Jake Meyers

Jacob Berkshire Meyers (born June 18, 1996) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). Meyers played college baseball for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. He was selected in the 13th round by the Astros in the 2017 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut in 2021.

Jake Meyers
Meyers with the Sugar Land Skeeters in 2021
Houston Astros – No. 6
Outfielder
Born: (1996-06-18) June 18, 1996
Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Bats: Right
Throws: Left
MLB debut
August 1, 2021, for the Houston Astros
MLB statistics
(through 2023 season)
Batting average.235
Home runs17
Runs batted in76
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Early life and amateur career

Jacob Berkshire Meyers was born to Paul and Laurie Meyers on June 18, 1996, in Omaha, Nebraska.[1] Paul was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the fourth round of the 1986 draft and spent multiple seasons playing Minor League Baseball but never made it to the majors.[2] Meyers has one sister, Lauren.[3] He attended Westside High School, where he played baseball and basketball. Westside's baseball team won the Class A state championship in Meyers' junior and senior seasons, while the basketball team finished runner-up in the Class A state championship in Meyers' senior year.[4] As a senior, Meyers was named the captain of both the Omaha World-Herald All-Nebraska baseball team and the Lincoln Journal Star Super State baseball team after pitching to a 9–0 win–loss record with a 0.97 earned run average (ERA) and 80 strikeouts in 58 innings pitched while also batting .440 with six triples, 51 runs scored, and 23 runs batted in (RBIs).[5]

Meyers attended the University of Nebraska–Lincoln as a business administration major, where he played college baseball for the Nebraska Cornhuskers as both a pitcher and an outfielder. Jake's father, Paul, also attended Nebraska and was an All-American centerfielder in 1986.[6] Jake went 3–1 with a 2.38 ERA in 16 appearances as a pitcher in his freshman season.[7] As a sophomore, Meyers was named third team All-Big Ten Conference after leading the team with a .326 batting average and with a 1.42 ERA.[8] He was named first team All-Big Ten and a third team All-American by Baseball America and the NCBWA after hitting .297 with one home run, seven doubles, 16 RBIs, 52 runs scored, and 20 stolen bases while also going 8–2 on the mound with a 3.42 ERA in 84+1⁄3 innings pitched.[9]

Professional career

2017—2020
Meyers with the Houston Astros in 2022

The Houston Astros selected Meyers in the 13th round of the 2017 Major League Baseball draft.[10] After signing with the team he was assigned to the Tri-City ValleyCats. Meyers was assigned to the Class A Quad Cities River Bandits to start the 2018 season before being promoted to the Buies Creek Astros of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League.[11]

He returned to the Carolina League with the renamed Fayetteville Woodpeckers at the beginning of the 2019 season, where hit batted .258 with eight home runs and 41 RBIs and was named a Mid-Season All-Star before being promoted to the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks.[12][13] He was a non-roster invitee for the Astros in spring training in 2020 before it, and later the minor league season, were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[14]

2021

He opened the 2021 season with the Sugar Land Skeeters. On July 31, 2021, Houston selected Meyers' contract and promoted him to the active roster. Having traded regular center fielder Myles Straw to the Cleveland Indians, the Astros gave Meyers and fellow rookie Chas McCormick the opportunity to play more.[15] Meyers made his Major League debut on August 1 as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning of a 5–3 loss to the San Francisco Giants.[16] Meyers hit his first career home run on August 14, against Los Angeles Angels' pitcher Jaime Barría, and hit a grand slam later in the same game as the Astros won, 8–2.[17] On August 25, Meyers won the YouTube Game of the Week MVP for knocking in the winning run against the Kansas City Royals.

In the 2021 regular season, Meyers appeared in 49 total games and took 163 plate appearances. He batted .260/.323/.438 with six home runs and 28 RBI, 10 bases on balls (BB) and 50 strikeouts. He appeared in 39 games in center field, four in left field, and three in right right field. His play was credited with +4 total Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) while he recording one outfield assist and one error.[18] In Game 4 of the American League Division Series (ALDS) versus the Chicago White Sox, Meyers sustained an injury to his left shoulder while attempting to catch a home run ball hit by Gavin Sheets.[19] He was unable to play in the remainder of the Astros' World Series run. On November 10, he underwent surgery to repair the torn labrum in the left shoulder, which was anticipated to delay his start to the 2022 season.[20]

2022

On June 24, 2022, the club activated Meyers from the 60-day injured list.[21] He hit a three-run home run versus Michael Lorenzen on July 1 to help spark a 5–1 win versus the Los Angeles Angels.[22]

For the 2022 regular season, Meyers batted .227/.269/.313 in 150 at bats with one home run, 15 RBIs, and two stolen bases over 52 games with the major league club.[23] He made 51 defensive appearances, all in center field. His eight total zone runs ranked fourth at his position in the AL.[18]

In Game 1 of the 2022 ALDS, Meyers appeared as a pinch runner in the ninth inning and scored the lead run on a Yordan Álvarez three-run walk-off home run, for an 8–7 final over the Seattle Mariners. It was the first walk-off home run in an MLB postseason contest with the home team down to their final out in the ninth inning and trailing by more than one run.[24][25]

