Press & Sun Bulletin

READING, Pa. -- A late addition to the starting lineup, Binghamton's Rodney Nye got the Mets rolling early toward a 7-3 victory over the Reading Phillies before 7,418 at GPU Stadium on Monday night.
Nye, who was to get the night off, replaced Earl Snyder at third base. Snyder was scratched due to a stomach ailment just before game time.
Nye responded with a 2-for-5 performance including an RBI double in the first inning and a two-run home run in the sixth.
The B-Mets (43-36) tagged Philadelphia's 1999 first-round draft pick, Brett Myers (7-4), for three runs in the first. Rob Stratton added an RBI double and Gil Velazquez was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Mets starter Jason Roach (5-2) pitched five shutout innings, allowing four hits, for his second straight win. He struck out two and walked three.
He also had an RBI when he walked with the bases loaded in the third inning. Roach was also hit by a pitch and eventually scored on Nye's fifth homer of the season, which extended the lead to 6-0.
Mets catcher Sammy Rodriguez hit a solo home run, his second, in the seventh to cap his 3-for-4 night.
Before the game, the Mets sent outfielder Allen Dina to Class-A St. Lucie and infielder Ty Wigginton to Triple-A Norfolk. Carlos Hernandez, who was hitting .339 in Double-A when he was promoted to Norfolk on May 13, will rejoin Binghamton.
Mets pitcher Jesus Martinez was also activated.
The B-Mets close out their week-long road trip against the Phillies at 7:05 tonight. These teams then return to Binghamton for a three-game set beginning 7 p.m. Wednesday at NYSEG Stadium.

Sunday, July 15, 2001

By Mike Capshaw
The Morning News/NWAonline.net

For former Razorback Rodney Nye, the change over from college ball to the pros required an adjustment.
It wasn't in his swing.
That hasn't changed.
He's still ripping the ball.
The change came in mental approach and Nye said it's one every minor leaguer has to make if they want to make it to the next level.
"In college, everyone's attitude is geared towards team ball," Nye said. "It's one group of guys and we're working to accomplish the same thing ... trying to win."
Hence the change.
"Now, everybody is an individual and playing for themselves," Nye said. "To a certain degree, you do have to play for yourself and go for the stats because that is how you're are going to get to move up and that is how you're going to get paid."
Nye said it makes it even tougher to play team ball when there's a different team on the field daily.
"We do have a new team nearly every time out," Nye said. "With trades and acquisitions all the time, it's hard to get any kind of team chemistry going consistently."
Regardless of team chemistry, Nye has been mixing it up at the plate this season for the AA Binghamton Mets and was riding a five-game hit streak into Thursday night's game at New Britain, Conn. During the streak, Nye was 10-for-13 with 3 runs, 6 RBI and also hit his sixth and seventh homer of the summer.
"It's about time," Nye said.
The Cameron, Okla., native said he may have been streaking sooner if surgery to remove cartilage from his right wrist in the off season mixed with icy weather hadn't been holding him back.
"It was cold enough to snow up here at the first of the season," Nye said. "That really made my wrist sore, but now that the weather is improving, it's not been bothering me at all."
Nye said his two years at Arkansas -- 7th Round pick by the Mets in the 1999 June draft -- were fruitful, especially the time spent with hitting coach Doug Clark.
"We always saw eye-to-eye," Nye said. "Coach Clark really knows his stuff. I've went back to using a bunch of his hitting drills because they always help me."
Like most Razorback products in the minors, Nye said he refuses to set numbered goals.
"This is a grind playing everyday baseball," Nye said. "But I must continue to work as hard as I can and put up as good of numbers as I can and see where it takes me."

