Gilbert Allen Meche (; born September 8, 1978) is a former right-handed

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

. Meche pitched for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

for six seasons. With the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

, Meche made three straight

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starts and was an All Star in 2007. Shoulder and back problems caused the former first-round pick to retire in at 32 years old.

Early years

Meche, who is Cajun, was a star

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Acadiana High School Acadiana High School is located in Scott, Louisiana, United States. Acadiana High School opened in 1969 following the consolidation of Judice High School, located in Judice Community, and Scott High School, located in Scott. Donald Aguillard, a f ...

in his hometown of

Lafayette, Louisiana Lafayette (, ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the most populous city and parish seat of Lafayette Parish, located along the Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's fourth largest incorporated municipality by population and the 234th- ...

, and was a member of the U.S. Junior Olympic team that won the

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in the

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. After his junior year of high school, Meche earned most valuable pitcher honors at the 1995 National Amateur All-Star Tournament at just sixteen years old. However, shortly afterwards, he suffered a

viral infection A viral disease (or viral infection) occurs when an organism's body is invaded by pathogenic viruses, and infectious virus particles (virions) attach to and enter susceptible cells. Structural Characteristics Basic structural characteristics, s ...

that caused him to miss a considerable amount of playing time his senior year. Nonetheless, Meche was named to the All-America Second Team by the

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and

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. He intended to attend

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

, but reconsidered when the

surprised him by selecting him in the first round of the 1996 Major League Baseball draft.

Seattle Mariners

Meche debuted with the Mariners on July 6, , two months shy of his twenty-first birthday, making him the second-youngest debut for the Mariners at that time (only Ken Griffey Jr. was younger). Pitching with a 2–1 lead over the

Anaheim Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

and two

outs In baseball, an out occurs when the umpire rules a batter or baserunner out. When a batter or runner is out, they lose their ability to score a run and must return to the dugout until their next turn at bat. When three outs are recorded in a ha ...

in the sixth, Meche walked two consecutive batters to force in a

run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

and surrender the lead. He ended up with a no-decision. His first win came on July 19 against the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The f ...

. For the season, Meche went 8–4 with a 4.73

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

. Meche lost his first four decisions of the season. On June 13, 2000, he tossed a one-hitter against the Kansas City Royals. After coming back to go 4–0 with a 2.64 ERA through his July 4 start against Anaheim, Meche was lifted in the sixth

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other team ...

having thrown 113 pitches. His season was cut short due to what was thought at the time to be a dead arm. He went 1–2 with a 3.15 ERA in five rehab starts, but did not pitch at the major league level again for the rest of the season. In February , Meche underwent

arthroscopic surgery Arthroscopy (also called arthroscopic or keyhole surgery) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure on a joint in which an examination and sometimes treatment of damage is performed using an arthroscope, an endoscope that is inserted into the jo ...

to partially repair a frayed

rotator cuff The rotator cuff is a group of muscles and their tendons that act to stabilize the human shoulder and allow for its extensive range of motion. Of the seven scapulohumeral muscles, four make up the rotator cuff. The four muscles are the supraspi ...

, and at the time he was expected to only be on the disabled list for six months. As it turns out, he ended up missing the entire season, and undergoing surgery again on October 3, 2001, on his right AC joint. Meche went 4–6 with a 6.51 ERA in for the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

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, but did not pitch at the major league level again until April 5, . Despite giving up four first inning runs, and taking the loss against the Texas Rangers, Meche came back to pitch four solid innings in which he allowed just two

earned runs In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an err ...

on solo shots by

Iván Rodríguez Iván Rodríguez Torres (born November 27, 1971), nicknamed "Pudge" and "I-Rod", is a Puerto Rican former Major League Baseball catcher. He played for the Texas Rangers (in two separate stints, comprising the majority of his career), Florida ...

and Juan González. From there, Meche went 15–13 with a 4.59 ERA in what was at the time far and away a career-high 186.1

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

to earn the ''

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Comeback Player of the Year award. Meche's season got off to a slow start as his record stood at 1–5 with a 7.06 ERA following a June 1 start against the

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. He was optioned to the

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, and returned to the M's on July 30, to go 6–2 with a 3.95 ERA in thirteen second half starts. In 2005, Meche won 10 games despite posting an ERA of 5.09 and failing to reach 150 innings despite pitching in 26 starts. He averaged less than 6 innings in over half of his starts. In 2006, Meche won 11 games while losing 8 in 32 starts. He struck out 156 batters in 186.2 innings.