2023

On May 21, 2023, Meyers reached base in a ninth consecutive plate appearance before a groundout.[26] His running catch of an Owen Miller fly ball at the warning track in the sixth inning with a runner on at American Family Field on May 22 helped preserve a 2–1 Astros lead. The catch was recognized with the MLB Play of the Week Award on May 30.[27][28] Meyers collected his first career four-hit game in the major leagues versus the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre on June 5. On August 6, he homered twice and drove in a career-high six runs to lead Houston to a 9–7 win over New York at Yankee Stadium.[29]

Player profile

As a right-handed batter and left-handed thrower, Meyers was one of two position players with this characteristic to play in the major leagues in 2023. Teammate Chas McCormick was the other. Meyers' father, Paul, is also a former outfielder who batted right-handed and threw left-handed.[lower-alpha 1][30]

Personal life

Meyers married Maddie Lammel, a second-grade teacher, in December 2021. Their daughter, Ava, was born in December 2022.[31]

References
Footnotes
  1. A rare characteristic, from 2000 to 2022, twenty-nine different seasons with at least 100 games were logged by position players in the major leagues with this combination of batting and throwing handedness.
Sources
  1. "2017 Baseball Roster". University of Nebraska Baseball.
  2. "2017 Baseball Roster". University of Nebraska Baseball.
  3. "2017 Baseball Roster". University of Nebraska Baseball.
  4. "Boys Basketball Finishes Season As Class A Runner-Up". Westside Wired.
  5. "Jake Meyers". Lincoln Journal Star. June 2, 2014. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  6. "2017 Baseball Roster". University of Nebraska Baseball.
  7. "Silva excited about Husker arms". Lincoln Journal Star. February 17, 2016.
  8. Krueger, Adam (February 6, 2017). "Meyers Named Preseason All-American". 3NewsNow.com.
  9. "Meyers will forgo senior season". Lincoln Journal Star. June 21, 2017.
  10. "Nebraska's Jake Meyers decides to sign with Houston Astros; Westside grad says decision is about opportunity, not money". Omaha World-Herald. June 21, 2017.
  11. "Bandits' Meyers follows in his father's footsteps". Quad-City Times. June 13, 2018.
  12. "Jacob Meyers Promoted to Double-A Corpus Christi". OurSports Central. August 3, 2019.
  13. "Former Fayetteville Woodpeckers make MLB training camp rosters". The Fayetteville Observer. June 29, 2020.
  14. Smith, Rex. "Jake Meyers talks lack of deal for 2020 MLB season". www.wowt.com.
  15. Kaplan, Jake (July 31, 2021). "In their surprise trade of Myles Straw, the Astros make a big bet on Chas McCormick and Jake Meyers". The Athletic. Retrieved July 31, 2021.
  16. Kaplan, Jake (August 2, 2021). "On the arrival of Astros outfielder Jake Meyers, a late bloomer from a Nebraska baseball family". The Athletic. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  17. McTaggart, Brian (August 15, 2021). "Jake rakes! Meyers hits 1st HR, adds slam". MLB.com. Retrieved August 15, 2021.
  18. "Jake Meyers stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 14, 2021.
  19. Zwerneman, Brent (October 22, 2021). "It stings, but injured Jake Meyers is ready to find other ways to help Astros". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved November 14, 2021.
  20. "Astros center fielder Jake Meyers has shoulder surgery". Houston Chronicle. Associated Press. November 10, 2021. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
  21. RotoWire Staff (June 24, 2022). "Astros' Jake Meyers: Activated from IL". CBSSports.com. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
  22. "Javier fans career-high 14 to lead Astros over Angels 8–1". ESPN.com. Associated Press. July 1, 2022. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  23. "Jake Meyers Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com.
  24. "ALDS Game 1: Yordan Álvarez mashes 3-run, walk off homer to give Astros 8–7 win over Mariners". khou.com. October 11, 2022. Retrieved October 11, 2022.
  25. "2022 American League Division Series (ALDS) Game 1". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  26. McTaggart, Brian [@brianmctaggart] (May 21, 2023). "Jake Meyers had reached base in 9 consecutive plate appearances before making an out in the 8th inning" (Tweet). Houston, Texas. Retrieved May 21, 2023 – via Twitter.
  27. Rajan, Greg (May 23, 2023). "With recent hot stretch, center fielder Jake Meyers emerging as key contributor for Astros". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  28. "Meyers wins Play of the Week". MLB.com. May 30, 2023. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  29. "Meyers hits pair of 3-run HRs and Astros go deep 4 times to beat Yankees 9–7 for a 4-game split". ESPN.com. Associated Press. August 6, 2023. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
  30. Kawahara, Matt (July 21, 2023). "Righty at the plate, lefty in the field: Astros' Chas McCormick, Jake Meyers and the Rickey Henderson Anomaly". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  31. Young, Matt (March 14, 2023). "Astros center fielder Jake Meyers playing with renewed confidence". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
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