Francisco Mejia stepped out of the clubhouse and into the dugout with little fanfare. He did his usual turns in the batting cage — the 1.78m, 79kg catcher looked like just another 20-year-old in the minors.
Yet, Mejia is something of a modern-day Joe DiMaggio, plying his trade for the Lynchburg Hillcats of the high Class A Carolina League. The Cleveland Indians prospect now has a 49-game hitting streak that is tied for the sixth-longest in professional baseball history and the best in 62 years.
Mejia has gotten a hit in every game he has played since May 25, a string that dates to his time with the Lake County Captains of the low Class A Midwest League. He on Friday night extended it with a sixth-inning single against Winston-Salem — tying him for the longest hitting streak by a catcher, set by Harry Chozen in the Southern Association in 1954.
Neither Lynchburg manager Mark Budzinski nor hitting coach Larry Day has had a single conversation with him about the accomplishment, which stands out because of Mejia’s age, his role as a catcher and the distractions he has faced along the way.
As one of Cleveland’s top-10 prospects, he took part in the MLB All-Star Futures Game in San Diego, California, and would have gone to the Milwaukee Brewers at the trade deadline last month had the deal for Jonathan Lucroy occurred.
“It has not been easy for him,” Indians director of player development Carter Hawkins said.
“This has not been put on a silver platter. He’s moved levels, he’s traveled around to different All-Star Games, he’s been a name that came up in trade rumors. There have certainly been a lot of different reasons or potential excuses to end this streak, but I think just focusing on his work and focusing on what he can do and what he can control has really helped him out,” Hawkins added.
In the meantime, Mejia has moved closer to the record 69-game hit streak by Joe Wilhoit of the Western League in 1919.
DiMaggio owns the streak that most fans know about, the major league mark of 56 games in 1941 for the New York Yankees. Many fans do not realize Joe D also owns the second-longest hitting streak ever in professional ball — as a teenager in 1933, DiMaggio hit 61 straight for the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League.
Mejia, who signed out of the Dominican Republic at 16, reminds Budzinski of a young Vladimir Guerrero without the power because of his ability to hit the ball so effectively out of the strike zone. An aggressive hitter, he does not walk much.
It is no coincidence that after the organization decided to make him repeat a year in the Midwest League, like a student who gets held back a grade, Mejia changed everything from his body language to his preparation.
“This year I got a better approach, better routines,” Mejia said. “I got routines this year.”
Last season, it was simply “come to the stadium, let’s go play. This year everything is different,” he said.
It has paid off. Mejia improved his batting average from .243 last year to .348 this season, which Day credits to an improved all-field approach, especially left-handed. Before, the right-handed-throwing Mejia would pull from that side of the plate and cut off half the field.
Now he is hitting the ball everywhere, early and often.
The streak is even more remarkable because of Mejia’s catching responsibilities.
When Mejia arrives at the park, he first works with pitching coach Rigo Beltran and the day’s starter to prepare, then focuses on his defense and finally works on his hitting. It has worked out pretty well.
“You’re dealing with not only calling a game from a mental standpoint, working with a pitching staff, blocking balls, you’ve got all the gear on in the hot weather, foul tips off of you, you’ve got to make 100-some throws a night,” Budzinski said. “It is impressive to see a guy that can kind of maintain that through the course of a season and stay strong physically, mentally, emotionally.”
Handling the mental and emotional pressure of the hitting streak seems to be the least of Mejia’s concerns. He acknowledges it is fun to keep it going and hear encouragement from his teammates, but he does not talk to fellow players about his place in history.
That maturity and focus goes a long way as far as earning respect from the staff.
“He doesn’t make it about him,” Day said. “These games are not being played to see if he will or will not extend his hitting streak and he doesn’t act that way. He plays to win. He hits to win. He prepares to win.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite