Wade Meckler
San Francisco Giants – No. 53
Outfielder
Born: (2000-04-21) April 21, 2000
Anaheim, California, U.S.
Bats: Left
Throws: Right
MLB debut
August 14, 2023, for the San Francisco Giants
MLB statistics
(through 2023 season)
Batting average.232
Home runs0
Runs batted in4
Teams

Wade Jameson Meckler (born April 21, 2000) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played college baseball at Oregon State University. Meckler was drafted by the Giants in the eighth round of the 2022 MLB draft, and made his MLB debut with them the following year.

Early life

Meckler was born in Anaheim, California, the son of Laura and Brian Meckler, and has a brother, Wyatt.[1] His mother played college volleyball at San José State University.[2] His hometown is Yorba Linda, California.[1]

High school

Meckler attended Esperanza High School in Anaheim.[1] As a high school freshman, he was 4 feet 10 inches (1.47 metres) tall (the shortest kid in the school) and weighed 75 pounds (34 kilograms); he barely made the freshman baseball team.[3][4] As a sophomore, he weighed 100 pounds.[3] In his junior season Meckler batted .301 with 17 runs and 11 stolen bases.[1] As a senior, by which time he was 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) and 145 pounds, he batted .375 with 28 runs.[3][1] He played third base, second base, shortstop, and outfield.[1] He was a two-time All-League All-Academic selection, and was ranked in the top 500 players nationally by Perfect Game.[1] Throughout high school he had a 4.4 GPA, and he was a Collegiate Scholar and earned the Golden State Award.[1] He graduated with honors, was an AP Scholar with Distinction, and scored 1470 on his SAT.[1][3] He did not receive a scholarship offer from any NCAA Division I or Division II programs.[5]

College

Meckler played college baseball as a walk-on at Oregon State University while majoring in finance.[1][5] He never received a scholarship from the school.[6] He was cut from the baseball team after his freshman year in 2019 in which he had one hit in only 10 at bats, by new coach Mitch Canham, and did not make the team in 2020.[3] Meckler rejoined the team in 2021.[7]

In 2021 with Oregon State he batted .303/.396/.472 in 142 at bats, playing 21 games in right field and 15 games in left field, playing most of the season with a hamstring injury.[5][8] In 2022 with Oregon State he batted leadoff and hit .347/.456(4th in the Pac-12 Conference/.478, leading the conference with 81 runs and 23 doubles, with 12 stolen bases, and 53 walks (3rd) vs. 49 strikeouts in 268 at bats while playing 50 games in left field and seven games in right field.[9][10][11] He was named All-Pac-12 First Team, Corvallis Regional All-Tournament Team, CoSIDA Academic All-District 8, and was named Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week on April 25.[1] In his college career, he batted .326/.435/.467 in 420 at bats while on defense he had a 1.000 fielding percentage in 134 chances.[12]

Professional career

Minor leagues

Meckler was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the eighth round of the 2022 Major League Baseball Draft.[13] He signed for a below-slot signing bonus of $97,500.[4]

Meckler made his professional debut with the rookie–level Arizona Complex League Giants, with whom he batted .290/.460/.395 in 38 at bats playing nine games in center field, two in left field, and one in right field.[14] He was then promoted to the Single–A San Jose Giants in the California League with whom he batted .439/.540/.683 in 41 at bats, playing 11 games in left field and two games in center field.[14]

He started 2023 with the High–A Eugene Emeralds of the Northwest League, with whom Meckler batted .456/.494/.633 in 79 at bats, playing 10 games in right field, six in left field, and three in center field.[14] He was promoted to the Double–A Richmond Flying Squirrels of the Eastern League during the season with whom he batted .336/.431/.450 in 149 at bats, playing 17 games in center field, 11 games in left field, and nine games in right field.[14][15] He was then promoted to the Triple–A Sacramento RiverCats of the Pacific Coast League on July 31 where he was 3.7 years younger than the average player, and batted .400/.546/.600 in 25 at bats, playing four games in right field and three in left field before he was promoted to the major leagues.[14] Baseball America tabbed him the Giants organization hitter with the best strike zone discipline.[16]

Major leagues

On August 14, 2023, Meckler was selected to the 40-man roster and promoted to the major leagues for the first time.[17] At the time of his call-up, in his minor league career he had batted .377/.472/.527 with a .999 OPS in 332 at bats, with 76 runs, 26 doubles, 6 home runs, 60 RBIs, eight steals, and an equal number of walks and strikeouts (59), while playing 33 games in left field, 31 in center field, and 24 in right field.[14] Sportswriter Grant Brisbee of The Athletic called them "Freaky numbers."[18] Up until that point in 2022 he led all qualified minor leaguers at full-season affiliates with a .379 batting average and a .463 on-base percentage.[4] Giants manager Gabe Kapler said: "Meckler's FanGraphs page or Baseball Reference page or pick-your-stats page is a pretty fun one to look at. It's just kind of silly, video-game numbers. Not huge home run numbers, of course, but the on-base stuff is pretty impressive. A lot of that is just he's got really good plate discipline and really good bat-to-ball skills."[4]

Meckler made his major league debut with the Giants the same day on August 14, only 13 months after being drafted.[4] He said: "I’m always going to play hard. I’m going to run hard out of the box. I’m going to grind out at-bats and try to make the pitcher break first. That’s kind of my whole M.O. I’m trying to get the pitcher to break before I miss three pitches."[4] On September 6, Meckler was optioned back to Sacramento.[19]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Wade Meckler - Baseball". Oregon State University Athletics.
  2. ↑ "2023 Richmond Flying Squirrels Supplemental Bios". calameo.com.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Joe Freeman (May 6, 2022). "Oregon State baseball standout Wade Meckler's story is no fairy tale, but it might seem like one". The Oregonian.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Giants hope Meckler's 'video-game numbers' spark offense". MLB.com.
  5. 1 2 3 Marc Delucchi (September 26, 2022). "How getting cut at Oregon State revived Wade Meckler's career". Sports Illustrated.
  6. ↑ "SF Giants' call-up of Wade Meckler only the latest chapter in outfield prospect's storybook journey". The Mercury News. August 15, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Oregon State baseball standout Wade Meckler's story is no fairy tale, but it might seem like one". May 6, 2022.
  8. ↑ "2021 Pac-12 Conference Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com.
  9. ↑ "Giants prospect Meckler on fast track due to work ethic, approach". July 19, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Wade Meckler Named Academic All-District | Pac-12". pac-12.com.
  11. ↑ "2022 Pac-12 Conference Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com.
  12. ↑ "Wade Meckler Selected In Eighth Round By San Francisco". Oregon State University Athletics.
  13. ↑ Joe Freeman (July 30, 2022). "Oregon State baseball's 8-player draft class leaving for MLB: Wade Meckler, Gavin Logan, Jake Pfennigs sign professional contracts". The Oregonian.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Wade Meckler Amateur, College & Minor Leagues Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
  15. ↑ Les Gehrett (July 13, 2023). "Meckler is rising up the ranks". The Democrat Herald.
  16. ↑ Baseball America 2023 Prospect Handbook Digital Edition, 2023.
  17. ↑ "Giants' Wade Meckler: Quick rise to majors". CBS Sports. August 14, 2023. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  18. ↑ Brisbee, Grant (August 15, 2023). "The Giants didn't have to call Wade Meckler up. Here's why they did". The Athletic.
  19. ↑ Thanawalla, Ali (September 6, 2023). "Giants' Bailey placed on 7-day concussion IL; Meckler optioned". NBC Sports Bay Area & California. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
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