I still wonder if there's a possibility that he and TLR or Dunc aren't exactly sharing Christmas cards.  

if those results are unsustainable over time, that will become apparent soon enough --- the evidence will show it, and duncan's wisdom will be demonstrated yet again. but maybe the results are sustainable; we have no evidence to the contrary. we only have conjecture and theory; we have dave duncan's opinion that reyes can't get away with the high heat.

i respect dave duncan tremendously, but the evidence we have so far contradicts him.

The reason I disagree is based mostly on what I've seen from Reyes in his brief career.  I only saw him pitch once in the minors, at Memphis, so my knowledge is almost exclusively based on his Major League starts.  

If you look at the best starts Reyes has had, you're primarily looking at his first few starts last season, his one start in 05, and his World Series performance.  In each of those starts, he was throwing high in the zone, and he was throwing hard.  I actually have the White Sox game on DVD, (I dvred it at the time, then transferred it because it was too good to erase) and his fastball was consistently in the mid 90s range.  He hit 97 no less than four times, if I remember correctly.  I haven't watched it in a month or two, so I won't swear to it, but I'm pretty sure of my memory.  His Milwaukee start from 05 was much the same.  In the first two innings he topped out at about 92, and I said to my father, (who I was watching the game with) that I was under the impression this kid threw really hard.  After the second, he seemed to loosen up and hit as high as 96.  In his first few starts last season, he consistently threw very hard.  Now, if you want to say he's hurt, or he's just lost velocity, that's fine.  That's another issue.  My point is that when Reyes has had the best success, he's been throwing hard and high.  Go and look at the World Series start.  In the first, he was throwing a lot of offspeed stuff, trying to trick hitters and keeping the ball low in the zone.  After the first inning, Duncan apparently told him to go with the fastball.  If you watch the rest of the game, he was consistently going up and in on hitters, tying them up with the heater and recording the majority of his outs by way of pop ups and weak fly balls.  His velocity wasn't great, but he hit 91 on the Fox gun, which was around 4-5 mph slower than their speed on the FoxTrak feature.  (For reference, Verlander topped out at 92 a couple of times on the main broadcast gun, but a couple of his pitches at 89 on the main display were on FoxTrak at 94.)  If you believe the FoxTrak gun, which I tend to, based on comparative velo from Verlander and Rodney, he was pitching right around 90-93, with one or two pitches all the way up to 95 or so.  Each time we have seen Reyes pitching aggressively, up in the strike zone, he has been very good.  The longer he has been under Duncan's tutelage, though, trying to alter his approach, his performance has become markedly worse.  

The mechanical issue between the two seam and four seam fastball is fairly significant.  Actually, I should say, the difference between just throwing a fastball and trying to throw a sinker is different.  A fastball is thrown from more behind the pitch, with a pulling through the ball sort of motion.  On a sinker, you're turning the ball over, almost rolling your hand over the top of the ball.  Trying to learn how to sink the ball can have a marked impact on a pitcher's arm action.  Once you start messing with the muscle memory and doing something unfamiliar with your hand and wrist, it can be very difficult to get yourself back into the proper position.  Just ask any golfer who has ever tried to implement a swing change, only to discover that the things they previously did well are now problems, and have been unable to get back.  

As for the statistical anomaly bit, you're right.  That is an anomaly.  But I think it's a very telling anomaly.  Yes, it probably is impossible for anyone to maintain that sort of ridiculous rate, but the fact that, even over 53 swings, his high fastball has been almost unhittable is still meaningful.  The stat is inflated, but still related closely to the truth.  His high fastball is a very difficult pitch to hit, due to good velocity and  an unusual amount of movement and "jump".  Albert Pujols' or Alex Rodriguez's 14 home runs in a month are also statistical anomalies, but still indicative of their prowess as power hitters.  I think the same is true of Reyes' high FB low rate of being put in play.  

The last little bit of your argument is, to my way of thinking, the real gist of this whole thing.  You say the problem isn't the two seamer itself, but the fact that Anthony Reyes can't properly locate it.  I think that's actually the contention of most everyone here who has a problem with the Duncan paradigm of pitching low to groundball type contact.  I personally don't have a problem with that philosophy.  Groundball pitchers are great.  They're usually efficient, stay away from the gopher ball, and they can get a double play when they need it.  The problem is that Anthony Reyes seems to struggle when he attempts to throw this pitch.  In spite of that very basic fact, the braintrust insists on trying to make him into a sinkerballer.  You yourself say that if he hasn't learned the pitch in two years of trying to throw it, it says something about his ability.  I think that's very true.  I think it says that Anthony Reyes is not well suited to be a sinker style pitcher.  There are pitchers who can't throw a curveball, and pitchers who can't figure out a good changeup grip.  The answer, in those cases, generally is not to keep forcing the pitcher is question to throw the pitch he's not good with.  You figure out what the guy does well, then help him maximize what he can get out of his abilities.  Johnny Cash was an amazing musician, but guess what?  He had a very limited vocal range.  So what did he do?  Well, he didn't try to bust out the falsetto, that's for sure.  

Not every pitcher falls under the same range of abilities, for good and bad.  Anthony Reyes seems to be at his best throwing up in the zone with a four seam fastball.  Despite the fact that he's been the most successful with that style, the current management of this team continues to try and force him to alter his approach.  All of your points are worthy of consideration, but it comes down to that basic dichotomy.  The more Anthony Reyes has tried to conform to Dave Duncan's methodology, the less success he has had.  Maybe he just isn't that good a pitcher.  But he certainly seems to have been able to get outs, both in the minors and at the Major League level, by pitching to his strengths.  To try and force him to go away from those strengths, to me, just doesn't make sense.  That is my contention with the handling of Reyes.  

If you guys remember, the WS start was against a cold Tiger team who seemed to be very jumpy, and IIRC, was sitting on Reyes' changeup.  In the 1st innning of that game, he got in trouble, and got out of it.  Thereafter, he attacked with his fastball, then used his changeup as his strikeout pitch...yada yada yada, we win the series.  

I see Duncan's side as well.  I'm not sure that Reyes can live off a solid, 91-94 MPH 4-seamer and a solid, not spectacular changeup, and survive in the show for a long period of time.  The 2-seamer is likely not the answer, but what is?  

I believe that Reyes has worked hard on the 2-seamer and he has not been able to master it.  For a guy that has had so much success in college and in the minors, it is undoubtedly frustrating for him to go against what has worked for him and fail.  Put yourself in his shoes - and tell me you wouldn't have the same reaction that he has had.

I also see that his delivery is not suited for a sinker.  He does not stay on top of the ball well.  He's not a tall guy, and he uses his legs quite a bit to generate power.

So what's the answer? I say you let him pitch his way in the bigs and see what happens.  I'd give him a 50/50 chance of succeeding in that situation.