Rays helped Joey Wendle ‘establish myself as a major leaguer.’ He’s ready to face them with Marlins
Joey Wendle has waited for this moment — the chance to face his former team — for a couple months now.
Wendle wasn’t on the Marlins’ trip to Tropicana Field in late May when they first played the Rays as he nursed a hamstring injury. As such, he had to wait until Tuesday, when the Rays came to loanDepot park to begin a two-game series, to get his first chance to face the club that gave him his first extended opportunity before he was traded to the Marlins in November.
The infielder was quick to note that the goal — win games — remains the same regardless of who is in the other dugout.
But Wendle would be remiss if he didn’t reflect on the opportunity the Rays gave him from 2018-2021, a span in which he became a starting infielder for a perennial playoff contender and was capped with his first All-Star Game appearance in 2021.
“With them, I had the opportunity to kind of establish myself as a major leaguer,” Wendle said. “I’m thankful to a lot of people over there for that. I had a lot of people kind of just walk with me through my first couple of years and really helped me grow and develop over there. Like I’ve kind of touched on earlier, a lot of good memories and good relationships from over there. And that’s, I think, more [important] than going to playoffs or winning baseball games, just the relationships that you build throughout the course of seasons and stuff like that is kind of the most important matter.”
There’s still a soft spot held for Wendle in the Rays’ clubhouse by players who were his teammates over those four years.
“I’m looking forward to seeing him. We all are,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “He was a big part of our team for many years. I’m sure they’ll be some banter back and forth but excited to see Joey.”
As for that banter, several Rays players told the Tampa Bay Times ahead of the series they were anticipating some smack talk from Wendle when they saw him on the field.
Wendle, perhaps sarcastically, scoffed at the notion that his former teammates would be able to keep up with him when it came to the pregame jokes and quips.
“I mean, I’m sure they’re gonna bring their best,” Wendle said, “but really I usually get the better of them so I’m not really worried about that.”
So Wendle agrees that he’s a smack talker?
“Subtly, I would say,” Wendle replied with a grin on his face. “I mean, I had two older brothers, so I had to be witty, I guess.”
Something that hasn’t been so subtle: Wendle’s impact on the Marlins in his first season with the organization.
His workman-like hustle, his aggressiveness on every play has been noticed by his teammates.
“When Joey’s on the field, it’s been great,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “This guy’s just a baseball player from the standpoint of he plays hard every day. He’s a great example for our guys of the way we want to play the game. He’s always prepared.”
And that comes during the good times and the bad.
Wendle entered the month of August with a .280 batting average and .711 on-base-plus-slugging mark before falling into a slump. He wound up hitting just .164 (12 for 73) with a 20.5 percent strikeout rate — well above his 10.6-percent strikeout rate on the season before that run — over his first 21 games in August before logging multiple hits in each of the three games he played against the Dodgers to start the homestand.
“A couple of breaks have gone my way,” Wendle said. “I’m starting to go a little bit better, a little more confidence. You get a couple ground balls that go your way and then it kind of feds back into your confidence and when you have more confidence, you tend to start doing a little bit better, but it’s still a work in progress as well all season long. It’s a game of adjustments.”
Jazz Chisholm Jr. update
The Marlins on Tuesday said All-Star second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. will be re-evaluated next week to see if he can start adding baseball activities to his rehab regiment. Chisholm was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his lower back in late July. He has been on the injured list since June 29 with what was originally called a right lower back strain.
There is no timetable in place for Chisholm to make a potential return this season.
.JPG)