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Nelson Figueroa will start for the Mets tonight, making his first major-league start since 2004.
Figueroa was born in Brooklyn and drafted by the Mets in 1995. He was then traded to the D’Backs in 2000, after which he pitched for the Pirates and Brewers.
Ted Berg:
When you’re making all those stops – Taiwan, Mexico, the Caribbean Series – what keeps you going? What makes you make that next stop?
Opening Day in Shea Stadium. I got drafted by the Mets in 1995, so my dream was always to be a Met. My first uniform when I got to extended Spring Training, I had Howard Johnson’s pants and Dwight Gooden’s jersey. So for a kid that grew up in New York, it was just — right there was everything I wanted. I could have gone home and been happy just for to put on that uniform. Now, I get to see HoJo every day, I get to see Darryl Strawberry, I get to see all these guys I grew up absolutely idolizing. Willie, same thing – he played for the Mets for a little bit. This is the dream that we all dream of. I came back from my surgery and I busted my butt to get back and prove I was healthy. I went all over the world to prove one thing: that I could pitch at a very high level.
…Howard Megdal of the New York Observer, whose article is linked below, then pointed out that figueroa and A.J. Burnett are the only players from the team’s 1995 draft who are in the major-leagues…
That’s crazy, just me and him, huh?
That just goes to show you – I was a 30th round pick and I know he was a lot higher.
Ted Berg:
Who was the first-rounder that year? Ryan Jaroncyk?
Oh, Jaroncyk – the shortstop.
Ted Berg:
He ended up out of baseball in a few years.
Again, and see how much of a lottery it is, it’s just a crapshoot. You think this guy’s a first-rounder, you think you know his background, then all of a sudden he doesn’t want to play baseball – two years after they gave the guy a million dollars. I got my 2500 bucks and, for me, I was going to be a Met and have my foot in the door to just play.
When you look at it, my name is on the clubhouse walls with Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden for the Minor League stops I’ve made and the numbers I’ve put up there. That alone – I can go in that clubhouse at the minor league stop in PSL, and my names with Jefferies, then I look down that list and, hey, there’s Nelson Figueroa…That’s one of the neatest things…hopefully one day, hopefully this season, we get to the World Series and win a World Series and then I get my name with those guys again. That’s the icing on the cake.”
…added to by Matthew Cerrone…
…first of all, outstanding interview by Ted Berg…second, wow, figueroa is as big of a Mets fan as any one…seriously…i mean, he mentioned Gregg Jefferies for pete’s sake…i’m stunned, and want this guy to do well, not only for the team, but because i feel like he’s one of us at this point…amazing…
For more on Figueroa, check out Berg’s full column for SNY.tv, in which they continue their discussion and talk about 2008, going from ‘not wanted’ to ‘adored,’ how he ended up at Brandeis, and Nelson’s nickname, ‘Figoolow.’
Also, in the New York Observer, Megdal writes a profile on Figueroa, as does the Journal News and the Daily News.
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I have a feeling that we will be impressed with Figgy today…
I do too, wholeheartedly. I may be rooting for this guy more than I’ve ever rooted for a single athlete!!
I can’t help but love any guy who mentions Gregg Jefferies…
Man, he just might pass Johnny Maine as my new favorite Met..
I wonder if he pulls a Chipper Jones and comments on Metsblog about how bad Willie is handling the bullpen…
Jefferies is a minor league legend in the Mets system. Heck, in the whole game. Two time Baseball America ML POY, right? And pretty good MLB career in the whole scheme of things. Hung it up at age 32 with 1600 hits. Not shabby. Unfortunately, he was a born DH like Baines, Edgar Martinez and Molitor without a team/situation that could’ve used him that way for his career.
I used to swing a bat in the pool, because I read in an SI article that Jefferies did it…
How many Mets fans didn’t do that after reading that article?
Figoolow, eh? I prefer Figgylicious.
