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“Joey.”
It is only fitting we’d sign one.
We in Metsville in 2024 briefly had Joey Wendle, which didn't go too well - but I was always pulling for Joey Lucchesi, who got stuck in the minors a lot and then went the free agent recently (understandably).
So, the Mets thankfully made the “Joey deficit” up to me by signing another Joey, namely one Joey Meneses.
One thing you can say about Meneses...he is a ballplayer.
As in….He plays a lot.
Since he started out in pro ball in 2011, he has played in 1,773 games, and been up a whopping 7,162 times.
A remarkable 30% of those plate appearances have been in winter ball, where he has been to the plate nearly 2,200 times.
For Meneses, all that 4 seasons per year work finally paid off in 2022.
He started out in the Braves organization, then to the Phillies and Red Sox organizations, before latching on with the Nationals organization.
It took him 11 years to reach the majors at age 30, with Washington, and when he did in 2022, he did it in a big way.
He got in 56 Nats games and hit a remarkable .324, with a .563 slug %.
He finally got called up for the very first time in August 2022 right after the Nats traded away Josh Bell...and some slugger named JUAN SOTO!
Joey hit well in 2023, too, and played a ton, with an Alonso-like 657 PAs for the Nats, hitting .275/.321/.401, with 50 extra base hits and 89 RBIs. (Pete Alonso in 2024 was up 695 times, hit just .240, and had 88 RBIs).
In 2024, Joey the M played less and hit lower (.231) in 76 games and just 313 PAs, with 42 runs belted in for the Nats, and also spent a chunk of time in AAA as the Nats' youth movement kicked in.
As of November 25, though, “Working Joey” has since season’s end has already played in 32 winter ball games, hitting a robust .319 with a .560 slugging %.
He was born in Culiacan, and plays winter ball there. I only know the name "Culiacan" from watching the 2004 movie thriller Collateral with Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, and Javier Bardem, among others. Good flick.
Meneses has played 1B (in the majors, just one error there) and in the outfield and had even played some 3B in the minors.
A 6'3", 235 righty hitter, he is not an Alonso in terms of power, as he has "just" 181 pro HRs in those 7,100+ plate appearances. More, it seems, like a righty Ed Kranepool.
His career MLB stats from 2022 to 2024 are certainly pretty solid:
1,114 at bats, 29 HRs, 165 RBIs, .274/.322/.408.
The question for him is will his MLB stats continue their 2024 decline due to age. He turns 33 in May 2025, making him still a month younger than our very own Jeff McNeil.
It will be interesting to see where he fits in for the 2025 Mets. He probably is an injury fill-in type and will be playing in AAA until needed, unless he has an opt-out clause in his contract, but that I don't know.
Lastly, I would be remiss not to point out that he has not hit well in his brief time playing in games at Citifield, going .250 in 52 at bats, but with no extra base hits and just 3 walks. If he gets called up to Queens, that obviously will have to improve.
JOEY!!
5 comments:
On Joey I love the Sugerland song hopefully he will be as good.
I think Berlin has a song named “Joey”.
Very enjoyable piece on Menesis, Tom. It’s nice to read about something else besides Soto, Soto, and more Soto, which is on every site - blog or “news” - that exists. Meneses brings to mind Luke Ritter; can the kid not be given a chance? I understand the strikeouts are high, but how about coming to spring training and show something?
I’m glad to see that Maneses eventually got his chance. Too many opportunities are wasted on players that hand on too long just for the bright lights and really don’t care much if they succeed or not. Joey Votto should have retired. Adrian Gonzalez should have retired. Goldschmidt is close that. JD Martinez should retire. Wendle should retire. Let’s get some fresh faces that can’t possibly be any worse.
Gus, I had no plans on writing about Meneses, until I realized he was a guy who never gave up, and when given the chance, he smashed the door down. How utterly ironic that Soto hit 90 points lower for San Diego after the trade in 2022 than did the overlooked Joey Meneses. Can you imagine the Mets ever calling up a journeyman and having him do what Joey did in 2022 and 2023? .290, 50 doubles, 26 HRs, 123 RBIs in 833 at bats? We'd want a statue built for him.
Not holding my breath. He may have used all of his fuel in those Washington years, and now the rocket is parachuting back to earth.
Paul, I hear you. Meneses' 2024 was a downer, although not terrible. But given his age, and his only 1 1/3 prior superb years of prior performance, it is a real question as to whether he has a real bounce-back in him. We give much more benefit of the doubt as far as bouncing back to someone with a longer track record.
He is yet another example of the unfairness of clubs only carrying 13 hitters and not 15, as they did in the 1960s and 1970s. Two extra spots per team and he probably would be an 8-10 year veteran instead. His 1 1/3 stellar seasons in 2022 and 2023 were probably better than any similar stretch from Ed Kranepool and Ron Swoboda.
His 2023 was far better of a season than Dom Smith ever had, and Joey's 2022 short stint measured up extremely well against Smith's outlier truncated season in 2020.
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