Current Mets Short Stop: Ruben Tejada (2010-2012)

Ruben Dario Tejada was Born on October 27th 1989 in Santiago, Veraguas, Panama. As a youth he competed in the 2001 Little League World Series & then in 2006 the World Junior Championship. The five foot eleven infielder was signed by the New York Mets in 2006 as an amateur free agent.

He played for the St. Lucie Mets in 2007, moving on to AA Binghamton in 2008 where he hit .289. In 2010 young 20 year old baby faced kid was invited to the Mets Spring Training & made the club heading north to New York. He debuted as a pinch hitter, in the second game of the season and then played out through the 10th inning at second base.

On April 9th he got his first big league hit, coming against the Washington Nationals at Citi field. After that game he was sent down to AAA Buffalo rejoining the club in early June when Luis Castiilo got injured. He In mid July he was sent back to Buffalo then rejoined the club less than a month later, spending the rest of the season playing second base & at short stop when Joe Reyes got injured as well.

On September 5th at Wrigley Field he hit his first career HR & drove in five runs in a Mets 18-5 romp against the Cubs. Tejada would bat just .213 with 1 HR 12 doubles & 15 RBIs in 78 games played.

He was used for his glove more than his bat, although there is hope the Mets can turn him into a solid singles hitter. In 50 games at second base he posted a .972 fielding % & in 28 games at short posted a .982 fielding %. Overall in between sparkling defensive plays he made eight errors in 331 chances.

In 2011 Tejada began the season at AA Buffalo but was called up on May 17th when David Wright went down with an injury. Tejada played second base as Justin Turner moved over to third base.

At the end of May entering June he was batting .313 & had six hits with six RBIs in a four game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He would bat .250 with four doubles & 19 RBIs into July when he was sent back down to Buffalo at the All Star break.

At second base he posted a .993 fielding% making just one error in 152 chances (32 games). On August 8th he was promoted back to the Mets team when Jose Reyes & Daniel Murphy were placed on the DL. He saw steady playing time finishing the year batting .284 with 15 doubles, no HRs 35 RBIs & a .360 on base %.

 At short stop he posted a .956 fielding % making eight errors in 41 games. He played in 55 games at second base with four errors & a .984 fielding % turning 31 double plays.

In the off season the Mets let Jose Reyes go to free agency, making Tejada the heir to the short stop position. In April of 2012 he batted .300 to start out the year. On April 21st he drove in three run in a 5-4 Mets win against the San Francisco Giants at Citi Field. In May he was batting .305 when he suffered an injury shutting him down for six weeks.

He returned in June as the Mets were surprising people contending early on in the NL East. On June 29th he had himself a four hit day against he Los Angeles Dodgers. In July he hit safely in 20 of 24 games, almost making people forget about Reyes who was struggling in Florida. On August 1st he led off a game in San Francisco with a HR off Matt Cain, it was his only HR of the year.

On september 23rd he singled in the bottom of the 9th inning against the Florida Marlins to win the game with an exciting walk off hit. He was greeted in the post game interview with a cream pie to the face courtesy of Justin Turner. On the season he was batting .288 st the end of September with 24 doubles one HR, a .334 on base % & 22 RBIs.