Mets First Baseman / Pinch Hitter: Josh Satin (2011-2014)
Hidden Hills is one of the wealthiest cities in America, it is located at the western edge of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County.
Some of its famous residents at one time or another were: Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne, Don Drysdale, Sean Penn, Nicolette Sheridan, Britany Spears, Lee Ann Rimes, Chad Kroeger (Nickelback singer) Melissa Etheridge, Jenifer Lopez & Marc Anthony as well as Kris & Bruce Jenner.
Trivia: Satin's mother once owned a clothing store with comedian; Howie Mandel's wife.
Josh was a high school baseball star, earning a three time all league selection. He was inducted into Harvard West Lakes High School Hall of Fame in Northern Hollywood.
Satin is Jewish & was recognized as one of the Nation's best Jewish players along with Ike Davis & Ryan Braun back in 2005.
The six foot two, right handed hitter was signed by the New York Mets in the 6th round of the 2008 draft. He played at Kingsport & then the A ball Brooklyn Cyclones in 2008. By 2010 he was with St. Lucie batting .316 getting promoted to AA Binghamton where he continued to bat over .300.
On April 24th, he became the first player in Binghamton's twenty year history to hit for the cycle. He was soon promoted to AAA Buffalo where he hit .317 in 38 games.
He earned a September 2011 call up making his debut on September 4th at Nationals Park in Washington D.C. He got a hit in his first career at bat, coming off Livan Hernandez in a 6-3 Mets win. He would bat .200 with two RBIs in 15 games played.
In 2012 he spent the year with AAA Buffalo, except for a June 5th quickie with the Mets filling in for Mike Baxter, where he went 0-1. He was designated for assignment, cleared waivers then went on to hit .286 with 14 HRs & 60 RBIs posting a .391 on base %.
In Spring Training 2013 Satin impressed by hitting .455 with a .647 on base % in 16 plate appearances. He started the year at AAA Las Vegas he was hitting .305 with 9 HRs 32 RBIs & a .420 on base % earning him a shot with the Mets, when Ike Davis was struggling at the plate in New York.
Satin joined the Mets on June 12th at Citi Field, wetting his feet as a pinch hitter in his first three games. On June 20th, he drove in the winning run, with a 7th inning pinch hit double, off Mike Minor, scoring Omar Quintanilla at Turner Field in Atlanta. The Mets went on to a 4-3 win.
On June 25th he began a twelve game hit streak where he had seven doubles, drew six walks, drove in seven runs & had four multi hit games.
On July 1st, with the Mets down 3-2 in the bottom of the 9th inning, Satin singled off Arizona's JJ Putz to score Marlon Byrd with the tying run. Later in the 13th inning, Satin doubled & got to third when the bases loaded. He then came home scoring the tying run on an Andrew Brown double that won the game 5-4 over the D-backs.
Two days later he hit his first career HR in a 5-3 loss to Arizona. at Citi Field. Satin drove in runs in four straight games that week.
On July 7th, he doubled driving in the second run of a 2-1 win over the Brewers in Milwaukee. It would be almost a month before he drove in another run & his bat cooled off in the second half of the season. He ended the year hitting .279 with 3 HRs & 17 RBIs.He began 2014 with the Mets but was sent back to AAA Las Vegas by early May batting a dismal .107. He returned in September but was hitless in seven at bats ending the season with a .086 average. Satin was granted free agency & signed with the Cincinnati Reds for 2015.
With Ike Davis having such a difficult time at the plate, Satin has earned himself a platoon role at first base. After 28 games, Satin is batting .342 with nine doubles, 15 runs scored, 18 walks & a .473 on base % (through July 25th).
Quotes: "I don’t want to be a guy that you look back in a year and be like, ‘Oh, yeah, that was a fun two weeks for this kid. The best two weeks of his life. But now we have to move on.’ "I want to be a part of this team’s future."
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