In 1994, the St. Louis Cardinals drafted Reichert in the 11th round, 306th overall, but he did not sign, choosing to go to play in college at the University of the Pacific. In 1995 and 1996, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod Baseball League.[1] In 1997, he was the Big West Conference Pitcher of the Year, a First Team College All-American and a Big West Conference All-Star and was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 1st round (7th overall). He signed for a $1.45 million bonus and spent less than three seasons in the minors, where he saw much success before getting the call to the big leagues. In 1999, he was a Triple-A All-Star. On July 16, 1999, at the age of 23, he made his major league debut with the Kansas City Royals. He finished his debut season with an ERA of 9.08.
The main criticism against Reichert had always been his control, or lack thereof. In 1999, Reichert walked 32 and struck out only 20 in just over 36 innings. When Reichert is "on", he can dominate by inducing multiple groundballs. According to one source: "He's got a nice moving fastball that tops out in the low-90s. He likes to work low in the zone and give his infielders some work. [He is a] borderline big-league reliever [because] he tries to be too fancy, [and] it backfires on him, because he doesn't have a lot of fancy pitches to work with after the fastball."[2] In 2000, Reichert led the league with 18 wild pitches in only 153+ innings.
