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05-27-2003, 11:22 AM
How cool is this for Carlos Mendez?!?!? I wish him all the best!!! :thumbsup:
5/26/2003 3:38 PM ET
Mendez realizing a dream
By Gary Washburn / MLB.com
http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/images/2003/05/26/dP6nw4FR.jpg
Carlos Mendez was a career .300 hitter in the minors. (Eliot Schechter/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE -- The first question that comes to mind when scanning Carlos Mendez's professional baseball statistics is why this day took so long.
With Major League Baseball devoid of quality hitters, small market teams scouring waiver wires, Rule 5 drafts and independent leagues for talented players and teams plucking 16-year-olds from foreign lands in hopes of finding the next superstar, you wonder why it took so long to happen.
Carlos Mendez will make his home debut for the Orioles on Tuesday against the Anaheim Angels, the first time in 12 years of professional baseball he will sport a home uniform with a Major League logo. After 1,081 minor-league games for eight different teams, Mendez is in the big leagues.
But instead of a smile that faintly camouflages years of bitterness and disappointment, Mendez's smile exudes accomplishment and relief.
When he and his wife Cortney cried in the car on the way to the airport, Mendez, who was going to meet the Orioles in Anaheim, did not lament the several times he deserved the call that never came.
"The time I got the call was meant to be that time," he said. "Nothing else matters. No other team or time. It was meant to be right here and now. That's the way I look at it."
After nine years in the Royals' system, two in the Tigers' system and one with the A's, Mendez signed a minor-league deal with the Orioles last November. He was a career .300 hitter in the minor leagues, and the Orioles were seeking to upgrade their Triple-A roster after years of downtrodden teams.
Mendez attacked the ball for Ottawa, hitting .358 in April and increasing that clip to .384 in late May. His numbers could not be ignored. Mendez transformed from a "4-A" player into a potential candidate to help a sagging big-league offense.
"All I can say is that it was a dream come true," he said. "I wasn't going into the season thinking I could get a call. I just wanted to play baseball and take care of my family. Maybe it was in the back of my mind, but that's it."
The Orioles called him up May 19 to be a right-handed bat off the bench. He has one hit -- a double off Anaheim's Brendan Donnelly -- in three at-bats so far.
Mendez arrived at the visitors clubhouse at Edison International Field and was welcomed by several teammates who knew his story and some who didn't. But he admitted that he played against most of the Orioles' roster in the minor leagues. Mendez signed with the Royals as a 17-year-old out of Caracas, Venezuela and he spent nine years in the Kansas City system with no callup. His lowest batting average in that span was .273 for Single-A Wilmington and he hit over .300 in four of eight seasons. Still, no callup.
Orioles right-handed reliever Travis Driskill played nine minor-league seasons before getting his first Major League promotion last season. He crossed paths with Mendez on several occasions. Both were seen as players good enough to dominate the Triple-A level, but for some reason not considered Major League quality. They were called "4-A" players, guys who bounce from Triple-A clubs in different organizations hoping to get one shot.
"I really can't understand why it took so long for Carlos," Driskill said. "I mean he played with the Royals and Tigers. You mean to tell me he couldn't help the Tigers' offense? And those years Kansas City was struggling to find talent, he couldn't get the job done? That's amazing."
Mendez said he does not know if there was a tag on him the past several years. He definitely has his detractors. Mendez is an aggressive hitter, who does not walk much. And his career .300 batting average is accompanied by a .324 career on-base percentage, considered low for a contact hitter.
A catcher by trade, he is considered weak defensively and will be used exclusively as a designated hitter. But the Orioles are a team in need of a spark offensively. And at this stage of their rebuilding plan, they are not in the position to turn their nose up at talented players.
Just as Driskill and Howie Clark were career minor-leaguers given a shot last season, Mendez's 12-year wait ended and his dream came to fruition.
So there is no time to complain.
"I don't want to go back to Triple-A," he said. "I want to do whatever I can to stay here. But I am not bitter or angry. Baseball has done a lot for me. Why has it taken so long? I don't know. But I feel like the road was worth it."
