Joey Meneses Ramirez (born May 6, 1992), nicknamed "CabaJoey", is a Mexican

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

and

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

for the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

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), ...

(MLB). He has previously played in

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

(NPB) for the Orix Buffaloes. He was the 2018 International League MVP.

Professional career

Atlanta Braves

Meneses played for several

farm team In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

s of the Atlanta Braves from 2011 through 2017. After the 2013, 2014, and 2015 seasons, he played for

Tomateros de Culiacán The Tomateros de Culiacán ( en, Culiacán Tomato Growers) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican Pacific League based in Culiacán, Sinaloa. The ''Tomateros'' have won thirteen league titles and two Caribbean World Series in and . The ...

of the

Mexican Pacific League The Mexican Pacific League (), known as Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico for sponsorship reasons or simply LMP for its acronym in Spanish, is a professional baseball winter league based in Northern Mexico. The ten-team regular season schedule run ...

(LMP). In 2016, Meneses first reached the Double-A level, playing for the

Mississippi Braves The Mississippi Braves, or M-Braves as they are referred to locally, are a Minor League Baseball team based in Pearl, Mississippi, a suburb of Jackson. The team is the Double-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves and plays in the Southern League. T ...

. After the 2016 season, he played for Tomateros of the LMP. For the 2017 season with Mississippi, he registered a .292

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

with 9

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 45 RBIs in 108 games; he was also a mid-season Southern League all star. He was named an MILB.com Organization All Star in 2014 and 2017. On November 6, 2017, Meneses became a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. After the 2017 season, he played for Tomateros of the LMP.

Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies signed Meneses to a minor league contract on February 1, 2018. He spent the 2018 season with the Triple-A

Lehigh Valley IronPigs The Lehigh Valley IronPigs are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. They are located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and are named in reference to pig iron, used in the ...

. He went on to win the 2018 International League MVP, registering a .311 batting average with 23 home runs and 82 RBIs in 130 games. On October 29, 2018, Meneses was released by the Phillies. He subsequently signed to play in Japan for 2019. After the 2018 season, he played for Tomateros of the LMP.

Orix Buffaloes

On October 29, 2018, Meneses signed a one-year contract worth an estimated 100 million yen, equivalent to approximately US $950,000, with the Orix Buffaloes of

. On March 29, 2019, he made his NPB debut. On June 27, 2019, Meneses was suspended for 12 months after testing positive for the banned substance hydroxystanozolol. That same day, he became a free agent. After the 2019 season, he played for Tomateros of the LMP.

Boston Red Sox

On January 23, 2020, Meneses signed a minor league deal with the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

. After the 2020 minor league season was canceled, he was re-signed by the Red Sox in early November to a minor-league deal. After the 2020 season, he played for

of the LMP. He was assigned to the

Portland Sea Dogs The Portland Sea Dogs are a Minor League Baseball team based in Portland, Maine, playing in the Eastern League (1938–present), Eastern League. Established in 1994, the Sea Dogs are the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red ...

Double-A Northeast AA, Aa, Double A, or Double-A may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''America's Army'', a 2002 computer game published by the U.S. Army * '' Ancient Anguish'', a computer game in existence since 1992 * Aa!, a J-Pop musical group * Do ...

to begin the 2021 season, and was promoted to the

Worcester Red Sox The Worcester Red Sox (nicknamed the WooSox) are a professional minor league baseball team based in Worcester, Massachusetts. Beginning play in 2021, the team is the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, succeeding the Pawt ...

Triple-A East The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...

in early August. He elected free agency on November 7, 2021.

Washington Nationals

On January 13, 2022, Meneses signed a minor league deal with the

. On August 2, 2022, after trading outfielder

Juan Soto Juan José Soto Pacheco (born October 25, 1998) is a Dominican professional baseball outfielder for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Washington Nationals. Soto signed with the Nation ...

and first baseman Josh Bell to the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

, the Nationals called up Meneses from the Triple-A

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Field ...

, and he made his major league debut against the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

. Meneses hit a home run off of

Yoan López Yoan López Leyva (born January 2, 1993) is a Cuban professional baseball pitcher for the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks and the New York ...

to lead off the seventh inning for his first major league hit. Meneses went 0 for 4 the next game, but subsequently embarked on an 11 game hitting streak, and continued to hit well throughout August, putting up a

slash line S sabermetrics :Sabermetrics is the analysis of baseball through objective evidence, especially baseball statistics. The term is derived from the SABR – the Society for American Baseball Research. The term was coined by Bill James, an ...

of .354/.385/.626 and hitting seven home runs through his first 25 games in the majors. On September 1, Meneses hit a

walk-off home run In baseball, a walk-off home run is a home run that ends the game. For a home run to end the game, it must be hit in the bottom of the final inning of the game and generate enough runs to exceed the opponent's score. Because the opponent will not ...

against the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

which gave the Nationals their first walk-off win of the year. On September 16, with the Nationals down 4–0 to the

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The franc ...

, Meneses hit an

inside-the-park home run In baseball, an inside-the-park home run is a play where a batter hits a home run without hitting the ball out of the field of play. It is also known as an "inside-the-parker", "in-the-park home run", or "in-the-park homer". Discussion To score a ...

and later scored the winning run in a 5–4 Washington victory. He finished the season batting .324 with a .367

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

, .563

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

, 13 home runs, and 34 RBI. Meneses was named to the MLB Pipeline All-Rookie Team.

International career

Meneses has played for Mexico in the

Caribbean Series The Caribbean Series (''Spanish'': ''Serie del Caribe''), also called Caribbean World Series, is the highest tournament for professional baseball teams in Latin America. The tournament location is rotated annually among the countries and is norma ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, and

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

. In February 2019, Meneses was selected to the

Mexico national baseball team The Mexico national baseball team (Spanish: ''Selección de béisbol de México'') is the baseball team that represents Mexico in international tournaments. It is currently the 4th-ranked baseball team in the world. Roster Results and fixtures ...

for 2019 exhibition games against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Meneses was selected for a second time to the national team in the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

(contested in 2021), in Tokyo.

Personal life

Meneses has stated that he is big fan of

Goku Son Goku is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Dragon Ball'' manga series created by Akira Toriyama. He is based on Sun Wukong (known as Son Goku in Japan and Monkey King in the West), a main character of the classic Ch ...

, and it was one reason why he joined a Japanese team.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Meneses, Joey 1992 births Living people Baseball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Baseball players from Sinaloa Baseball players suspended for drug offenses Carolina Mudcats players Dominican Summer League Braves players Mexican expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic Gulf Coast Braves players Lehigh Valley IronPigs players Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball players from Mexico Mexican expatriate baseball players in Japan Mexican expatriate baseball players in the United States Mexican sportspeople in doping cases Mississippi Braves players Nippon Professional Baseball first basemen Nippon Professional Baseball right fielders Olympic baseball players of Mexico Orix Buffaloes players Portland Sea Dogs players Rochester Red Wings players Rome Braves players Sportspeople from Culiacán Tomateros de Culiacán players Washington Nationals players Worcester Red Sox players