Victor Victor Mesa has room to grow, but is ‘breaking the ice’ after first Marlins game
Victor Victor Mesa made his long-awaited trot to center field in the sixth inning of the Miami Marlins’ first spring training game against the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday and almost made a diving catch at the first ball that came his way.
Two innings later, he stepped into the batter’s box and worked a full count before ultimately grounding to third base.
It wasn’t a perfect outing in any sense, but the first step in a long process for Mesa has finally begun.
“This is a situation, a moment that I’ve been waiting for for a long time,” Mesa said after the game, an 11-1 loss, through a translator. “This is a part of my game that’s just breaking the ice. It’s the first game. You’re just waiting for the other ones to come.”
The Marlins’ plan is to give Mesa as many opportunities as possible over the 30-game Grapefruit League slate. He needs them.
Before Saturday, Mesa had not played in an organized baseball game in a little more than 23 months while playing for Team Cuba in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
“I felt good for being my first game after all the long time I had without playing a game,” Mesa said. “It was a good feeling. Within time, I’m going to start catching up little by little.”
He showed discipline in his lone at-bat in the eighth inning. With a 2-2 count against Cardinals pitcher Ryan Helsley, who routinely threw his fastball in the high 90’s and touched 100 at one point during his two-inning stint on Saturday, Mesa seemed to have broken the plane on what would have been an inning-ending strikeout. After an appeal to first base, it was ruled that he checked his swing. One pitch later, he ripped a hard ground ball down the left field line. Cardinals third baseman Ramon Urias made the throw to first to cap the frame.
“I still feel my timing is still off,” Mesa said. “It’s something positive. I made contact. We’re talking about speed that I’ve never seen before and I made contact with these types of pitchers.”
The Marlins obviously see potential in the 22-year-old Cuban outfielder. That’s why they paid him more than a $5 million signing bonus.
Both MLBPipeline and Baseball America have Mesa as the Marlins’ second-ranked prospect behind pitcher Sixto Sanchez. MLB has him ranked as the 99th prospect overall. Baseball America ranked him No. 60.
“I think everyone’s a little bit eager to see him in uniform now because it comes with a lot of fanfare,” Marlins part-owner and CEO Derek Jeter said before the team’s first full-squad practice on Monday. “Our scouting department loves him, but he knows it’s going to take him some time. I don’t really put a timeframe on it, but we’ll just wanto to get out there and get him some game experience.”
Manager Don Mattingly nonetheless was impressed with Mesa’s effort for his first game of the spring.
“It was good to get him out there, get him an at-bat,” Mattingly said. “I think about it while we were out there, watching him hit, how long it’s probably been since he’s been in a true game. It’s a start to the process and I expect it to look better as time goes on.”
This story was originally published February 23, 2019 at 5:39 PM.
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