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Reynolds knew Griffey was special from start
- Updated: July 21, 2016
SEATTLE — Harold Reynolds remembers the first time he saw Ken Griffey Jr. as a 17-year-old kid, taking batting practice with the Mariners in the Kingdome after being selected as the first pick in the 1987 MLB Draft.
Reynolds, now a lead analyst for MLB Network, was a 26-year-old second baseman at the time for the Mariners, fully established as a big league ballplayer and fresh off his first All-Star Game for Seattle. But he knew this kid, The Kid, was something different.
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“He had this big ol’ Afro and we all knew about his dad, so we were picturing this guy that was going to swing one-handed, hit the ball the other way and run,” Reynolds said. “But he hopped into the cage to work out with the team, like they do with first-round picks after they sign, and he started hitting balls into the third deck. It was ridiculous.
“I told him right then, ‘You wasted three years in the big leagues by going to high school.’ He was that good already.”
Griffey wound up spending a year and a half in the Minors, playing 129 games at Class A and Double-A before forcing his way onto the Mariners at the ripe age of 19. Everyone remembers his double off the A’s Dave Stewart in his first Major League at-bat, but Reynolds picks up the story before that.
“What I remember more was Spring Training,” Reynolds said. “He hit like .500 that spring. I’m not joking. Every day, he did something special. Then right before the season opened, we were in Las Vegas for an exhibition game on April Fool’s Day and [manager Jim] Lefebvre …
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