Ricardo Méndez: Anatomy of a Hitting Streak

The following story appeared in the August 2021 edition of Gus' Gazette, the official gameday magazine of the FredNats.

After an 0-for-4 performance on June 29, the season batting average for Fredericksburg Nationals outfielder Ricardo Méndez stood at a paltry .202. Despite a few multi-hit games scattered throughout his first two months, the former New York-Penn League All-Star just didn't have a rhythm at the plate.

It wasn't the way Méndez or the FredNats had hoped he would start his season. His position as the leadoff man and center fielder in the team's inaugural Opening Day lineup showed a confidence on the part of the Nationals organization that Méndez was ready to take the next big step forward in his career.

The development of all minor league players was stunted with the cancellation of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Méndez was no exception. The Barcelona, Venezuela native was able to be with his family and stay in the United States, opportunities that were not afforded to other international players, but the missed opportunity to play live baseball still stung. By staying busy, however, Méndez didn't feel like he slipped in his development as farm directors might have feared.

"I spent all the pandemic time in Weston [Florida], and all I did was hit, play catch and run at the place I was staying," reflects Méndez through his manager and translator, Mario Lissón. "But I didn't feel like I lost as much because I continued to work."

Méndez went 1-for-4 on Opening Day, but the highlights were few and far between in a 16-3 loss to the Lynchburg Hillcats. Things didn't get any better the next day, as Méndez was placed on the injured list and the FredNats fell in even more lopsided fashion by a score of 19-3.

Whether or not you can pin Fredericksburg's 0-15 start on the absence of their outfielder, it certainly didn't help. The FredNats were outscored by 115 runs in those first 15 games, and were scoring fewer than three runs per game. Things had gotten a bit better by the time Méndez returned on June 1, but not much. The FredNats were 5-19, and had a team batting average of .187.

What was it like to watch from afar as the team struggled in Mendez's absence? Well, it wasn't fun. But Méndez kept his teammates optimistic and saw the beginnings of a resurgence as he prepared to make his return.

"As a team, we've been able to talk to each other and everybody's been able to help each other," Méndez said. "We've all put in the work."

It took most of June for Méndez to get back into his comfort zone, but things finally clicked on June 30. Though the FredNats fell 9-7 to the Salem Red Sox, Méndez went 4-for-5 for the team's second four-hit game of the season. Two nights later, he hit his first homer of the year in a wild 12-11 win.

Those breakthroughs represented the culmination of Mendez's diligence through the pandemic and his time on the injured list. It was only a matter of time before the hard work paid off.

"At the beginning of the season, I had too many ups and downs," said Méndez. "I couldn't find myself at the plate. I didn't stop working, I would come every day and get my work in."

Méndez credits his coaching staff for keeping him process-oriented and not too focused on the wild swings of a small sample size as he got back to live game action.

"I continued to do my routine when I came back, to try and get back to where I was," said Méndez. "The coaches helped me find that sweet spot, that consistent position where I am now."

Another homer came in front of a packed crowd at FredNats Ballpark on July 4. Two days later, he tripled and doubled. After a while, box score watchers began to take notice: Méndez had a nice little hitting streak going.

To that point in the year, the team's longest streak of the season had been just seven games, a reflection of the FredNats' offensive struggles. And as Méndez turned it around, so too did the FredNats. Through the first three weeks of July, their .280 team batting average in the month was the highest in the Low-A East.

As the streak got into double digits, it became a recurring subplot second only to the team's overall fortunes. Sometimes those two things were part of the same story, like when Méndez delivered a go-ahead RBI single in his third and final at-bat on July 10 to beat Kannapolis.

When did the streak get on Ricardo's radar?

"I realized it when I got to 13, that was the number," Méndez recalled.

Teammates said they didn't realize the streak was that long until the team's social media accounts started providing fans with updates when the streak got extended. Did the added attention wear on him at the plate? Certainly not based on Méndez's performance. The streak lasted six more games, including a couple of multi-hit efforts, before coming to an end at 19 games.

The 19-game streak marked the longest streak in the Low-A East, and the fourth-longest in all of minor league baseball in 2021. Over the course of the streak, Méndez batted .440 with 33 hits. It wasn't all empty singles either, as Méndez hit seven doubles, three triples and three home runs.

As the month of July comes to a close, Méndez falls short of the necessary plate appearances to qualify for a batting title. But if he keeps up his hot hitting and continues to play on an everyday basis, it's not out of the question that he could end up ranking among the league leaders by season's end.

One night after his streak came to a close, Méndez notched another four-hit game as the FredNats piled up a season-high 18 runs in a win over Salem. Finally, Méndez and the FredNats are where they want to be.