Nationals' Joey Meneses: Homers, collects three hits
Rotowire
Meneses went 3-for-6 with a two-run homer in Wednesday's victory over the White Sox.
Meneses singled in two of his first three at-bats before launching a two-run home run in the fifth to extend Washington's lead. The 31-year-old has now homered in back-to-back games, collecting five RBI over that brief stretch, while Wednesday also marked his 14th game this season with at least three hits.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Cranks pinch-hit homer
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Meneses went 1-for-1 with a three-run homer in Tuesday's win over the White Sox.
Pinch-hitting for Blake Rutherford in the seventh inning, Meneses launched a clutch three-run homer off Bryan Shaw, putting the Nationals ahead 4-2 en route to a 4-3 victory. The homer was Menses' first in 37 games, with his last coming Aug. 8. While he's hit only 12 homers this year, the 31-year-old Menses is still slashing a solid .279/.326/.406 with a team-high 84 RBI to go with 67 runs scored through 610 plate appearances.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Not in lineup Tuesday
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Meneses is not in the lineup Tuesday versus the White Sox.
Dominic Smith will start at first base for the Nationals as Keibert Ruiz takes a turn in the DH role and Drew Millas does the catching. Meneses went 0-for-4 in Monday's series opener against Chicago and is slashing just .222/.271/.259 in 59 plate appearances since the calendar flipped to September.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Day off Saturday
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Meneses isn't in the Nationals' lineup Saturday against the Dodgers, Mark Zuckerman of MASNSports.com reports.
Meneses will get a breather Saturday after going 1-for-4 with a run scored in Friday's series opener. Lane Thomas will fill in as the Nats' designated hitter while Jake Alu, Jacob Young and Travis Blankenhorn man the outfield.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Possible waiver wire pickups
Rotowire
Meneses' productivity of late has become too much to ignore. With another two home runs Tuesday, he's up to nine in his past 27 games, batting .280 (30 for 107) with a .922 OPS during that stretch. But part of what makes it so notable is that he had just two home runs in his first 80 games, looking nothing like the middle-of-the-order slugger who burst onto the scene in the second half last year. So is this second half shaping up to be much the same? I have my doubts. Last year, Meneses' average exit velocity was 91.4 mph. During this stretch with nine home runs, it's only 88.7 mph, which is actually down from earlier this year. The home runs will likely slow again, but he's at least usable now that he's proven he's still capable of them
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Goes yard twice in nightcap
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Meneses went 2-for-5 with two home runs and three RBI in the second game of Tuesday's doubleheader against the Phillies.
With the Nationals facing a 4-2 deficit in the seventh inning, Meneses took matters into his own hands, launching a two-run blast to left-center field off Jeff Hoffman before clubbing a game-winning solo shot off Craig Kimbrel in the top of the ninth. Meneses has gone yard four times in the last eight games, continuing a surge that started when the calendar flipped to July -- over his last 31 games, the 31-year-old is slashing .273/.326/.545 with nine of his 11 homers on the season.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Smacks clutch homer
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Meneses went 2-for-4 with a walk and a two-run home run in Friday's 6-3 victory over the Reds.
Meneses touched up starter Graham Ashcraft for a game-tying home run in the eighth inning, his ninth homer of the season. He endured a power outage over the final two weeks of July as Meneses continues to be rather streaky. The late bloomer has five hits -- including two homers -- over his last four games, and fantasy managers will have to hope this is the start of a hot stretch.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Getting day off
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Meneses is not in the lineup for Friday's game against the Mets, Mark Zuckerman of MASNSports.com reports.
It looks to be a rare day off for Meneses. The Nationals are giving Jeimer Candelario a start in the designated hitter spot and covering third base with Ildemaro Vargas.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Fourth homer in three days
Rotowire
Meneses went 1-for-3 with a solo homer in Sunday's 7-2 win over the Rangers.
Meneses finished the first half of the 2023 campaign on a high note, clobbering four home runs during Washington's three-game series against Texas. Though his outburst was certainly encouraging for his post-All-Star break prospects, Meneses had only hit two long balls prior to the series. However, he went deep 33 times in 654 plate appearances between the majors and minors last season and has a 65th-percentile hard-hit rate during the current campaign, so a more homer-laden second half may be in the forecast. Through 83 games, Meneses is slashing .284/.328/.404 and is striking out only 20.2 percent of the time.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Collects three RBI
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Meneses went 2-for-5 with a double and three RBI in Sunday's win over the Padres.