RICK FIRES
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

SPRINGDALE -- The world looks a lot smaller now to a former Arkansas baseball player from tiny Cameron, Okla.
    In three years of professional baseball with the New York Mets, Rodney Nye has been to New York City and played for teams in Pittsfield, Mass., St. Lucie, Fla., Binghamton, N.Y., and Australia.
    Australia?
    "Yes, the Mets sent me there last year for winter ball," Nye said. "Only it was summertime down there, and about 90 degrees at Christmas. Kangaroos in Australia are like deer in Arkansas. They're everywhere. I also got to visit a crocodile zoo. The whole trip was really an experience."
    Nye, 24, is doing a little more than just sightseeing.
    He's nearing the end of a productive year at Binghamton, the Mets Class AA team, after spending the previous two years in Class A. Nye is the starting third baseman at Binghamton and has a .286 average with 7 home runs and 43 RBI in 100 games. He's missed the past several games with a pulled hamstring, but expects to be back in the lineup next week.
    "I hit a soft spot running to first base and just overextended," Nye said. "It's a lot better now and I'm just anxious to get back and finish up strong. I've had a good year in Double-A, and I'm hoping maybe I can play at the Triple-A level next year. I want to give the Mets something to think about during the off-season."
    There won't be a return trip to Australia this winter for Nye, who was born in Fort Smith and grew up in nearby Cameron. He plans to return to the University of Arkansas this fall and continue work toward a degree in communications.
    "It doesn't look like we're going to make the playoffs, so I enrolled in some classes by phone," Nye said. "I'm going to get back in the classroom and maybe conduct a hitting clinic while I'm in Fayetteville."
    Nye is well-qualified in the art of hitting. After playing at North Carolina as a freshman, Nye transferred to Arkansas and hit 35 career home runs. He hit 20 home runs in 1999 when Arkansas won the SEC championship.
    Nye could also pitch, and was called upon several times in relief.
    "Ryan was a good insurance policy for us on the mound," Arkansas Coach Norm DeBriyn said. "We would've used him more, but he was having some arm problems at the time. Ryan could always hit and he was an outstanding first baseman who could also play third base.
    "Ryan has other qualities besides his ability. He's one of those guys who don't get too up or too down, and that's what you like during a long season. His work ethic and demeanor are just the best."
    Nye said he relishes the three years he spent with the Razorbacks, especially the championship season in 1999. Arkansas has finished last in the SEC West the last two seasons.
    "We had a great group of guys on that team," Nye said. "We were really close. I appreciate that even more now that I'm in pro baseball, where it's more of a business and you're pretty much playing for yourself. My final year at Arkansas is the best time I've ever had in baseball."
    One of the pitchers on that Arkansas team was Dan Wright of Batesville. Wright zipped through the minor leagues and was recently called up by the Chicago White Sox. He is in the starting rotation, where he is 2-1 with a 3.21 ERA.
    "Dan Wright is my best friend, and we're both coming back to Fayetteville during the off-season and room together," Nye said. "We talk a lot on the phone and he's pretty ecstatic about reaching the big leagues. Who wouldn't be? That's what you dream about and work for your whole life. Just knowing somebody in the big leagues, especially a close friend, is pretty exciting."
    Nye's brother, Ryan, pitched briefly in the major leagues with Philadelphia and his brother, Richie, played in the minors with the Minnesota Twins.
    Now, it's Rodney's shot, and he hopes to make the best of it.
    He batted .306 his first year at Pittsfield, then .272 the next year with the Mets high Class A team at St. Lucie. The Mets brought Nye to Shea Stadium after he was named his team's MVP at Pittsfield.
    "It was at the end of the year, and all the MVPs in the organization were invited," Nye said. "It was awesome sitting on the bench and looking around the stadium. It can be a grind playing 142 games in the minors instead of only 50 or 60 in college. But seeing that stadium reminds you of what you're working for.
    "I'm going to do everything I can to get there."

B-Mets' Nye is having quietly productive year

BY SCOTT LAUBER
Press & Sun-Bulletin

July 7, 2003

BINGHAMTON-- Lately, Rodney Nye has felt like comedian Rodney Dangerfield. He's gotten no respect.
Despite leading the league with 28 doubles, holding his average above .290 and playing a steady third base, Nye wasn't picked for next week's Eastern League All-Star Game and has been promoted to Triple-A just once.
"I've never been the flashy player, and I've never been a top prospect," Nye said Sunday before going 4-for-4 with three RBI in a 5-0 win over Norwich. "I'm used to being overlooked. You hope someday someone will notice you and promote you for doing a good job."
Save for two games in mid-May, Nye hasn't been promoted in three Double-A seasons. He's played in 313 games for the B-Mets since 2001, but rarely has he been better than this season.
Utility infielder Tony Calabrese jokes that each time he comes to the plate, Nye is standing on second base, and manager John Stearns called Nye the Mets' "most consistent hitter." And after the past two games, in which Nye has seven hits in seven at-bats, there's been nobody better.
But voters still selected Portland's Kevin Youkilis and New Britain's Terry Tiffee, both prospects, to play third base for the Northern Division All-Stars next Wednesday night in New Britain.
"Rodney's tools don't stand out as much as some guys, but I don't know what more he could do," Stearns said. "You can't play better than Rodney Nye is right now. I wouldn't trade him for any third baseman in this league."
The New York Mets traded shortstop Rey Ordonez to Tampa Bay last winter for Triple-A third baseman Russ Johnson, and that sealed Nye's fate for a third go-around in Binghamton.
And despite the glowing reports Stearns has been filing, the Mets haven't talked much about sending him to Norfolk.
"In this game, you never know how things are going to unfold," Nye said. "I have two options: I can come play here and play well, or I can go home. I've chosen to come here, so I'm making the best of it."
And in the process, he's become one of the best players not going to the All-Star Game.

