mlbblogger

Despite being labeled “The Rookie” for his his small size dating back to his childhood living across the street from Panama’s Omar Torrijos Herrera Stadium, Mets shortstop Rubén Tejada has big league intelligence and baseball embedded in his DNA. The Santiago de Veraguas native wants victory for his country. Host Panama battles neighboring Colombia, Brazil, and Nicaragua in the upcoming World Baseball Classic Qualifier beginning November 15th at Panama City’s renovated Rod Carew Stadium. “The only reason we are here is to win and clinch a spot on the Classic,” Tejada said. “The main thing is move on to the Classic, and God willing, everything will go our way. I come with more experience, so hopefully everything will come out as planned.”

The winners from the Panama and Taiwan qualifying pools will join Spain and Canada in the first round World Baseball Classic competition against Australia, China, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, United States and Venezuela March 7-10, 2013 at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona and Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in Scottsdale. Proud to be representing his country again after showcasing his talent in the 2009 World Baseball Classic and having matured into an everyday player for the Mets, 23-year-old Rubén Tejada brings an innate understanding of the game which rivals that of a seasoned veteran or manager twice his age.

However, his interpretation of the strike zone sometimes gets lost in translation. In young Rubén’s case, patience at the plate came with a price for the right-handed hitter, who until 2012 had struggled for playing time since making his MLB debut on April 7, 2010. With the strike zone in Panamanian youth leagues being bigger than it is in America, Tejada was trained to swing at pitches that would be called balls in the USA. With this international anomaly, he had
the tendency to swing early at-bat.

At age 20, Tejada was the youngest position player on the Mets Opening Day roster since Tim Foli in 1971. Mets hitting coach Dave Hudgens implemented a more disciplined approach to Tejada’s at-bats by making pitchers work. Since then, Rubén now works the count in search of his pitch. “He can hit,” said ex-Mets scout Ismael Cruz–who signed Tejada in 2006. “People don’t give him credit for hitting. He’s not flashy, he’s not making noise, but he’s a guy who can hit .270, .280. I’ll take that any day. And he’ll jack one every so often.”

With a career-high 25 doubles, a .289 batting average and a .333 on-base percentage in 112 games played during the 2012 season, Rubén Tejada had a breakout year despite missing nearly six weeks in May and June with a strained groin muscle. Serving as the replacement for 2011 Mets shortstop Jose Reyes, who took the the $10 million bait lured by the 2012 Miami Marlins, Tejada proved to be worth his weight in gold–earning a fraction of Reyes’ salary ($491,000).

Perhaps what was most impressive about Tejada in 2012 was his defense. The 5-foot-11 Panamanian made spectacular web gem worthy plays and ironically finished the season with six fewer errors than Jose Reyes. The two former teammates remain best of friends and workout buddies. After the WBC Qualifier, Tejada will return to a Garden City, Long Island, New York training facility for his annual post-season pilgrimage with MLB All-Star Reyes. For now the business at hand is in Panama. “I’m very happy to be here, especially to be healthy and ready to do all that is needed to help the team,” said Tejada. “First we will try to win our pass, then we will start thinking about the 2013 Classic.”