Barbara Barker, for Newsday, takes a nice long look and the Brooklyn-born Brandeis product, and thanks to SNY, he's now pitching for his hometown team.
From Barker:
Figueroa embarked on a whirlwind mission to get baseball to notice him, pitching for anyone anywhere he thought some major-league scout might watch him. In 10 months, he went from the Mexican League to the Taiwanese League, back to Mexico again, on to Aguillas in the Dominican Winter League and on to the Mexican team in the Caribbean World Series.So far, so good. In two starts for the Mets, Figueroa is 1-0 with a 2.77 ERA. In 13 innings he has only allowed five hits and four walks while striking out 13.
Mets scout Ramon Peña was watching SNY's winter league coverage when Figueroa caught his attention. He flew down to see him and then told Mets general manager Omar Minaya that Figueroa might be able to help somewhere in the organization.
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"He was determined to prove everybody wrong, and he knew he could do it," Alisa [Figueroa] said. "When I see how much he believed in himself, it's a great lesson for myself and my daughter and really anyone else. I'm just so happy for him."
Pedro Martinez, take your time.
I love this guy and his story. It sounds like a Disney movie in the making. His family, camping out in Billy Wagner's box, brings an emotion to the stadium. I've never seen such a happy and excitable family. I remember last year, when Tom Glavine was searching for career win number 300, his wife was in the stands. To me, at least on TV, she came off as very high and mighty and just seemed like she was better than everyone. Not the Figueroa's.
This is an excitable, happy bunch who have watched Nelson go through team after team before getting to this point. They're emotion seems to spread throughout Shea Stadium when Nelson pitches and the whole place seems to jump and shake as the crowd seems to pull for him more than any other pitcher.
I never want this story to end. Keep it going, Nelson Figueroa, we're all behind you 110 percent.
Nice story Andrew. Something not usually mentioned about Nelson Figueroa is the success that he had at all of those foreign stops. According to Matthew Cerrone (Mets Blog): "Just in the last year, Figueroa has been A) the winning pitcher in the Mexican League all-star game last summer, B) the MVP of the Taiwan Series last fall, C) the MVP of the Dominican Series this winter and D) the MVP of the Caribbean Series in January. We guarantee no pitcher in history has ever done all that in fewer than 12 months."
ReplyDeleteYou hit the nail on the head.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing what this guy has done to get back to the majors and even more amazing he's had major success at almost all the stops.
Truly a great story.
Yeah, it has been one of the truly great stories this year. Nelson Figueroa passed through different obstacles to comeback to the big leagues. First, he pitched in Mexico, the Caribbean series, and the Chinese league. He is truly a pitcher, who never gives up to make it back.
ReplyDelete1 question
ReplyDeletewhy does billy wagner have his own box?
Very good question.
ReplyDeleteMy only answer: Because he can?
Andrew why doen't the Mets call Mike Carp?
ReplyDeletegood for him. i didnt know his back story (obviously, since ive never been able to even see him pitch) but thats great to hear. how old is he?
ReplyDeleteFiggy is 33 years young.
ReplyDelete