Where Are They Now: Blake McGinley

I recently had the chance to speak with former Mets' farmhand Blake McGinley. The lefty reliever has been out of professional baseball since 2007, after spending six years in the Mets' system and one in the Marlins' organization. Now a husband and father of two, McGinley works as a baseball instructor for Dallas Bat in Texas, but soon will move to Florida, where he hopes to land a job back in professional baseball as a coach.

You can read my article on Blake here.

Here are some of the highlights of my interview with Blake.

On what he has been up to since leaving baseball:

“Finished school in ’08, graduated from North Texas University. Working as a lead instructor at a baseball academy in Frisco, Texas, called D-Bat (Dallas Bat). I’m actually moving to Sarasota at the end of the month, since my wife got a promotion, and hopefully I’m going to do some coaching out there.”

On the 2001 season in Brooklyn:

“It was unbelievable. They treated us just like we were major league players already. The fans were awesome. There’s no better place to play besides the big leagues. It helped prepared me. The atmosphere makes you step up your game a little more—the crowd is unbelievable. They support you, especially if you’re doing good. It’s always fun playing in front of big crowds. You step up your game, and you get a little more adrenaline flowing, it’s a lot better than playing somewhere where there’s only 300 fans.”

On his salary in his first season in professional baseball:

“You don’t get paid much in A ball, I think it was maybe $800 at the most. Luckily, they paid for living, and you just put it away and try to save it for the offseason.”

On the “culture shock” he experienced in his first professional season in Brooklyn:

“I definitely experienced a culture shock going to New York. It was pretty exciting, it was something different. I’m always up to checking out new places and traveling, so it was fun for me.”

On the 2001 Cyclones:

“That season was awesome. My teammates were awesome, we all stayed together as a team, we were all supportive of one another, and hung out together. We had good team chemistry.”

On former teammates he still keeps in touch with:

“Lenny DiNardo, David Bacani, David Byard…”

On David Wright:

"David Wright--I played with him for three years. He acts like a professional and treated himself well, and you just knew that he was going to be a star."

On Joe Mauer:

"I faced him a few times and I don't think I ever got him out."

On whether he was frustrated to never have gotten a chance to play in Queens:

"Yeah, it was frustrating. I really thought 2004 was going to be my year. It's upsetting, but it's part of the game. It's a business, and you have to look at it that way"