When the Pirates recalled Pablo Reyes from Indianapolis earlier this month, the general consensus from outside the organization was "Pablo Who?"
Not many are asking now.
As the 2018 season comes to another non-playoff conclusion, Reyes has become a bit of a fan favorite and one of the more intriguing players to follow over the final two weeks and into next season.
One cursory glance though and you can certainly see why many in the outside world may have overlooked Reyes.
He stands just 5-foot-8 and 170 pounds. He was signed as a free agent six years ago out of his native Dominican Republic and is not a high-profile prospect, his name nowhere among the organization's top 30 prospects.
But, as he showed again on Tuesday, he does have plenty of game.
"We do live in a society where it's brightest, shiniest, fastest, strongest," Clint Hurdle was saying earlier Tuesday, "He's not one of those.
"However, he's one of those guys that I think you watch him play for a game and he might catch your attention. Watch him play for a week and you might go, 'Who's that guy?' Watch him play for a month and you say 'I like that player.'"
Of the youngsters to join the Pirates for the final month of the season, Reyes has shown much to like. Perhaps more than any of the September call-ups, he has absolutely maximized his opportunity.
Witness his performance in Tuesday night's 2-1 win in 11 innings over the Kansas City Royals.
A night after going 2-for-2 and scoring a pair of runs following an injury to Adam Frazier, Reyes was it again Tuesday going 2-for-5 as he's now slashing a remarkable .435/.500/.609.
Oh, and he also made the defensive play of the game as the Pirates won their fourth in a row and improved to 76-74, moving two games above .500 for the first time since Aug. 14.
Obviously the Pirates are pleased to have a winning record at this late stage of the season, but that they have been able to get back there with some youngsters leading the way is perhaps the most encouraging development for 2019. Reyes has certainly been a part of that.
Hitting at the top of the order, Reyes hit a two-out single off Kansas City starter Eric Skoglund in the third. He reached base in the sixth on a fielding error by Royals third baseman Alcides Escobar and then added another two-out single in the eighth.
If there was any blemish on Reyes' night it was getting thrown out at second while trying to pick up his first major league steal in the eighth, but only then after video replay overturned the original safe call.
No matter. Reyes had already left his indelible mark on Tuesday's outcome an inning earlier in what was then a scoreless game.
With Jameson Taillon nearing 100 pitches in a brilliant performance, the Pirates ace allowed a one-out single to Ryan O'Hearn. Escobar doubled and O'Hearn followed with a double to put runners in scoring position . Brian Goodwin then lofted a fly ball into right.:
For a guy who was making just his second start in right field -- after also seeing time in left field, and at second and third base -- Reyes played it perfectly. He took a few steps back and then raced in to make the catch, and fired the ball home.
Though his two-hopper to Francisco Cervelli was slightly up the third-base line, the veteran catcher applied a sweep tag on O'Hearn to protect the lead (at least for the time being).
"It's a very gifted, athletic play," Hurdle called it.
"A whirlwind of emotions," is how Taillon described his 104th and final pitch of the night.
Though new to the position at the game's highest level, Reyes said it wasn't anything he wasn't prepared for.
"It'a new position for me. In batting practice, I go out early and get ready to try and get my work in," Reyes told me. "I take a lot of ground balls, fly balls in right field to be ready for the game."
Therein lies the beauty of Reyes' game and his potential path to a spot on the major-league roster next season. The Pirates absolutely love Reyes' position flexibility. He can play any outfield, middle infield position and third base.
Reyes' role as a super-utility player is by design, according to Hurdle. With teams looking to carry more and more bullpen arms, bench players have to be able to wear more than one hat.
"We're definitely putting more intentionality in developing some of those guys and moving them around in some spots that may not have that one golden spot," Hurdle was saying. "They have some skills to play in the infield in the dirt and skills to go play in the outfield, to actually kind of grow them up that way."
With Newman and Kramer receiving most of the playing time in the middle infield spots in Indianapolis, Reyes has been playing mainly in the outfield this season in Triple-A. But Hurdle said that he'd like to see Reyes get a game in at shortstop over the final dozen games this season, if not next spring in the Grapefruit League.
In his playing days with the 1986 Cardinals, Hurdle was a teammate of Jose Oquendo, who once famously played all nine positions in a 1988 game. Hurdle wouldn't go that far with Reyes but he does have the potential to become the Pirates' best super-utility player since Josh Harrison's earlier days in the majors.
Like Harrison, Reyes is "fearless" at the plate. And like some other diminutive hitters, such as Jose Altuve and Dustin Pedroia, Reyes has shown some decent pop with the bat. He hit his first career homer Friday off Milwaukee's Gio Gonzalez, after hitting eight home runs this season at Indianapolis and 10 last year in Class AA Altoona.
"He has a very quiet confidence," Hurdle was saying. "It's been spoken about him since he's been in the organization: When he gets in the box, there's no mirror. He doesn't know he's 5-8, 5-9. It's not about size. It's about a bat in the man's hands and what he wants to do with it."
"I think he's just had that passion for the game that seems to get him out there with a lack of reservation or anxiety. We'll see. There's a lot of new times in front of him at this level but as he's migrated his way through our minor-league system, every manager has had similar comments along those lines: There's no fear. There's a willingness to just go play."
That passion, the soft-spoken Reyes says, runs in his blood. He hails from Santo Domingo, the Dominican capital and one of the Meccas of Latin baseball. The city with a population of about one million has produced Hall of Famers and superstars like Pedro Martinez, Adrian Beltre, Manny Mota, Jose Bautista and the Alou brothers among countless others.
