'All they need is the opportunity': September isn't so meaningless for these 3 MLB players Joey Meneses, Zack Kelly and Cal Stevenson all took winding roads to the majors – and are hoping to stick.
Sports Seriously: MLB insiders Bob Nightengale and Steve Gardner break down the Nationals' trade of Juan Soto how they could be better for it in the long run.As the cooler half of September arrives and bleeds into October, more than 300 Major League Baseball games will unfold, a precious few bearing the scrutiny invited by playoff races or historic achievements.
But the script changed when few were watching. Meneses was rushed to D.C., struck out against Jacob deGrom in his first career at bat but then homered in his third – and hasn’t stopped hitting since. Meneses credits mentorship with veteran Mexican players who touched the big leagues, such as Oscar Robles, with altering his mindset over time. The change of scenery did him well in 2018, when he hit 23 home runs at Class AAA Lehigh Valley and parlayed that into a contract with Orix in Japan’s Nippon Professional League.
Martinez nor GM Mike Rizzo are in no position to offer Meneses anything beyond this year, but the Nationals’ teardown gives the brain trust a rare opportunity: Two full months to evaluate new talent, not a massive sample size but a significant upgrade from the usual play-it-out window. It was early in the pandemic, and Kelly was a 25-year-old Class AA swing guy in an industry about to hack dozens of minor league jobs, and suddenly was cast adrift while trying to rehabilitate from ligament reattachment surgery.
“It was a lot,” says Kelly, who professed his gratitude for his in-laws, who live nearby in South Carolina, absorbing some of his duties until the season ends next month. “I’m trying to juggle the emotions of coming up here and having a baby at the same time.Kelly is unscored upon in six of his seven outings, with six strikeouts in 6 ⅔ innings, continuing a rise that began when the Red Sox signed him in December 2020.
“When I go out there, I don’t really feel like I’m trying to get my feet wet,” he says. “Because I picture myself being here for a long time.”If things happen for a reason, perhaps there was a greater purpose for Cal Stevenson getting traded from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Houston Astros, and then Houston to Tampa Bay, and finally from the Rays to the Oakland Athletics.
“I remember seeing flyers, stuff that was out there,” he remembers. “I always thought it was going to happen.”and the A’s home stadium is the same one Stevenson frequented as a kid, where he cheered on Moneyball-era stars like Miguel Tejada and Eric Chavez and more modern favorites like Sam Fuld – now the Phillies’ GM – and Coco Crisp.
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