In 134 Major League plate appearances against lefties, Reyes is a .276/.336/.480 hitter.
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