Former Met of the Day: Kevin McReynolds (1987-1990 / 1994)

Walter Kevin McReynolds was born October 16, 1959 in Little Rock Arkansas. A star athlete in high school, eventually The Kevin McReynolds Sports Complex was named in his honor there. He was drafted 1st round by the Padres out of the University of Arkansas in 1981, winning the California League & Pacific Coast League MVP awards back to back.

He came up in 1983 and was the Padres center fielder in their 1984 NL Championship season hitting 20 HRs 75 RBIs & batting .278. In the NLCS he hit .300 with a HR and four RBIS, but missed the World Series due to injury. After an off year in 1985 he slugged 26 HRs, 31 doubles, was 6th in the league with 96 RBIs and batted .299 in 1986. After the Mets won the 1986 World Series they went out and got McReynolds in a trade for Kevin Mitchell, Sean Abner & Stan Jefferson. The front office thought Mitchell was a bad influence on Gooden & Strawberry.

McReynolds had a great year as the Mets leftfielder. Hitting 29 HRs,32 doubles, 95 RBIs, stealing 14 bases and batting .276. He was a calm player who did everything quietly and didn’t give the media anything interesting to quote him on. This irked some fans & media as well, and no matter what McReynolds did they would always want more. Looking back, he had some great years behind the superstars of Strawberry & Hernandez but got never got the credit he deserved.

1988 was probably his best season as he finished third overall in the MVP voting, helping the Mets win the Eastern title. He hit .288, was in the top five in the NL with 99 RBIs, & 27 HRs, while again hitting over 30 doubles. He set a major league record for most stolen bases in a season without getting caught, swiping 21 bases. In his years with the Mets he stole 59 bases and only got caught 10 times. He had 18 outfield assists that season and 17 the next year. He was also among the league leaders in slugging percentage & sac flies.

He stayed in New York three more seasons playing in over 140 games each year. He hit over 22 HRs two more times with over 82 RBIs while batting .270 or better until his last season where he declined to 16 HRs 74 RBIs & a .259 batting average. By then the fans were getting on him and the media critiqued him as well. In the 1991 off season he was traded to Kansas City along with Greg Jeffries & Keith Miller for Bret Saberhagen & Bill Pecota.

He played two season in Kansas City but his skills were clearly fading, he never hit above .247 or had more than 13 HRs. He was sent back to the New York in his final season, as the Mets dumped Vince Coleman off to K.C. In his last year he played in 51 games hitting .256. McReynolds was a lifetime .256 hitter, in 1502 games he hit 211 HRs with 807 RBIs & 284 doubles along with 93 steals.