In an article from Laura Albanese of Newsday, Devin Mesoraco made a few statements about his ongoing battle to regain some of the magic from earlier in his career (before a laundry list of injuries sidetracked it) and pushed a ton of the credit for his newfound awakening to New York Mets’ hitting coach Pat Roessler.
As per Albanese, Roessler saw some issues in the right-handed catcher’s swing and brought it up to Mesoraco, who was all ears.
“I said, ‘Hey, it’s been a (struggle) for me for quite some time,” he said, “Whatever suggestions you have, I’d be open.”
Mesoraco, 29, was a highly-touted prospect (first-round, fifteenth overall selection in the 2007 MLB Draft). He hit .225 with a .641 OPS, 16 homers, and 62 runs batted in from 2011 to 2013 (175 games), but really broke out in 2014.
Over 384 at-bats (114 games) behind the plate for the Reds in 2014, the Punxatawney native (insert Groundhog Day joke here) hit .273/.359/.534 with 25 home runs, 80 runs batted in, and 25 doubles. Rocko had arrived.
Then the injuries hit. Hard.
He made two short trips to the disabled list in his 2014 breakout year, but then a left hip injury in May 2015 led to surgery in July and he was done for the season. Then, just a month into the 2016 season, Mesoraco tore the labrum in his left shoulder, causing him to miss the entire next season.
Last year wasn’t much kinder to him. After making his season debut in late-April, Mesoraco went back to the DL in July (left shoulder strain), returned two weeks later, and then broke his right foot on Aug. 15, cutting another season short for the not-so-young-anymore backstop.
Throughout those injury-plagued seasons, the 29-year-old hit .191/.292/.314 with a 61 OPS+ in 95 total games. Collectively, folks all over the baseball world, including Mesoraco, must have wondered if this was the end of his line.
This year, the New York Mets lost Travis d’Arnaud for the season on April 10 to a torn UCL and Kevin Plawecki went down the following day with a broken bone in his left hand after being hit by a pitch.
Over the next month, Jose Lobaton (.156/.255/.244 in 45 at-bats) and Tomas Nido (.175/.227/.200 in 40 at-bats) manned the position but simply didn’t have the offensive firepower to pull their weight.
The Mets’ lineup certainly wasn’t built around either d’Arnaud or Plawecki, but some production was needed out of the catchers’ spot and those two just weren’t going to cut it if the team wanted to stay afloat in an uber-talented NL East.
Fast-forward to May 8. The New York Mets saw the opportunity to replace d’Arnaud with Devin Mesoraco, knowing that Plawecki would be returning within a few weeks, and they pounced.
Alderson obviously thought enough of Mesoraco’s makeup as a player to bet on him coming back from a handful of major injuries in a three-year span to become a productive ballplayer once again. Sandy apparently has a thing for betting on the underdogs.
Mesoraco hit a go-ahead home run in yesterday’s matinee, which was then unceremoniously (and uncharacteristically) given away by Seth Lugo in the ninth, and then Plawecki went 2-for-5 with two RBI in last night’s late-night rally over the Braves in the nightcap.
Since making his debut with the team, Devin Mesoraco is hitting .261 with a .989 OPS, five home runs, ten runs batted in, and an OPS + of 170 (not sustainable, but extremely encouraging).
Mesoraco continued to Albanese, “It’ll continue to be a process, but getting at-bats helps, getting everyday playing time helps…It’s been a long time since I’ve been a good player, so you have some days where there is more doubt than others.”
Hopefully, with the help of Roessler, Devin Mesoraco will emerge from the hellish, injury-filled first-half of his career and finally blossom into the player he clearly thinks he still is. He’s doing a fine job, so far.
