NEW YORK (Reuters) – After seven years toiling in the minors and off-seasons spent working at a grocery store, catcher Hayden Senger earned his first Major League Baseball call-up on Wednesday, taking a place on the New York Mets’ opening day roster.
The 27-year-old was drafted to the Mets in 2018 and played for affiliate teams Brooklyn Cyclones and Binghamton Rumble Ponies, taking a job at a grocery store in the off-season to supplement the minor leagues’ famously meager salaries.
Senger told reporters he was speechless when he got the call from Mets manager Carlos Mendoza.
“Mendy said ‘I know what you do in the off-season’ and he said ‘I don’t know if you ever got a promotion there but you got one here’,” said Senger.
Senger is expected to function as a backup for Luis Torrens in Thursday’s season opener on the road against the Houston Astros, after starter Francisco Alvarez injured his hand earlier this month.
“I have to give a shout out to my wife, she has worked for a lot of years to support me through this,” he said. “It kind of made it all worth it now that I can say I’m a major league baseball player.”
As for whether he would keep his off-season job, Senger said that was still “up in the air”.
“I’ve got to tell my boss,” he added. “I’ve got to get on the horn with him and see what he has to say.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Toby Davis)
