Miami Marlins Prospect Watch: Shortstop Ronal Reynoso

Ronal Reynoso hit 88 points above his prior career batting average in 2018.

Throughout the 2018/2019 offseason, Marlin Maniac will devote one article each for every player who appeared in the Miami Marlins system for the 2018 season. Every. Single. Player. This is Part 250 of 286.

Ronal Jose Reynoso is a 6’1″, 165 lb. lefty-batting, righty-throwing shortstop from Bani, Dominican Republic, population 72,466. Twenty-six major leaguers have originated out of Bani, including Luis Castillo, Juan Uribe, and Luis Vizcaino.

Reynoso was born on May 23rd, 1998, and signed his first professional contract on July 4th, 2014, just after turning 16-years-old for $100,000. He made his professional debut with the DSL Marlins in the rookie-level Dominican Summer League in 2015. Reynoso hit .197/.279/.235 with six RBI over 55 contests. He logged time at second base, third base, center field, and left field, as well as his 22 games at shortstop. Reynoso fielded a disappointing .892, making 11 errors in 102 total chances. Unfortunately, his fielding percentage is to-date nine points higher than his career average.

In 2016, Reynoso remained in the DSL and again appeared in 55 contests. His slashline dipped to .189/.314/.229, with 67 strikeouts in 206 plate appearances. On the plus side, his 15.05 percent walk rate trailed only fellow prospect Jhon Garcia (15.5 percent) on the DSL Marlins. On the defensive side of things, Reynoso had a full season to perfect his craft at shortstop, with 53 starts at the position. He somehow committed 32 errors in 445 1/3 innings for an .878 fielding percentage.

2017 would see Reynoso earn a lateral promotion to the GCL Marlins, in the rookie-level, Florida-based Gulf Coast League. He appeared in 32 contests, and watched his slashline further dip all the way to .161/.219/.212 over 132 plate appearances. Reynoso’s .904 fielding percentage at shortstop was the best mark of his career to date, over 234 innings of work.

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2018 opened with Reynoso still with the GCL Marlins. He turned in a much-improved .283/.357/.372 slashline with his first major league homer and 13 RBI over 36 contests. Discouragingly, his fielding percentage bottomed out with GCL at .841 at shortstop, with 10 errors in 63 chances. Despite that, he got a look with the short-season-A Batavia Muckdogs, in the New York-Penn League late in the season. He was one-for-eight, and was perfect over five fielding chances at third base and shortstop.

Reynoso had eight multi-hit games through the season, including three times with three. In each of those contests, he hit two singles and a double.

Reynoso is still rostered with the Muckdogs, and should expect to see plenty of action as the Miami Marlins see if he can improve his fielding either at shortstop or third base.

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