Reynolds named Bucs' MVP by Pittsburgh BBWAA

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh BBWAA chapter has named Bryan Reynolds the Pirates’ 2022 Clemente Award winner, the second consecutive year that the outfielder has been voted the team’s most valuable player.

“It was just a lot of ups and downs, but overall, [I was] relatively pleased with how it came together at the end,” Reynolds said.

In addition, Mitch Keller was voted the winner of the Steve Blass Award, given to the team’s best pitcher, and Michael Chavis was voted the winner of the Chuck Tanner Award, given to the player who is most cooperative with the media.

Reynolds has, far and away, been Pittsburgh’s best batter this season. In 143 games, Reynolds is posting a .802 OPS with a career-high 27 home runs.

The 27-year-old authored some of the Pirates’ best moments this season. On June 15, Reynolds hit a go-ahead two-run home run against the Cardinals in St. Louis, a swing that helped the Pirates avoid a 10-game losing streak. On June 29, Reynolds mashed three home runs against the Nationals. On Aug. 3, Reynolds blasted his first career walk-off home run, off All-Star reliever Devin Williams.

Reynolds admitted that this season has had its share of bumps in the road. He began the year by hitting .212/.302/.388 with seven home runs in April and May, a startling contrast to the numbers he posted in his breakout 2021 season.

“The other challenging thing that Bryan’s had throughout the year is that we have a bunch of young players, so sometimes young players don’t protect guys in a way that other teams have,” manager Derek Shelton said. “When you have to battle that, that teaches you what pitches to swing at, what pitches not to swing at. I definitely think it’s expedited his development as a professional hitter, but the other thing it does for us is it’s starting to make the younger hitters that we have around him better.”

But in June, Reynolds, as he is known to do, erupted. In summer’s first month, Reynolds slashed .333/.379/.610 with eight home runs and a 169 wRC+, looking far more like the player who started for the National League in last year’s All-Star Game.

Reynolds missed time during the summer due to an oblique injury and the birth of his second child, Brooks, but has maintained a steady offensive output over the season’s last two months.

"It can be hard,” Reynolds said of navigating the early-season struggles. “Wouldn't say I'm the best ever at it, but you just try the best you can to ignore those [in a] season-long marathon. Just trust what you got and trust the people that are around you that are here to help you."

In addition to Reynolds’ stats, Shelton pointed to how Reynolds continues to evolve as a leader.

“I do think that we see him start to take more of a role in that way,” Shelton said. “Bryan leads by example every day. I think the Heart and Hustle Award is a perfect example of that because when your best player plays hard like he does every day, it’s really easy when you have a group of younger players to make sure you continue to push them effort-wise when they see that.”