To most, the name “Joey Meneses” means nothing and may not even ring a bell, that is unless you are a Washington Nationals fan. In that case, then you know exactly who that is.
Meneses, a 30 year old rookie, who spent 10 years chasing the Majors, finally made his MLB debut on August 2nd. He was called up as a temporary replacement for Josh Bell, who had just been traded earlier that day. He has since proved to be everything the Nationals fans needed to enjoy what has been a lost season in the basement of the NL East.
In his debut, the Mexico native hit his first Major League home run for his first hit up in the bigs. The home run was of zero significance to the outcome of the game as it was the 5th run for Washington in a 5-1 win over the New York Mets, however to every Nationals fan and especially Meneses, it was probably the best moment of the season.
Since his call up, Meneses is hitting .400 with 5 homers and 7 RBIs in just 10 MLB games. The suddenly fan favorite Meneses also sports a .447 On-Base percentage along with an eye-opening .829 slugging percentage to give him an OPS of 1.276 in his career.
“Joey Four-bags” as he is affectionately called by Nats’ fans and his teammates, isn’t the first player that has debuted in the Majors for the Nationals after hitting the age of 30. Yadiel Hernandez, 34, made his debut in 2020 as a 32 year old ‘rookie’ and has since become a mainstay in the Nationals lineup.
I think I speak for a good portion of those around the game of baseball when I say I hope Meneses sticks around the Majors for a little while longer so we can see what he can really do.
Photo Courtesy of Fansided and District on Deck.