Meneses knocked an RBI single in the sixth inning followed by a two-run double in the seventh. He was stuck in a 7-for-38 (.184 skid) over his previous 10 games. Despite what's been a lackluster June, Meneses is hitting .293 with 18 doubles and 39 RBI through 72 games.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Out of Thursday's lineup
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Meneses is not in Thursday's lineup against the Diamondbacks, Andrew Golden of The Washington Post reports.
Meneses is hitting .259 with zero home runs, six runs and six RBI in 16 games this month. Keibert Ruiz will start at designated hitter while Riley Adams starts behind the dish.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Productive in wild win
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Meneses went 3-for-5 with a walk, a double, two runs scored and three RBI in Friday's 12-10 win over the Royals.
The 31-year-old continues to tear it up in May. Over his last 20 games, Meneses is slashing .361/.398/.482 with 12 runs and 18 RBI, although he has only one homer during that stretch and just two on the season. Given his 81st percentile hard-hit rate and shockingly unlucky 4.4 percent HR/FB rate, it seems only a matter of time before Meneses starts sending more balls flying over the fence.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Going on paternity leave
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The Nationals will place Meneses on the paternity list Wednesday, Bobby Blanco of MASNSports.com reports.
Meneses will miss at least one and as many as three games to be with his wife as she gives birth to the couple's child. Utility man Jake Alu will be called up from Triple-A Rochester to take Meneses' spot on the 26-man active roster.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Four RBI in win
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Meneses went 4-for-5 with three doubles and four RBI in Monday's 10-3 win over the Mets.
Meneses' first RBI double opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, and his second put the Nationals back on top 2-1. He struck out his third time up but responded with a run-scoring, infield single in the sixth and extended Washington's lead to 10-2 with another RBI double in the eighth. Monday's performance marked Meneses' third four-hit game of the season, but it was his first outing of the year with multiple extra-base knocks. The 31-year-old is slashing .300/.328/.394 across 40 games (177 plate appearances) and is proving his breakout 2022 campaign wasn't a fluke.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Four hits in win
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Meneses went 4-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored in Sunday's victory over the Pirates.
Meneses has been heating up after a sluggish start to the season, going 11-for-31 over his last seven games. However, the 30-year-old Menses has yet to hit for the power he demonstrated in his breakthrough rookie season, with just one home run and seven extra-base hits through his first 112 at-bats this year. He's now slashing .286/.316/.366 with 10 RBI and eight runs scored through 117 plate appearances.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Sleeper hitters for Week 6 (May 1-7)
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Joey Meneses' follow-up to his unbelievable 2022 debut has been quiet to this point, but he's begun to pick up the pace, batting .362 (21 for 58) in his past 13 games. The Nationals are one of just six teams with seven games this week and are facing some mashables in the Cubs and Diamondbacks rotations.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Homers, drives in four
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Meneses went 3-for-4 with a home run, a double and four RBI in a 13-4 win over the Phillies in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. He also scored four runs and drew a walk.
Meneses had himself a day at the plate on Saturday, beginning with a three-run double with two outs in the second inning to put the Nationals up 4-1. He followed that up with a homer to lead off the fifth - his seventh long ball since the start of September, to go along with 22 RBI and 17 runs scored. It was also the rookie first baseman's 11th multi-hit game in that 27-game span.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Showcases power again Sunday
Rotowire
Meneses went 2-for-5 with a two-run home run in Sunday's 6-1 win over the Marlins.
The 30-year-old rookie put the Nationals on the board in the top of the first inning with the two-run drive to center field. The home run was his second in as many days and his 12th since being called up from Triple-A Syracuse in early August. With a .943 OPS through his first 200 big-league plate appearances, Meneses has likely secured a full-time role for the Nationals entering the 2023 season.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Possible waiver wire pickups
Rotowire
The guy is basically Babe Ruth at this point. I don't know what else to say about him. I understand the hesitance to add Meneses. He's a 30-year-old rookie who was unknown to everyone about two months ago, but he just doesn't let up. He homered for the third time in four games Sunday, bringing his batting average back up to .326 after it had briefly dipped below .310. It doesn't seem to matter how tough the matchups are, which is good since the Nationals still have a few quality pitchers on the schedule, but they are one of just a handful of teams with 10 games remaining. Meneses has the exit velocities to back up his production and has maintained a respectable strikeout rate throughout. No reason to back down from him now.
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Nationals' Joey Meneses: Slugs 10th homer
Rotowire
Meneses went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run and a walk Wednesday against Atlanta.
Meneses took Jesse Chavez deep in the seventh inning to record his 10th home run of the season. After a slow stretch, Meneses now has three long balls across his last 10 starts, while also racking up seven RBI and six runs scored in that span. Meneses has had an impressive MLB debut, maintaining a .328/.364/.563 line across 187 plate appearances.