Kansas City Royals

After signing one year contracts with the Mariners for the and seasons, Meche signed a five-year contract with the

on December 7, 2006, worth $55 million, matching

Mike Sweeney Michael John Sweeney (born July 22, 1973) is a former Major League Baseball designated hitter and first baseman. Sweeney played his first 13 seasons in the majors with the Kansas City Royals, first as a catcher, then at first base and designated ...

's contract as the largest in club history until

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agreed to a four-year $72 million deal in 2016. His record stood at 5–6 with a 3.54 ERA when he was named the Royals' sole representative at the

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in San Francisco. Meche finished the season with a 9–13 record, while posting career bests in ERA (3.67), innings pitched (216) and a league-leading 34 starts. Meche led the American League with 34 starts again in , while improving to 14–11 with a 3.98 ERA, and pitching over 200 innings for the second consecutive year for a Royals club that finished 75–87 and in fourth place in the

American League Central The American League Central is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. This division was formed in the realignment of 1994 by moving three teams from the American League West and two teams from the American League East. Its teams are all loc ...

. On June 16, , Meche pitched a four-

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against the Diamondbacks to improve his season record to 4–5 with a 3.31 ERA. The 132 pitches he threw, however, took a toll on Meche and he began experiencing back and shoulder problems soon afterwards. For the rest of the season, Meche went just 2–5 with an 8.06 ERA. For the first time in his Royals career, 31-year-old Meche did not receive the opening day nod for Kansas City in . Instead he was slated as the number-two starter behind reigning AL

Cy Young Award The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall ...

winner

Zack Greinke Donald Zackary Greinke ( ; born October 21, 1983) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. He made his MLB debut with the Kansas City Royals in 2004 and has also played in MLB for the Milwaukee Brewers, Los An ...

. Hampered by injuries again, Meche spent considerable time on the DL in 2010 and was 0–4 with a 6.66 ERA after making his final career start on May 25. After five rehab appearances with the

Northwest Arkansas Naturals The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are a Minor League Baseball team based in Springdale, Arkansas, Springdale, Arkansas. The team is a member of the Texas League, and serves as the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. The ...

and

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, Meche returned to the Royals as a

reliever In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weather ...

that September. He made eleven appearances, giving up three earned runs in thirteen innings.

Retirement

Despite a guaranteed contract that called for a $12 million salary in 2011, Meche chose to walk away from the game on January 18 as he considered it unfair for the Royals to pay him millions if he would be out all year in the last year of his contract.

In popular culture

The rock group

Band of Horses Band of Horses is an American rock band formed in 2004 in Seattle, Washington. Led by singer-songwriter Ben Bridwell, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes, the band's current line-up also includ ...

, which was founded in Seattle in 2004, wrote and dedicated their song "Wicked Gil" to Meche.The Five Best Sports Songs

''

Paste Magazine ''Paste'' is a monthly music and entertainment digital magazine, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with studios in Atlanta and Manhattan, and owned by Paste Media Group. The magazine began as a website in 1998. It ran as a print publication fro ...

'' - November 12, 2012

References

External links

, o
Retrosheet
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Pelota Binaria (Venezuelan Winter League)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meche, Gil 1978 births Living people American League All-Stars Arizona League Mariners players Baseball players from Louisiana Cajun sportspeople Cardenales de Lara players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Everett AquaSox players Kansas City Royals players Major League Baseball pitchers New Haven Ravens players Northwest Arkansas Naturals players Omaha Royals players People from Mansfield, Texas San Antonio Missions players Seattle Mariners players Sportspeople from Lafayette, Louisiana Tacoma Rainiers players Wisconsin Timber Rattlers players