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Alex Reyes didn’t throw a major league pitch until August. He didn’t start a game the St. Louis Cardinals won until September.
He still nearly carried the 2016 Cardinals into the postseason.
Inserted in the rotation for the final two weeks of the season, Reyes started three games, and the Cardinals won all three. The Cardinals eventually fell a game short in the National League wild-card race, but the just-turned 22-year-old kid gave them plenty of hope heading into the winter.
He was supposed to be one of the big stories of the spring and perhaps the early favorite to be the National League Rookie of the Year.