The COVID Big Leaguers
The pandemic caused MLB rosters to expand to 30 and settle in at 28, opening the exclusive gates to many who found themselves in the right place at the right time
My favorite Tommy Lasorda quote goes something like this:
“I don’t want guys who try … I want guys who do! I could go out and get a bunch of truck drivers to play for us who’ll try.”
In the big leagues, if a player goes too long without doing, he’s usually gone — optioned to the minors, outrighted, or unconditionally released — before too long. When Ryan Weathers made his Major League debut for the San Diego Padres on October 6, 2020, in the NLDS, he became the 19,902nd player in MLB history.
For some perspective, Mr. Padre, Tony Gwynn, became the 12,242nd player in MLB history when he debuted on July 19, 1982. Ted Williams made his first appearance on April 20, 1939; he was the 6,959th big leaguer.
When Christy Mathewson broke in on July 17, 1900, “Big Six” became the 2,212nd Major Leaguer in history. Cap Anson debuted on May 6, 1871 and, according to Baseball Reference, was the 38th big leaguer ever.
Okay, enough history.
Over a span of 150 years, a membership of less than 20,000 is pretty exclusive.
What made the 2020 season different in terms of exclusivity is that 212 players debuted in a span of only 60 games. The average number of MLB debuts in the decade prior (2010-2019) was 239. In 2010 and in 2012, there were fewer debuts over the course of 162-game seasons than there were this past season.
No picket lines were crossed, no new morals were compromised. These were all players competing within the parameters agreed to and set by MLB and the Players Association. Instead of the usual 25-man limit, or even the newly agreed upon 26-man roster, Opening Day rosters allowed for 30 players. That number was reduced to 28 on August 6, two weeks after the season began. Quick math shows that 150 extra players broke camp with big league clubs last July.
Against a landscape in which some teams don’t care about winning now, certain players receive more of a chance to succeed before becoming one of Tommy’s truck drivers.
In 2020, some of these players barely stuck around for a cup of coffee; others survived much of the season. All of them now have something that no one can ever take away — they made it to The Show.
Over the course of the next few weeks, we are going to take a look at some of these players. I call them the COVID 19.
Today, I’m thinking about the player whose presence on a Major League roster first made me consider Players Who Became Big Leaguers During A Pandemic.
I first saw him play on May 1, 2015. I was in Hagerstown, Maryland, about 75 miles northwest of where I grew up in Baltimore County. Native Marylanders are well aware of the local accent, sometimes referred to as Baltimorese. Strangers to the region, upon hearing the local tongue, may have no idea what the hell is being said.
The hometown Suns (at the time, an affiliate of the Washington Nationals) were hosting the Greenville Drive, the Boston Red Sox A-ball affiliate.
When the public address announcer recited the name of the home team’s first baseman, and I heard it for the first time, it was like a knowing nod from a bouncer to let me in. It was a secret handshake I wasn’t even aware I had known.
Jose Marmolejos.
To say that with the local Mid-Atlantic flavor is to breathe some perverse interpretation upon another man’s name. So many syllables and vowels to be accented and reinterpreted. You should have heard the way I once asked for water or pointed out an ambulance — before college friends ridiculed most of the Baltimore clear out of me.
Marmolejos was not on my radar when I entered the stadium that day. Needless to say, I was now paying attention to his at bats, his play in the field, and his batting practice and pre-game work.
After seeing him play in 11 games and take about 50 plate appearances over the course of the summer, I determined that Marmolejos was a solid minor league ballplayer. He could hammer a fastball, especially one up in the zone, and drive it the other way, but he didn’t show enough otherwise to convince me he had Major League value.
Well, Marmolejos was the Opening Day left fielder for the Seattle Mariners in 2020. After nine seasons in the Washington Nationals organization, he signed as a minor league free agent with the Mariners last winter, and found himself in the right place at the right time… in the right year.
He appeared in 35 games for a rebuilding M’s team, with a slash line of .206 / .261 / .411. These are numbers that can lead to your removal from the roster. But he showed some thump, Seattle has the roster space, and left-handed power that makes league-minimum isn’t easy to come by.
Jose Marmolejos is the poster child for pandemic rookies. I’m certainly not asking for an apology from him. In fact, I wish for him that he develops as a player who does and not as a player who tries.
Remembering Lasorda
The world lost a legend last week with the passing of Tommy Lasorda. I actually crossed paths with Lasorda in 2003 when I was an editor at Wine Spectator, and he shared his passion of wine with me for a small story. But to get some real stories about Tommy, I turned to my friend, former colleague, and baseball lifer Mark Weidemaier.
Weids was the Major League advance scout for the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2011-2013. Prior to that, he was in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, beginning in 1999. (His baseball bio would take up too much ink for this space.) These days you can find Mark in Korea, as the bench coach for the Kia Tigers, the team managed by Matt Williams.
I asked Mark for some memories of Tommy. Not surprisingly, he told me that most aren’t for print. Here’s a good one that can be shared:
“The Dodgers had just built a new clubhouse, office building, weight room, etc., behind the right field wall at Holman Stadium [in Vero Beach]. In the building, they hung framed black-and-white photos of early Dodgertown pictures. Included in one was the list of players for each minor league team one year back when the Dodgers had numerous teams — Class C and D Leagues and so on. Tommy used to tell us how, back in the day, they wouldn’t release players at night for fear they might try and burn down the old Dodgertown wooden barracks; how Spartan the conditions were and how tough it was with all the players in camp to earn a job or get promoted to the next level.
“Lasorda also often bragged on how tough he was back in the day. He would say, “If you were ever hurt or missed a day in Spring Training, you might lose your job or get sent down another level or, worse, released.” He prided himself in never missing a workout or being hurt and talking about how nothing could keep him off the field!
Well sure enough, that one old black-and-white listed the names of all the players and what teams they were on that spring. All the Rosters. And wouldn’t you know that under the “LIST OF PLAYERS ON THE DL” was none other than TOM LASORDA-LHP!!! As soon as someone pointed that out to Tommy, he was so pissed off, it wasn’t a half hour later that he made the maintenance guy take the vintage Dodgertown framed picture off the wall never to be seen again!!!”
It makes me wonder, how many of the players who debuted this past season can avoid a similar fate to that photo?
Deacon White, born James Laurie White, is credited as the first big leaguer ever. He doubled in the first at-bat of a Major League game on May 4, 1871. His brief bio is fascinating. Thank you for reading and supporting Warning Track Power. Subscribe now to have WTP delivered to your inbox every Thursday.