Sophomore hoping for big second half for PHS baseball
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
A promising freshman year set the bar high for Hayden Reyes, and he has lived up to lofty expectations in his second season of varsity baseball.
The sophomore shortstop has improved in every facet of the game. He remains one of the finest fielders in the Colonial Valley Conference and this year has his batting average up in the stratosphere with a .405 start through the first 13 games while adding solid pitching.
”I felt like coming back from playing as a freshman, my expectations were higher than a lot of players,” said Reyes, a Cranbury product. “I was expected to be more of a leader on the team.”
Reyes is hoping he can help to lead the Little Tigers to a big second half of the season. PHS suffered a pair of tough losses in the last 10 days. Instead of potentially winning three of their last five games, they have just one win to show for some solid pitching efforts.
”We lost two games where we had leads in the seventh inning,” said PHS head coach Dave Roberts, whose team was 4-9 going into Thursday’s scheduled game against Trenton. “You add those in and subtract those two losses to (West Windsor-Plainsboro) South and Lakewood and we’re 6-7 and that’s much better than 4-9 with 14 games still left to play. 6-7 looks great, not that 4-9 looks terrible.”
Reyes sees potential in the Little Tigers. It’s just a matter of putting everything together at the right time.
”We’re just missing clutch hitting late in the game,” Reyes said. “We’ve been close in a lot of our games. We’re in games and have guys on and need two or three runs. We need that one hit to tie up the game.
”I think the second half of the season will be a lot better for us,” he added. “The first half, our losses were where were made one mistake. I think the less experienced sophomores and freshmen will learn from those and capitalize later in the season.”
PHS has a mix of experience and youth, though one of their most experienced starting pitchers, Ben Gross, has been hurt this season. That’s forced more innings from less experienced starters, but PHS has been pleasantly surprised with how smoothly they have performed.
”I would have to say there hasn’t been a drop-off from our pitching staff,” Roberts said. “I had a couple seniors combine for something like 80 innings last year. Without Ben, that’s another 50 innings gone. We’ve replaced a whole staff, and the quality hasn’t really taken a hit. Joaquin (Hernandez-Burt) has been a workhorse, and Hayden and Jeff Gleason have done well. I thought it would be hard to replace all those innings.
”Jeff Gleason is a senior. He was hurt all year and he didn’t get to pitch all last year. He had some success as a sophomore on JV. Not getting any experience last year was a huge disappointment for him. He’s done well.”
Reyes has been pitching more this season than he did last year. It’s part of where he sees improvement.
”Pitching last year was a struggle for me,” Reyes said. “This year, I’m having a lot more success. I’m a lot more confident up on the mound. It’s been a lot better.”
I’m a year older. I have more velocity. My pitching has obviously improved. My confidence is a lot higher.”
Reyes enjoys pitching, but prefers to patrol shortstop, a position he has manned since his early days in the Cranbury-Plainsboro Little League.
”Basically I’ve been there my whole life,” Reyes said. “There have been teams here and there where I didn’t play (shortstop).”
PHS wasted no time in throwing him in the key defensive spot in the infield, and he responded well to it. It helped that he had been playing with the New Jersey Marlins, a showcase team that prepared him to take on an older division.
”I remember my first game and I made an error,” Reyes said of his first PHS game last year. “The next couple games, I didn’t make any, and I went on to win defensive MVP. This year, I came in and my confidence was never higher. I’ve been doing well.
”It’s just faster. I came from playing with 17- and 18-year-olds on the Marlins. It wasn’t that big of a difference. It was just making the play and getting it to first in a reasonable amount of time.”
He has also found more success at the plate after going through a full season. He started last year and hit .318, though it was a challenge.
”I started off and I think my first six at bats, I was 0-for-6,” Reyes recalled. “I started to get the hang of it. This year, it’s a lot better.”
Reyes has settled into the second spot in the PHS lineup. He hits behind Colin Taylor, who is batting .308. Reyes was able to swing a solid bat last year, and he’s that much better in his second year of varsity play.
”It’s a higher level,” Reyes said. “Batting early in the lineup, I get a lot of off-speed pitches. In the beginning, I struggled to hit the off-speed. Now I sit on the curve and I can hit it more. The pitchers are a lot better and smarter at the higher level.
”My goal coming into this year was to bat .400. My goal next year is to hit .450. I want to get my average up and get more extra base hits. Most of my hits this year are singles. I’d like to have more doubles in there.”
Roberts has been impressed by Reyes’ play. He has come to expect big things from the youngster.
”He hit .318 as a freshman which is phenomenal,” Roberts said. “This year, he’s about 80 points higher. What makes him so consistent, some of it is natural talent, but he works at it. He’s a great defender. We’ve been through most of the CVC and I rank him up there in the top three defenders at shortstop.
”He has two and a half seasons left. I expect nothing but bigger and better things from him.”
Roberts is hoping for similar improvements out of his other emerging players. He has a trio of sophomores with Reyes that will be the backbone for years to come.
”Colin Taylor he has played shortstop, second and third,” Roberts said. “He’s been tremendous out of the leadoff spot. It’s always tough to ask a kid to move around that much in the infield, but he’s doing a great job. Joaquin has been tremendous on the mound. Those three sophomores are leading the way.”
PHS outfielder John Reid has also been a bright light in the lineup. He is hitting .395, while Dan Gross has been able to play as a designated hitter and put up a .357 average. PHS just needs to string together a few more hits to help even their record.
”Our big thing is a better approach at the plate and more timely hitting,” Roberts said. “We strike out way too much. That stems from the approach. We’ve been talking a lot about that.”
He expects that to come around as the Little Tigers get into the second half of the season and grow more comfortable with the level they are playing. PHS showed a lot of promise Tuesday night as they scored six runs in the first inning against Ewing. Rain, however, suspended the remainder of the game and PHS will look to pick up its momentum as it gears up for the Mercer County Tournament and possible state tournament berth.
”We have two games left that count for power points,” Roberts said. “We need a fifth win to qualify for states by my calculations. We’re going to get the games in, and the next two count for power points. We do need to pick up a win to qualify.
”Hopewell (on Saturday) is always a battle. If we don’t get the Trenton game in (Thursday), we play Pennington on Monday. We’re going to play them again in counties. Pennington is a 2 and we’re a 15.”