"When I was a kid, I had a lot of passion because of my father," Reyes was telling me Tuesday night. "He showed me a lot of things. Every time I go to the field, my father told me 'you had to try the best you can do every time you play. If you play today, you had to play like this is your last day.'"
Tuesday night was certainly not his last but could become the first of many in 2019 for Reyes.
"I'm sure the fanbase feels differently about him now then when he was first called up because he can play," Hurdle said.
1. Tie one on Taillon.
Taillon might have had longer outings, including a pair of complete games earlier this season. But few were as dominant as Tuesday's.
The 26-year-old established a new career high by striking out 11 Royals. He topped his former mark of 10 -- set July 12 against Milwaukee -- by catching Bonifacio looking to lead off the seventh:
"This was right there at the top," Hurdle said of Taillon's latest gem. "The number of swings and misses, the punch-outs, the fact that there wasn't a lot of hard contact, there was not a walk. There was only four three-ball counts and everyone of them he answered. That curveball, that's a hammer. He had that all night long. He had it early and he stayed with it and the fastball continued to play. Mixed the two- and four-seam fastball. When he didn't have the slider, the curveball came and it stayed and it was a difference maker tonight."
In his third season, the 2010 second overall pick has been outstanding, finally putting together his immense talent:
"Right now it's going really well," he said. "I guess I'm proving some people right or maybe proving some people wrong, but it feels good to be on a roll."
The only thing that Taillon didn't do Tuesday was pick up the win after throwing seven shutout innings and allowing just four hits.
Taillon stood to earn his 14th win when Colin Moran hit a pinch-hit solo home run in the bottom of the seventh. However, that lead didn't hold up.
The right-hander gave way to Rich Rodriguez, who struck out the side in the eighth, setting up Felipe Vazquez in the ninth for what could have been his 35th save.
However, Vazquez gave up a one-out walk to Bonifacio and then pinch-hitter Salvador Perez, Kansas City's leader in home runs and RBI's, singled. One out later, pinch-hitter Hunter Dozier doubled to left, scoring Bonifacio with the tying run. Fortunately for the Pirates, Jordy Mercer threw out Perez, who was coming around with the go-ahead run.
It was Vazquez's first blown save in 25 opportunities, dating back to May 31. The NL All-Star had been riding the longest active streak in MLB and the second-longest this season.
2. Lavarnway comes through in clutch.
The Pirates may have been throwing Ryan Lavarnway a bone when they called him up to Pittsburgh earlier this month, a reward for his stellar work and leadership in Indianapolis this season.
Well, the 31-year-old journeyman catcher has more than earned his keep.
After hitting a pinch-double in St. Louis a week ago, Lavarnway added his second hit as a Pirate on Tuesday and it came at a most opportune moment.
After Starling Marte and Josh Bell reached base, they advanced into scoring position on Meibly Viloria's passed ball. After Cervelli struck out, Frazier was walked to load the bases.
On a 2-1 pitch from Burch Smith, Lavarnway hit a sharp line drive up the middle to score Marte with the winning run:
It was the 79th hit in Lavarnway's seven-year career, a journey that's taken him to stops in Boston, Baltimore, Oakland, Atlanta and now Pittsburgh. No one seemed happier for him than Hurdle.
"Those are just exciting moments," the manager said. "Those are moments that make coaching really significant."
Lavarnway had been hitting .288 with nine home runs and 33 RBIs in 77 games in Triple-A this season. After trying to hit for power his whole career, the 6-4, 240 pounder said he's simplified his swing by trying less.
"Everyone's been telling me to hit home runs for a long time," he said. "So trying to find out that I hit home runs without the extra effort. I think it was kind of a coming-of-age in my maturity baseball-wise."
It was the second straight game that the Pirates scored a walk-off win against the hapless Royals thanks to the heroics of a backup catcher. On Monday it was Jacob Stallings turn to get a Gatorade bath. Coincidentally, the two catchers have forged a strong friendship while working together in Indianapolis:
3. Kevin Kramer vs. Kevin Kramer.
The rookie infielder was having a tough time of it Tuesday afternoon. During BP, the 24-year-old was sporting Fresno State Bulldogs eyeblack stickers. That was the payback for the UCLA alum losing a bet to Jordan Luplow's old school in football on Saturday.
That was nothing compared to Monday night though.
For most players, regardless of experience, an 0-for-4 night with three strikeouts isn't considered good. At all. But for Kramer, taking the sombrero on Monday was progress.
The September call-up is batting just .167 and has just three hits in 19 at bats, the last of which came five games ago.
However, Kramer had two quality at bats on Monday and was able to barrel Jake Newberry's 0-1 94 mph four-seamer to the warning track in the eighth inning.
"Honestly, I was surprised at how far it carried," Kramer was telling me a day later. "I knew I hit it really well. I thought it was too low. In the minors that ball doesn't go that far."
Then, with two out in the ninth of a 6-6 game, Kramer worked a five-pitch walk off the Royals' Ben Lively before Jacob Stallings drove him in with the winning run.
Kramer wasn't in Tuesday's starting lineup but he entered the game in the 10th at third base and can add another quality at-bat from which to build on.
In the bottom of the 10th, Kramer crushed a Smith pitch to deep left field but this time it was Alex Gordon who made a great running grab at the track in front of the 379 sign.
Like any call-up. he's learning to adjust to major-league pitching. At the time of his recall, he had been hitting .311 with an .866 OPS in Indianapolis.
"I just got to focus on the good and learn form the bad," Kramer said. "Just chalk it up as baseball. It's part of the game. Obviously, it was kind of a rough stretch there. Not out of it by any means, but I think if I can focus on the good and use them moving forward, I'll be in a better spot."