St. Lucie Mets starter Bryan Rogers went the distance in this May 1990 contest and picked up the win, The Palm Beach Post wrote.
He gave up two runs along the way, walked one and struck out six, The Post wrote.
"I'd like to think that I had some kind of luck," Rogers told The Post. "They were just sitting back on my fastball. All three of my pitches were working well tonight."
Rogers had that luck in his third professional season. He went on to play in a total of 10. But, while he saw AAA in four of those campaigns, he never had enough luck to take the next step to the bigs.
Rogers' career started in 1988, taken by the Mets in the 39th round of the draft out of Sonoma State University in California.
Rogers started with the Mets at rookie Kingsport. He went 2-3 over 15 outings, two starts, with a 6.32 ERA.
Rogers saw single-A Columbia for 1989, then high-A St. Lucie in 1990. He went 9-8 over 29 outings, 19 starts, with a 3.09 ERA.
He made AA Williamsport in 1991, then returned to AA at Binghamton for parts of each of the next three seasons. In July 1993, he led his team in ERA, The Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin wrote.
"I've just been consistent of late, staying focused and just letting (the ball) go," Rogers told The Press and Sun-Bulletin then. "Early in the year, I was just trying to find a fine line - sometimes too fine, possibly."
Rogers first made AAA in 1994, with 20 relief outings at AAA Norfolk. He went 2-2, with a 5.40 ERA there.
He then returned to Norfolk for all of 1995, his eighth pro season. In 56 relief outings, he went 8-3, with 10 saves and a 2.21 ERA. Despite his success, the Mets passed him over for a call up.
The Newport News Daily Press highlighted his season late that August, describing him as quiet and wondering if that quietness led to him missing a call to the bigs.
"Maybe that might be so," Rogers told The Daily Press. "But I'm not concerned about stuff like that. I just go out and do my job. That's all."
Rogers returned to Norfolk for 1996, and saw some time back at St. Lucie. He moved to the Braves system for 1997 and played at AAA Richmond and AA Greeneville. That season marked his last as a pro.
- Palm Beach Post, May 2, 1990: St. Lucie rallies to defeat Dodgers 3-2
- Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin, July 21, 1993: Relief call: Rogers and out
- Newport News Daily Press, Aug. 27, 1995: Tides' relief ace quietly does job, waits chance
Made the Majors:1,282-33.7%
Never Made Majors:2,518-66.3%-X
5+ Seasons in the Majors:526
10+ Seasons in the Minors:318-X
I've read a few of these and occasionally come across player pages on baseball-reference for guys like Rogers. I often wonder why they never got a chance in the bigs but I never considered being too "quiet" would be a factor. Does that mean the Mets called up a quirky loudmouth reliever instead? lol
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