Bryan Reynolds put together a productive year for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2026, but the numbers suggest the power output could have looked a lot different with a friendlier setting.
According to Ballpark Pal, Reynolds was the unluckiest home run hitter in baseball last season, with an estimated 8.2 homers taken away by stadium and weather effects. The research platform studies park factors, ballpark dimensions and game-day weather conditions to gauge how they shape results.
That matters for Reynolds because so much of his season was filtered through PNC Park. Statcast says he would have finished with just 14 home runs if he had played all year there, which would have been the fewest of any MLB park. He actually hit 17.
The contrast gets even sharper at Wrigley Field. Statcast projects Reynolds would have launched 28 homers there over a full season, twice his actual total.
PNC Park has long been a tricky place for power, especially for right-handed hitters. The left-field line sits at 325 feet, but left-center stretches to 383 feet and the deep left-center “notch” reaches 410.
Center field is 399 feet away. On the other side, right field is 325 feet and right-center is 375, but the wall there - the Roberto Clemente Wall - rises 21 feet high in honor of the franchise legend’s uniform number.
Pirates legend Andrew McCutchen has suggested moving the left-field wall in, which isn’t much of a surprise given the challenge it creates for a right-handed bat. Reynolds, as a switch-hitter, has to deal with both problems: the longer distances in left and the towering wall in right.
Even with the lost power, Reynolds still turned in a strong season. He hit .261/.365/.424 with an .789 OPS, piling up 155 hits, 40 doubles, three triples, 72 RBI and 89 walks against 162 strikeouts.
He also played all 162 games, becoming the first Pirate to do that since Jason Bay in 2005. Reynolds led MLB in doubles, with Freddy Sanchez the last Pirate to do it in 2006, the same year Sanchez won the National League batting title.
Reynolds started hot and finished cold. In the first half, he hit .283/.400/.477 with an .877 OPS and 14 home runs. In the second half, those numbers fell to .229/.312/.347 with a .659 OPS and just three homers.
The Pirates veteran will enter his ninth year in 2027 at age 32, with the club still hoping to finally break its long postseason drought.
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