A year in the life of Justin Morneau and Jose Reyes

As part of my MLB coverage for the coming season, I have decided to follow the fortunes of a couple of intriguing players and provide you all with weekly updates and statistical breakdowns of how they are getting on. Those two players are Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins and Jose Reyes of the Miami Marlins.

While Justin Morneau was an admittedly biased choice due to me being a die-hard Twins fan, I left the second choice to you, the readers, who overwhelmingly voted for Jose Reyes, the Dominican shortstop who instantly became the face of a revitalised Marlins franchise.

As an introductory article, I thought I would take a look at the career of both players prior to the season starting on Wednesday with a fascinating match-up between the Cards and Reyes’ Miami Marlins.

JUSTIN MORNEAU : Midway through the 2010 season, Justin Morneau had the world at his feet, but a knee to the head left the big Canadian with an uncertain future. He was on his way to an MVP type season, hitting .345 with 18 homers and 56 RBIs in just 81 games and had been called up to his fourth consecutive All-Star game.

Unfortunately, his collision, sliding into second base in an away fixture against the Toronto Blue Jays brought a premature end to his season, and indeed, stopped him from taking part in the All-Star festivities.

Going into the 2011 season, all of baseball was keen to see Morneau return to the form he showed prior to the concussion, but it just didn’t happen. A series of ailments including flu, wrist, neck and foot injuries, along with a recurrence of post-concussion syndrome, meant that Morneau had career worst stats in almost every offensive category. He played in just 69 games, collecting 60 hits for a .227 average. More worryingly, perhaps, was the distinct lack of power the slugger showed, managing a measly four home runs.

It was hoped off-season wrist surgery would see the big guy return, finally, to the form that made him the 2006 AL MVP, but again, many people were left wondering when more than halfway through Spring Training, Morneau was batting .091. Then, it just clicked. A 2-for-2 with 2 HRs and 5 RBIs display against the Phillies was followed up by hitting safely in the next five games, during which spell his average rose from .091 to .246. He also hit another long ball and six RBIs.

This is a pivotal season in the career of Justin Morneau, because if he fails to shake the post-concussion symptoms then to suggest that his career could be over may not be far from the truth. To combat that, however, it appears that the Twins will use Morneau predominantly at the DH spot throughout the early part of the season to decrease the possibility of him colliding with a runner at first base.

As a Twins fan, it is admittedly with a mixture of trepidation and excitement that I will be following the fortunes of Justin Morneau this season.

Career Stats : 1,017 games (all with Minnesota), .281 AVG, 185 HRs and 709 RBIs

JOSE REYES : The affable Dominican speedster is coming off a career year in which he claimed the NL batting title for the first time in his career, hitting .337 and stealing 37 bases. Yet the reason that so many of you wanted me to follow him is the fact that he made the move from New York to Miami where he will instantly be the face of a revitalised Marlins franchise in their first season in their new home, new uniforms and new name.

The Florida Marlins were well known for being penny pinchers, mainly due to constraints placed upon them, but with the move they were able to spend like never before and the $106 million they invested in Jose Reyes is more than they invested in their entire Opening Day rosters for four seasons between 2006-2009, a frankly ridiculous statistic.

With the likes of Stanton, Ramirez and Reyes, the Marlins are going to be an offensive juggernaut and there will be sure to be base stealing a plenty in Florida this summer, with Jose Reyes right at the forefront. A .378 batting average in his last ten Spring Training games suggests that he’s fitting right into life in Miami.

However, there are always going to be questions about the health of the 28 year old, as he has played just 295 games in the last three seasons and his aggressive style of play hardly helps on that front. In 2009 he missed all but 36 games due to a slew of leg muscle injuries.

Reyes left the Mets in the off-season after making his debut for the franchise in June 2003 and went on to become the franchise leader in stolen bases (370) and triples (99) and is a four time All-Star.

Career stats : 1,050 games (all with the Mets), .292 AVG, 81 HRs, 423 RBIs and 370 SBs