This guy just has the neatest story. I am rooting for him so much. Don’t forget that he doesn’t have to be great — just decent enough to be the 5th/spot starter. Low expectations. Just the fact that tonight’s first pitch is the biggest moment in this guy’s baseball life is so cool.
Nelson FigueWHO????
Your multiple question marks, my fine Vulcan friend, reveal a most decidedly non-logical bent to your phrase…almost…human…
I kinda feel like a lot of major league players have a sense of entitlement that they are “supposed” to be playing in the majors and don’t really grasp the insanity that they have “made it”. I feel like Nelson will have that “holy s*&T, I’m pitching at shea stadium” feeling tonight — that we have all dreamed about as a far fetched nightscape when we were kids but knew it would never actually happen. Hopefully, that would screw with his pitch control.
can’t help but to root for this guy
“My dad’s a Mets fan, and my dad boos me,” he joked. “He gave me a whole scouting report already. He’s a typical Mets fan — he knows what’s best for the team.”
Come on out FiggyDad . . . who are you?
I can’t help but smile when I read this! Best of Luck Figs! Strike’em out!
Make sure you read the Sun article. It’s better.
FIGERO FIGERO FIIIIIGEEEEEEROOOOOOOOOO
it’s close enough.
In two of his recent outings he went 10 IP and the one where he was scouted by the mets: 9.1.
“When I went to Mexico, I told them I wasn’t going to ever come out of the game. They thought I was joking, but I was dead serious. I said to them, ‘All the teams in the States want to see me healthy, they want to see that I’ve recovered from my surgery. The only way I’m going to do that is by pitching.’ They said, ‘Do you get bonuses?’ I said, ‘Yeah, to get back to the big leagues again.’”
Three teams and two continents later, Figueroa again started a game and pitched past the end of regulation. This time, though, Omar Minaya was watching, thanks to a tip from scout Ramon Pena. With a one-run, 9 1/3-inning outing, Figueroa showed the Mets GM he had the method and the muster to make it in the Majors.
“I think I threw something around 280 innings in 2007,” Figueroa said. “Had I thought I threw enough innings after 250, I probably never would have been spotted by Pena.”
Also: “Figueroa was true to his word, pitching 10 complete games in 18 starts for Chihuahua.”
That’s from the SNY.tv column, if you’re scoring from home.
Yep, sorry. Good work Ted.
You know, I was thinking earlier - this is probably why the Mets didn’t give him long outings in ST - guy needed to rest his arm a little.
A complete game tonight would go down very well after the last two games though :P Our bullpen could do with some rest.
We obviously he can be an innings eater. I could not imagine him having a higher ERA than Eaton had last season.
I promise this is my last FiggyQuote:
“I’m ready to go well past 100 pitches,” Figueroa said. “I’d like to give the bullpen a rest. They’ve been worked hard this season. I’d like to give them eight and turn it over to Billy [Wagner] for the ninth.”
if he goes out there and pitches brilliantly its going to be huge for this team. Best of Luck for Figgy!!!!
LETS GO METS!!!!!!!!!!
Prediction 6 2/3 innings 3 runs, 7 hits, 3 walks and a HBP.
That’s about all we can expect right??
I’d take that…our longest start by a guy not named johan.
I really hope he has a good outing tonight, he’s worked hard and definitely deserves it. Lets Go Figgy! annnnd LETS GO METS
can’t help but root for this guy…and lucky for him he’s starting against a lefty-murdering lineup instead of a righty-murdering lineup. Here’s to a perfect game!
Ok..I am in..I am pulling for the guy…I loved the story but every year a guy comes around who bounced around and then gets bounced out again…but this guy is one of us…I accept that..Go Nelson…Give us a big 6 innings tonight
Prediction
6 innings, 5 runs, 3 earned, 8 hits. Not an easy outing, but he shows some toughness.
Mets win 9-6, as Angel Pagan hits for the cycle (just kidding… on the Pagan bit.)