After an 11-year journey playing in the minors, Mexico and Japan, Joey Meneses has taken full advantage of his opportunity with the Washington Nationals. The 30-year old rookie is embarking on one of the best starts to a career ever by a Nationals player.
The Nationals are on pace to have the worst season in the club’s history since moving from Montreal to D.C. It’s a lost season that saw the franchise player and future, 23-year old Juan Soto, traded to the San Diego Padres. That's on top of Trea Turner, Bryce Harper and Max Scherzer leaving in recent years.
The core of the team is filled with prospects drafted and acquired in the trades that sent Soto to San Diego and Turner and Scherzer to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Some of that talent isn’t ready to play in the majors.
In the meantime, Meneses has become the Nationals’ main attraction.
On Tuesday night against the Seattle Mariners, the Nationals were hitless through six innings when Meneses led off the seventh with a blast.
Meneses crushed a sinker off Mariners starter Robbie Ray to dead center, breaking up the no-hitter with a bang.
In his next at-bat, Meneses led off the ninth with a double to left. He later scored off a Lane Thomas RBI single. Yet, the Nationals were handed their 83rd loss of the season, going down 4-2.
Meneses finished the game 2-for-4 with a home run, RBI and two runs scored against the Mariners. He’s hitting .329/.356/.614 with six home runs and eight RBI so far this season. His 23 hits are the most by any Nationals player through his first 18 career games.
At 41-83 in a season that Soto was traded, there are few bright spots for the club. The starting pitchers have gone an MLB-record 40 straight games without a win, and the team keeps losing.
While his 73 plate appearances are enough to qualify, Meneses’ numbers are still impressive. He has the best batting average on the team this season, including Josh Bell, who hit .301 when he was traded along with Soto to the Padres.
Meneses is third in on-base percentage only behind Soto and Bell, and his .614 slugging percentage is the highest, even higher than the walk-machine Soto. He’s also lifting the ball with a 31% flyball rate, which is 5.2% higher than the league’s average.
His 91.3 average exit velocity is above Soto and Bell this season.
In a season in which wins are rare and fans are still trying to get over Soto getting traded, Meneses has become the box office draw of the Nationals.
Sure, 21-year old shortstop CJ Abrams, who was acquired in the Soto/Bell trade, is the talk of the town, but Meneses gravitated to the front of the clubhouse.
He’s even stolen the show ahead of veterans Luke Voit and Nelson Cruz, who has over 2,000 career hits. His call-up was long overdue. It took more than a decade to get and he’s thriving. It’s unclear where this may take him, but it’s becoming increasingly obvious Meneses is the man to watch during the Nationals’ tough time.
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