Joey Meneses is the latest in an interesting trend recently, and that trend is career minor leaguers making the show and making up for lost time in SECONDS FLAT.
The news outlets fawned over the story of Wynton Bernard, the 31-year-old who finally got a shot for the Rockies, as well as Nate Fisher, the financial analyst who'd given up on the game til the Mets came calling, and Mark Appel, the former #1 draft pick who retired, came back and made the Phillies. These are always cool, but I worry about the fleeting nature of a lot of them. For instance, you definitely heard about Fisher getting called up by the Mets, but you probably haven't heard about the fact that Fisher, because of team control rules being what they are, already having been DFA'd by the Mets after ONE GAME. And yes, I get it, it's a formality, the Mets will likely not release Fisher and simply send him back down to Syracuse, but...the general consensus is that these stories have a lot of novelty and not a lot of other significance.
I mean, you remember the story of Jim Morris making it to the Rays but not that the Rays cut him after 2 years. You remember the majesty of Adam Greenberg finally making it back to the plate after 10 years but not that he struck out and never played again. And you remember the joy of Chris Coste in Philly during the 2006 season, but not that the Phils waived him in favor of the slightly more amicable defensive abilities of Paul Bako in order to compete for a World Series.
This shit generally doesn't end well. It's a nice STORY, but unless you're an anomaly, generally those good feelings don't always last if your glorious achievement is just making the show.
But then you have Meneses. Career minor leaguer, drafted by the Braves in 2011, carried til he hits AA in 2017, then picked up by Philly, where he becomes a pretty memorable part of the 2018 IronPigs season. He then goes off to the Japanese leagues, where he only hits .206 in 28 games, and cools down in the Mexican leagues. In 2021, he made a name for himself as a member of the WooSox and kept on fighting to make a major league roster. This year in Rochester, Meneses hit 20 home runs and 64 RBIs. And, after the Nats got picked clean at the deadline again, it was finally time for the longtime utility man to make the majors.
Since coming up, Meneses has been a jolt of energy for the Nats, batting .318 with 21 hits and 5 homers. It's clear that he's no Juan Soto, and considering that the Nats also have 34-year-old sophomore Yadiel Hernandez and 41-year-old DH Nelson Cruz, it doesn't set the best example for new rookies, but...he's already a big part of this team, and he's finally achieving his dream of making the show.
The end could be as fleeting for Meneses as it was for Morris, Greenberg and Coste. But I hope he enjoys every last second of it.
Coming Tomorrow- A power hitter for a team that's burned through a lot of valid choices this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment