Mark Reynolds is a remarkable player. Reynolds plays third base for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and you probably know that last year he set a Major League record with 204 strikeouts. This year he is on pace to strike out a preposterous 232 times. Fair to say that there has never been a hitter in the big leagues quite like him.</p><p> But one thing that is true about baseball: You have to be really good to be really bad. It has to balance out. Kansas City&rsquo;s Tony Pe&ntilde;a Jr. is quite obviously a terrible hitter. He&rsquo;s hitting .097 this year, he&rsquo;s hitting .160 the last two years. So he must be a good defensive shortstop or he would not be in the big leagues. And he is good defensively. Manny Ramirez is a lousy outfielder and a general pain in the neck, so he must be a great hitter or teams would have jettisoned him a long time ago. He is a great-great hitter.</p><p> Mark Reynolds <em>has </em>to be really good at something in order to keep getting enough opportunities to set (and probably break) the all-time strikeout record. And he is: When Reynolds hits the baseball, he hits it hard. It&rsquo;s stunning, really. Last season, when Reynolds actually hit the ball, he batted .385. To give you an idea about that, last year when Joe Mauer hit the ball, he batted .362. And Mauer led the American League in hitting.</p><p> But even that&rsquo;s nothing compared to this year. When Reynolds hits the ball this season, he hits .462. There are few words to even describe that. Ted Williams, when he hit .406 in 1941, hit .431 when he connected. George Brett in 1980, when he was about as hot as anyone ever, batted .410 when he hit the ball. This guy&rsquo;s hitting .462. </p><p> Of course, this is one of the dangers of figuring statistics in mid-June &mdash; it&rsquo;s unlikely Raul Iba&ntilde;ez will hit 57 homers this year and it&rsquo;s unlikely Mauer will hit .429 and it&rsquo;s unlikely Jason Bay will drive in 160 RBIs. And it&rsquo;s very unlikely that Reynolds will continue to hit for that high an average when he connects.</p><p> Still &mdash; you never know. We got to see a bit of what makes Mark Reynolds so unique on Wednesday. To be blunt: There wasn&rsquo;t much else to see. The Royals lost to the Diamondbacks 12-5, snapping their four-game winning streak. Kansas City starter Zack Greinke wasn&rsquo;t sharp. The Royals&rsquo; defense was preposterously sloppy &mdash; three errors &mdash; and this even though they did their strange and mystical &ldquo;magic circle&rdquo; defense drill before the game. In this drill, the Royals gather in a circle on the infield and throw the ball around, not unlike the way the Harlem Globetrotters do before games while &ldquo;Sweet Georgia Brown&rdquo; plays. The only major differences being that (1) the Globetrotters don&rsquo;t seem to drop the ball as often, and (2) the Globetrotters tend to win after doing it.</p><p> Anyway: Reynolds came up in the first inning with a runner in scoring position. He and Greinke then battled, a tough seven-pitch at-bat that included a 98-mph fastball and an 82-mph change-up that seemed to fool everyone including the umpire. This is the variety Greinke can throw at anyone &mdash; even on his off nights he can wow you.</p><p> With the count full, 3-2, Greinke threw his disappearing slider, the one that looks like it will split the plate and then, in the final instant, the ball turns sharply left (or, from Reynolds&rsquo; perspective, sharply to the right). Reynolds swung and missed. That was strikeout 91 for Reynolds on the young season.</p><p> Reynolds led off the fourth inning. This time, it took only three pitches. Greinke threw a slow curveball, 73 mph, that Reynolds helplessly watched cross for a strike. Greinke then threw an even slower curveball in almost exactly the same place, this one 67 mph, and Reynolds fouled it off. Then Greinke threw the high fastball &mdash; probably the most effective strikeout pitch in baseball history &mdash; and Reynolds swung and missed. That was strikeout 92 for Reynolds this year.