CINCINNATI -- Bryan Reynolds never seems to get too high or too low. As Mitch Keller put it, Reynolds has a way of remaining "cool, calm and collected" regardless of the situation or the pressure that may come with it.
"I think if you look at the best pros in the game, they just have professional at-bats and don't let anything get to them or let them get down for the next one," Keller said. "I don't know how many times it's been down to the last at-bat during this streak, but it's just a testament to him and how calm and collected he is up there."
The tranquil attitude Reynolds possesses has seemingly come in handy during this current stretch in which he's boasted Major League Baseball's longest active hitting streak. Reynolds went 2 for 5 in the Pirates' 9-5 victory over the Reds at Great American Ball Park Tuesday night, extending his streak to 22 games with a two-run home run off of Hunter Greene in the first inning:
Bryan Reynolds just keeps hitting.
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 25, 2024
His 22-game hitting streak is the longest for the season in MLB. pic.twitter.com/yjgWMwWUth
"Really consistent," Derek Shelton said. "Just every at-bat he has, it looks like he's going to do damage."
Reynolds, whose previous career-best hitting streak occurred over a 17-game span in 2019, now owns the longest streak in all of baseball this season, surpassing the 21-game stretches put forth by Anthony Volpe of the Yankees and Ketel Marte of the Diamondbacks. And while Reynolds has managed to feature a .360/.418/.663 slash line with six home runs and 16 RBIs since beginning the streak on the first of the month, he hasn't changed his mindset with each passing day.
"Just another game," Reynolds said. "Every at-bat is new and different. Every pitcher is trying to do something different to you, so it just restarts every day.”
Reynolds' month of June has included 10 multi-hit performances as he's watched his season batting average swell from .249 on the final day of May to its current .280 state. While the Pirates' offense has collectively performed as one of MLB's lowest-producing units, Reynolds has helped carry the weight of the group by leading the team in batting average, on-base percentage (.347), slugging percentage (.475), OPS (.822), hits (89), doubles (19), home runs (13) and RBIs (46). Not to mention he's the only player on the team to have played in all 79 games this season. Sounds like a guy who has proven himself worthy of the eight-year, $106.75 million contract he signed with the Pirates last year.
"I wouldn't say he's been as hot as he is right now, this is probably one of the best stretches he's ever been on, but there have been countless times where I've seen him hot on both sides," said Ke'Bryan Hayes, who has played with Reynolds since their days at Class AA Altoona in 2018. "When he first got called up from Triple-A, he was hitting like .390 with like six home runs -- two or three on each side. That's just the type of player he is. He can impact the game in so many ways, whether it's hitting, defensively, running the bases, all that stuff. Over the years, it's been awesome to be able to watch him."
What's also stood out to Hayes is Reynolds' ability to put rough patches behind him. He hit a lackluster .235 in the month of April and followed that up with a more reasonable month of May in which he batted .250. Nowadays, he's looking like a completely different hitter, one who's placing an emphasis on simply having good at-bats, driving the ball and letting the home runs and extra-base hits -- they've accounted for 14 of his 32 hits this month -- come as a result.
"Even when he's struggled, he's been able to turn it around pretty quickly and be that anchor in the middle of the lineup," Hayes said. "Whenever he's at his best, the homers just happen. He's a guy who has a really good eye, takes his walks and makes good contact. He's a really good hitter. Being a contact-first guy who goes gap to gap is what really makes him so elite. He's strong enough that if you leave a pitch up or he gets his swing off on it and it happens to be up front, he has a good chance of hitting it out."
Reynolds has helped make the guys around him better, too. That includes Oneil Cruz, who has frequently spent time hitting behind him in the three-hole and cleanup spot.
"It's great to hit behind Reynolds just because I've taken a lot from his ABs, the way they pitch him because they're similar to the way they pitch me," Cruz said via interpreter and major-league coach Stephen Morales. "I just learn a lot from watching him take ABs."
In addition to his lengthy hitting streak, Reynolds is also riding a team-best RBI streak of six straight games. His two RBIs Tuesday allowed him to surpass the previous marks set by Connor Joe and Michael A. Taylor earlier this season. This is the third time in his career that Reynolds has driven in a run in six straight games, matching a pair of instances in which he did it April of last year. Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers (nine games), Brendan Donovan of the Cardinals (seven games) and Yandy Diaz of the Rays (seven games) are the only players in baseball with longer RBI streaks.
Still, even with two active streaks ongoing, don't expect Reynolds' attitude to change. He'll maintain his calm demeanor when he steps to the plate against the Reds for the series finale on Wednesday and look to make an impact without giving any thought towards what's at stake.
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