BY SCOTT LAUBER
Press & Sun-Bulletin

September 1, 2003

BINGHAMTON -- Open suitcases pass for dressers inside Rodney Nye's stripped-down Johnson City apartment. It's easier that way, Nye says. No need to pack when, at last, he gets the call he's dreamt of his entire life.
Today, he'll close the suitcases.
The call isn't coming. Not this season.
In the unkindest cut of a summer that's been largely unkind to the Binghamton Mets, Nye will wrap up his third full Double-A season with a 1:30 matinee today against the Trenton Thunder. It will be his 369th game with the B-Mets, second-most in franchise history and far too many for a 26-year-old third baseman with nothing left to prove at this level.
"I've realized that everybody's situation is different," Nye says. "Some guys go straight to the big leagues. Some guys go to Double-A for three years."
And some stay in Double-A, even while they're enjoying a career year. Nye, the Press & Sun-Bulletin's pick as B-Mets' Player of the Year, is batting .312 with 10 home runs, 70 RBI and a team-leading 41 doubles, 148 hits and 77 runs. He has the club's top strikeout-to-walk ratio (72-58) and was recently dubbed the Eastern League's best defensive third baseman in a Baseball America poll.
All that and barely a whiff of Triple-A. Save for a two-day summons in mid-May to fill in for nicked third baseman Russ Johnson, Nye has been like the kid forced to repeat a grade in school. Teammate after teammate have moved on to Norfolk and, in cases like center fielder Jeff Duncan, New York. But Rodney Nye the Double-A Guy is forever left behind.
It's been like that since Nye got here two years ago. Because he isn't blessed with speed, or the swing-for-the-fences power teams crave from corner infielders, or great defensive range (he's a converted first baseman), or many of the other "tools" so highly valued by scouts, Nye has never worn the prospect label that keeps others from being overlooked.
"The things he lacks in tools, he makes up for in intangibles, but that's not always easy to see," B-Mets manager John Stearns says. "He's had to see a lot of guys go up to Triple-A, and he's been upset about it. But I sat him down and said you can't get upset over things you have no control over."
That's what got Nye in trouble last season. Disappointed over returning here when Earl Snyder, Rob Stratton and others he came up with were advanced, Nye fixated on hitting more home runs by trying to pull every pitch to left field. Then, in mid-May, he broke his left middle finger, and despite recovering to belt a personal-best 13 long balls, his average dove to .236, more than 30 points below his career total.
Upon opening Year 3 in Double-A, Nye was counseled by Stearns and hitting instructor Edgar Alfonzo to stop forcing himself to hit for greater power. His natural swing is more conducive to spraying doubles into left- and right-center field and smoking the occasional homer, and now that he's realized his limitations, Nye is getting far better results.
"I've gone through failure in the past, and I think I've finally realized what type of hitter I am," he said with a slight southern twang acquired in his native eastern Oklahoma. "They put expectations on corner guys to hit 25 or 30 home runs, and I put those expectations on myself (last year). That's not me. I'm back to using the whole field, and I've been able to maintain a level of consistency more often."
Nye was the epitome of consistent. He batted .299 in April, .272 in May and .276 in June, and turned a nice season into a splendid one in July by hitting .382 with 10 doubles and 19 RBI from the clean-up spot behind slugging first baseman Craig Brazell.
Well-liked in the clubhouse and the community, Nye was picked last week as the B-Mets' MVP by teammates and Most Popular Player by the fans. He was the team's most vocal leader, and Brazell referred to him as the de facto captain.
"I've never seen him hit like that," said Brazell, reached Sunday in Norfolk where he's finishing the season. "He worked his butt off all year long and did what he had to do to bring himself back (after last season). He had a hell of a year."
Nye never got a serious look in Norfolk largely because Johnson, acquired last December for shortstop Rey Ordonez, has nearly 900 games of big-league service with Houston and Tampa Bay and was viewed as a more reliable fill-in should New York third baseman Ty Wigginton get injured.
Attempts this week to reach Mets assistant general manager Gary LaRocque and director of minor league operations Kevin Morgan were unsuccessful, but during sporadic visits with the Double-A club this season, upper management has generally paid less attention to Nye than prospects like Brazell, second baseman Victor Diaz and closer Royce Ring.
Nye turns 27 in early December, and while his biological clock has barely started ticking, his baseball clock is working double-time. He's still one season away from minor-league free agency, but if the Mets don't put him on the 40-man roster after this season, he'll be left exposed in the major-league phase of the Rule 5 Draft.
That might be Nye's best hope.
"I think some teams will want to take a look," Nye says. "If the Mets don't have plans for me, maybe somebody else does."
Nye insists he isn't thinking retirement. Not after the season he's just had. But when his career does end, he says he'd like to be a professional bass fisherman.
Meantime, he's planning to complete his degree in communications from the University of Arkansas.
"When I signed with the Mets (in June 1999), I promised I'd stick with it," says Nye, married for 11 months to his college sweetheart, Amber. "But I've been rejuvenated this year. I'm playing with a lot of confidence. I honestly believe I could play in the big leagues right now."
So does Stearns, who'll recommend during organizational meetings this winter that Nye be invited to big-league spring training.
"He's got Double-A figured out,'' Stearns said. "He's paid the price, and he deserves a shot to start in Triple-A. He's put himself in a good position."
Now, he just needs some help from above. Deeply religious and strong in his convictions, Nye has faith he'll one day be rewarded with a chance to play at a higher level.
Until then, he'll keep his life in a suitcase and wait for the call.

