When the Mets return home to Citi Field on Friday after their worst series of the season we will see a new face behind the dish.
On May 4th the Mets called up Catcher Johnny Monell from Triple A Las Vegas and he has already made his presence known as a left handed bat off the bench and we will see the first of Monell behind the plate when he pairs up with Bartolo Colon, Friday night.
Monell’s passion for the game started at a young age as he has always been following in his father’s footsteps, Johnny Monell Sr. His father played professional baseball for 17 years, a career that took him to numerous cities and countries from Atlantic City to Italy and even a stop in the Mets farm system. As the story goes, one of Monell Sr’s teammates let little Johnny Monell try on one his catcher’s mitts and the rest was history. Before long he was catching bullpen sessions for his father’s teammates.
After being drafted by the Giants and Mets in the 2005 and 2006 MLB entry drafts respectively and failing to sign, Monell would eventually reach a deal with the Giants when they took him in the 30th round of the 2007 draft.
After seven extensive years in the minor leagues, being a player who always hit around .300 and a powerful bat, the Giants would give Monell the nod during 2013 September call-ups. Monell was able to do something his father never had the chance to do, play in the MLB. His first hit would come off Peter Moylan and the Dodgers, that hit would turn out to be his only hit in eight at-bats that September.
After that season Monell was sold to the Baltimore Orioles, who designated him for assignment only a few months later. Monell begin the season in Triple A, with the Norfolk Tides where he would spend the first two months of the season struggling at the plate. Monell’s journeyman type run would continue that May when the Orioles traded him to Dodgers. He would get a similar Triple-A assignment but this time he was able to pick up his play and get back to the solid average and power bat scouts had been so used to talking about.
Monell’s contract would expire after the season putting him on the free agent market. The Mets were the team to give Monell a chance, signing him to a minor league deal in November. Monell would impress Terry Collins and company from the get-go having one of the best springs out of any Mets player.
The New York native hit .340 with 4 home runs in 27 games including a multi hit game on his 29th birthday. He gave Anthony Recker a run for his money and if not for Recker’s power off the bench and experience with the starting staff we may have seen Johnny Monell on the Opening Day roster.
Monell, now 29, hit .397 in the 17 games he played in Las Vegas this year, which would earn him a promotion as the Mets bats to continue to struggle. Monell is 1 for 5 in his short run with the Mets including a crucial double in Sunday’s win over the Phillies.
He has the ability to be the Mets main lefty off the bench with Kirk Nieuwenhuis continuing to struggle and the team carrying a rare three catchers. The Mets looked to John Mayberry Jr. to be that guy but he hasn’t shown it thus far and the team hoped Monell could add some punch.
Monell has hit at every level of his career and has showcased a great deal of power and plate discipline. Tonight he makes his first start behind the plate and the Mets hope he can translate his minor league performance to the majors.