Gary Washburn is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
5/26/2003 3:38 PM ET
Mendez realizing a dream
By Gary Washburn / MLB.com
http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/images/2003/05/26/dP6nw4FR.jpg
Carlos Mendez was a career .300 hitter in the minors. (Eliot Schechter/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE -- The first question that comes to mind when scanning Carlos Mendez's professional baseball statistics is why this day took so long.
With Major League Baseball devoid of quality hitters, small market teams scouring waiver wires, Rule 5 drafts and independent leagues for talented players and teams plucking 16-year-olds from foreign lands in hopes of finding the next superstar, you wonder why it took so long to happen.
Carlos Mendez will make his home debut for the Orioles on Tuesday against the Anaheim Angels, the first time in 12 years of professional baseball he will sport a home uniform with a Major League logo. After 1,081 minor-league games for eight different teams, Mendez is in the big leagues.
But instead of a smile that faintly camouflages years of bitterness and disappointment, Mendez's smile exudes accomplishment and relief.
When he and his wife Cortney cried in the car on the way to the airport, Mendez, who was going to meet the Orioles in Anaheim, did not lament the several times he deserved the call that never came.
"The time I got the call was meant to be that time," he said. "Nothing else matters. No other team or time. It was meant to be right here and now. That's the way I look at it."
After nine years in the Royals' system, two in the Tigers' system and one with the A's, Mendez signed a minor-league deal with the Orioles last November. He was a career .300 hitter in the minor leagues, and the Orioles were seeking to upgrade their Triple-A roster after years of downtrodden teams.
Mendez attacked the ball for Ottawa, hitting .358 in April and increasing that clip to .384 in late May. His numbers could not be ignored. Mendez transformed from a "4-A" player into a potential candidate to help a sagging big-league offense.
"All I can say is that it was a dream come true," he said. "I wasn't going into the season thinking I could get a call. I just wanted to play baseball and take care of my family. Maybe it was in the back of my mind, but that's it."
The Orioles called him up May 19 to be a right-handed bat off the bench. He has one hit -- a double off Anaheim's Brendan Donnelly -- in three at-bats so far.
Mendez arrived at the visitors clubhouse at Edison International Field and was welcomed by several teammates who knew his story and some who didn't. But he admitted that he played against most of the Orioles' roster in the minor leagues. Mendez signed with the Royals as a 17-year-old out of Caracas, Venezuela and he spent nine years in the Kansas City system with no callup. His lowest batting average in that span was .273 for Single-A Wilmington and he hit over .300 in four of eight seasons. Still, no callup.
Orioles right-handed reliever Travis Driskill played nine minor-league seasons before getting his first Major League promotion last season. He crossed paths with Mendez on several occasions. Both were seen as players good enough to dominate the Triple-A level, but for some reason not considered Major League quality. They were called "4-A" players, guys who bounce from Triple-A clubs in different organizations hoping to get one shot.
"I really can't understand why it took so long for Carlos," Driskill said. "I mean he played with the Royals and Tigers. You mean to tell me he couldn't help the Tigers' offense? And those years Kansas City was struggling to find talent, he couldn't get the job done? That's amazing."
Mendez said he does not know if there was a tag on him the past several years. He definitely has his detractors. Mendez is an aggressive hitter, who does not walk much. And his career .300 batting average is accompanied by a .324 career on-base percentage, considered low for a contact hitter.
A catcher by trade, he is considered weak defensively and will be used exclusively as a designated hitter. But the Orioles are a team in need of a spark offensively. And at this stage of their rebuilding plan, they are not in the position to turn their nose up at talented players.
Just as Driskill and Howie Clark were career minor-leaguers given a shot last season, Mendez's 12-year wait ended and his dream came to fruition.
So there is no time to complain.
"I don't want to go back to Triple-A," he said. "I want to do whatever I can to stay here. But I am not bitter or angry. Baseball has done a lot for me. Why has it taken so long? I don't know. But I feel like the road was worth it."
Gary Washburn is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.