Tides' Nye refuses to feel squeezed out at third base

By RICH RADFORD, The Virginian-Pilot
April 2, 2004

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - Rodney Nye was in a hurry as he picked up his equipment bag and headed for the clubhouse. The big league team had called. They needed him for the second day in a row.

It wasn't the same as getting that "call" during the regular season. But he was going to be pulling on the same orange jersey the Mets are wearing, something he'd do six times this spring.

"I figure every time I get to go to the major league clubhouse, every time they see my face over there, well, it's gotta be a good thing," said Nye, who was assigned jersey No. 93 .

While that number might be better suited for a defensive lineman, it was still the real deal.

Nye, who will likely start at third base when the Triple-A Norfolk Tides open their season on April 8 at Harbor Park, caught the eye of many in the Mets' organization last season.

He stole a line from the TV show "Cheers" in describing the feeling he has when he enters the big team's clubhouse.

"It's good to go where everyone knows your name," Nye said.

Nye's repeated trips to the big league facility were due in part to the fact that he's not on the Mets' 40-man major league roster. Once 40-man roster players are sent down to the minors during spring training, they cannot return to the big club . Nye had a bit of wiggle room that has worked to his advantage.

A mountain of a guy, the 6-foot-4, 214-pound Nye looks like he could throw on a loose-fitting top and slacks and serve as one of Tony Soprano's lieutenants, even though he is from Cameron, Mo. , and played at the University of Arkansas.

And like many of the characters on "The Sopranos," Nye is in kind of a tight spot these days.

The Mets have a young third baseman in New York already - Ty Wigginton - and Nye has two very talented young third basemen below him in the minor league chain. David Wright will begin the year with Double-A Binghamton; Aarom Baldiris will begin the year at Class A St. Lucie. Both were Sterling Award winners last season as their club's respective top players, and both are moving up a notch this season .

"I can't worry about what's in front of me and I darn sure better not look behind me," Nye said. "I can only worry about me."

A seventh-round draft pick in 1999, Nye moved steadily up the minor-league ladder his first three years, then stalled in Binghamton, playing three full seasons there.

But in that third season, Nye put the parts together.

He hit .312 and his 41 doubles led the Eastern League.

"His strikeouts-to-walks ratio was the best on the team," Tides first-year manager John Stearns said. "He's in a situation this season where if he just does what he's capable of doing, he'll be OK. His work ethic is unbelievable."

Nye said that before last season, he had his "ups and downs."

"Playing more consistently was my goal, and I was able to do that," he said. Craig Brazell, Nye's teammate for much of last season, said it went beyond mere consistency.

"There were times last year when Rodney would go to the plate and you'd just know he was either going to get a hit or draw a walk," Brazell said. "That's how confident he was."

Page Created: 7-4-01

Page Last Updated: 4-9-04