Ernesto Mejia is a fighter because he has to be.
The 26-year-old from Guanare, Venezuela, pulled off a position permutation, from his first love (left field) to his new one (first base). He overcame a freak wrist injury he suffered playing winter ball at home in 2006. He battled back from ACL surgery in 2009, which he said took a year before he was pain-free and back to full strength.
“Since that, I really feel comfortable,” he said. “I haven’t got hurt, thank God, and I really feel good.”
His clean bill of health has helped him put together a stellar season in Gwinnett, leading the team (through Sunday’s game) in nearly every major offensive category: batting average (.310, first), hits (84, first), runs (38, tied for first), doubles (18, first), home runs (14, first), RBIs (51, first) and slugging percentage (.539, first). While Mejia said he is pleased with his season to this point, he made sure to temper expectations.
“I’m having a good season overall, but we still have two-and-a-half months to go, and a lot of things can happen,” he said. “The only thing that I ask God is to keep myself healthy, physically and mentally.”
While Mejia downplayed himself, others did not take the same tack. One was his manager, Dave Brundage, who said his power-hitting first baseman “solidifies our lineup.” Brundage was every bit as pleased with Mejia’s skills with the glove, which the manager said was “much better than what people had talked about” before Mejia joined the team.
“People talked about his mobility, and I think his hands have gotten better,” Brundage said of Mejia, who has committed only two errors in 2012. “He’s very willing to work at it. He works at his craft and wants to make sure that he’s a more well-rounded player. He doesn’t just want to be known as, ‘I’m just a big guy standing up here and I’m a DH.’ You don’t want to limit yourself, and he works hard at taking ground balls, working around the bag. He’s done a great job.”
Brundage also likes the intense mindset that Mejia puts into everything he does on the field. That fire has led to those improvements at the plate and in the field. But Mejia’s passion is both his best attribute and his worst.
“He needs to understand, it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon,” Brundage said. “He’s going to make outs in this game, and that’s why sometimes it gets the best of him. ... Sometimes it takes away from his game because he gets so upset with himself it takes away from what he really [needs] to focus on. At the same time, it keeps him focused and drives him from at-bat to at-bat. I just think some of the little things that he can’t control he needs to harness and make sure he keeps [them] in perspective.”
That’s not a problem in the clubhouse, according to Christian Marrero, one of Mejia’s best friends. The two live together, and while Marrero knows how amped-up his friend can get on the field, he vouches that Mejia is “one of the funniest guys I know.”
“We usually get on [PlayStation 3] with some people after the game, and that’s when we joke around the most,” Marrero said.
The long road to the major leagues is no laughing matter to Mejia. After signing with the Braves in 2003, he has never played a regular-season game above the Triple-A level. He has played for nearly every Braves affiliate, returning in 2011 after a one-year stint in the Royals’ system. Mejia acknowledged that he “never thought it would take me that long” to make a major league roster, but believes his rawness coming out of Venezuela is in part to blame.
“We didn’t really have the best baseball [academies], and I didn’t learn a lot of stuff,” he said. “When I got into the Braves’ system, I really started learning what it feels to see a curveball, what it feels to hit a curveball to the opposite way, hit a high-speed fastball.”
His ability to do those things has not gone unnoticed by Bruce Manno, the Braves’ assistant general manager. He has kept tabs on Mejia and was “excited” to see how well the first baseman is coming along.
“I think he’s taking steps every year to get better,” Manno said. “He’s performing at the highest level in the minor leagues and performing well.”
Standing out in Triple-A isn’t Mejia’s goal. He’s aware that Freddie Freeman is standing between him and being the starting first baseman for the Braves. That doesn’t change anything, though. Mejia won’t be satisfied until he makes it to the majors.
And he’ll keep fighting until he gets there.
“I’m not going to give up. It’s been my dream my whole life,” he said. “I don’t care when [it happens]. I want to play in the bigs.”
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