Former WCU Baseball Star Joey Wendle Thriving in MLB

WEST CHESTER, PA — Being drafted out of Division II into the Major Leagues is accomplishment enough. Rising through the minor leagues and getting a chance to actually swing a bat for a big league club is even rarer.

But what Joey Wendle, 28, a graduate of West Chester University and Avon Grove High School, has done this year truly places him in elite territory.

In his rookie season, Wendle is a big part of the reason the Tampa Bay Rays are as good as they are. The most unorthodox and underrated team in baseball, the Rays have battled to an extraordinary 75-64 record, which would put them in playoff contention if the American League wasn't so top-heavy this year.

Wendle has placed himself in Rookie of the Year conversations by slugging his way to a .297/.346/.425 line. He's also stolen 12 bases and established himself as the Rays' everyday second baseman.

Wendle had a star studded college career, and was always known as a talented player. He was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in 2012, worked his way through the minor leagues, and made his debut with the Oakland Athletics in 2016. The signs were there. In that brief MLB audition over the past two years (he did not accrue enough at-bats to affect his rookie eligibility), Wendle held his own. He even hit a grand slam against the Phillies last summer.

Yet still, he seemed a fringe option at best, a player still looking to carve out regular playing time, a long term bench option, perhaps. "Quad-A" is the term bandied about for the hundreds of such players destined to spend their entire careers on the periphery of the major leagues, splitting time between Triple A and the show.

Then 2018 came around. The rebuilding Tampa Bay Rays shipped off franchise cornerstone Evan Longoria to the San Francisco Giants, and veteran second baseman Brad Miller failed to impress. Suddenly, there was room in the infield. The Rays traded for Wendle from the Athletics. Suddenly, opportunity.

The Rays believed in him from the start.

"Grinder-type player," Rays general manager Erik Neander described Wendle to MLB.com at the time of the trade. "High baseball IQ, left-handed hitter, infielder that has a history of hitting. (He is) about as reliable as they come."

That proved to be an accurate assessment. Wendle seized the starting second base job partway through the first half and never looked back. Though old for a rookie, he finds himself in the same conversation as some of the pre-eminent young players in the game vying for the AL Rookie of the Year Award: Shohei Ohtani, Gleyber Torres, and Miguel Andujar.

Wendle is one of six Golden Rams to be drafted into the Major Leagues in the last 11 years. Four of them are still active, including Nick Ward, another second baseman who was taken with the ninth pick of the 34th round in the June draft.

See also:

• West Chester University Alum Joey Wendle Promoted to Major Leagues
  
• Chester County's Joey Wendle Smacks Grand Slam Against Phillies
  
• West Chester's Joey Wendle Makes Opening Day Roster For Tampa Rays

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