Arturo Reyes

Arturo Abram Reyes Vela

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 185 lb.
• School Gonzaga University, Columbia Basin Community College
• High School Warden High School

• Born April 16, 1992 in Warden, WA USA

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Arturo Reyes has pitched as high as AAA and for the Mexican national team. His brother Jorge Reyes reached AAA.

Reyes was 6-3 with 3 saves and a 3.79 ERA as a junior at Gonzaga after transferring from junior college. The St. Louis Cardinals took him in the 40th round of the 2013 amateur draft, their last pick, after his teammate Marco Gonzales had gone in the 1st round. He was 1-2 with a 2.08 ERA for the State College Spikes that summer. Had he qualified, he would have made the New York-Penn League top 10 in ERA.

He moved up to the Peoria Chiefs in 2014 and posted a 6-8, 3.67 record. He fanned 104 to tie Jonathan Cornelius for 9th in the Cards system. Coach Jason Simontacchi had him refine his pitching repertoire, dropping his splitter and curveball to focus on his fastball, slider and change-up. In 2015, he continued his ascent, with stops for the Palm Beach Cardinals (1-1, 2.45 in 3 G), Springfield Cardinals (7-7, 2.64 in 17 G) and Memphis Redbirds (1-3, 7.82), reaching AAA at age 23, not bad at all for such a low draft pick. Only Luis Perdomo lost more games for a Cardinals minor leaguer that year, but Reyes was also 5th with 105 whiffs. He joined Ryan Dull, Jonathan Dziedzic, Jandel Gustave, David Martinez, Suarez, Colin Rea, Chris Devenski and Nate Smith as the Texas League All-Star pitchers.

The Washington native was 9-4 with a 4.17 ERA for Memphis in 2016 and had a rehab stint with the GCL Cardinals (0-1, 4.26 in 2 G). Only Ryan Helsley won more games in the Cards chain that year. He saw limited time in 2017, presumably due to injury, appearing for Memphis (5-5, 4.41 in 22 G) and briefly for Palm Beach (1-0, 0 R in 2 IP) and the GCL Cardinals (0-1, 1 R in 4 IP). With the Surprise Saguaros, he had a save and a 6.23 ERA in ten games in the Arizona Fall League.

He had a rough 2018, with an ankle injury to start things then a 2-2, 6.68 record for Memphis, now working exclusively as a reliever. In winter ball, he was 2-5 with a 3.61 ERA for the Naranjeros de Hermosillo. He tied for 4th in the Mexican Pacific League in losses. Moving to the Tampa Bay Rays chain in 2019, he started a combined no-hitter against the Syracuse Mets August 7 with one walk in three innings before Ricardo Pinto, Jose Alvarado and Hoby Milner closed it out. He was 7-6 with a 4.82 ERA for the Durham Bulls and 4-1, 3.00 for the Montgomery Biscuits. He tied Shane McClanahan and Kenny Rosenberg for 5th in the Rays chain in wins and tied for 4th with 112 strikeouts.

Reyes then pitched for Mexico in the 2019 Premier 12. He was one of many Americans with Mexican passports on the team, with teammates such as Jon Jones, Matt Clark, Phillip Evans, Brennan Bernardino, Horacio Ramirez, Ryan Verdugo and Efren Navarro. He came up with three big starts for Mexico. In the opening round, he held the Netherlands to one hit (by Gilmer Lampe) and two walks in three innings before Manny Barreda took over. In the second round, he beat Shao-Ching Chiang of Taiwan in a 2-0 pitching duel, allowing two hits and two walks in five before Jesús Cruz relieved. He then got a crucial nod against Team USA in the Bronze Medal Game, with a spot in the 2020 Olympics at stake. Facing his native country, he allowed a first-inning homer to Jo Adell but only two other hits while fanning five in 5 1/3 IP before Bernardino came in. He left with a 1-0 deficit as Cody Ponce was even sharper, but Mexico rallied for an Olympic spot and Reyes had helped keep them in the game against an offense loaded with top prospects like Bobby Dalbec, Andrew Vaughn and Adell. He tied Ponce, Shun Yamaguchi, Tim Atherton and Hyeon-jong Yang for the event lead with three games started and his 13 whiffs tied Chiang for 2nd (8 behind Yang). He had the lowest ERA of any pitcher who allowed an earned run in the tournament. He did not make the All-World team as Yi Chang was the starting pitcher.