Patrick Mazeika: Former Mets Back Up Catcher & Brief Folk Hero (2021 - 2022)

Patrick Alan Mazeika was born October 14th 1993 in Springfield, Massachusetts. 

The six-foot three left-handed hitter throws right & plays primarily as a catcher, but also plays first base. He attended Stetson University in Deland Florida & also played baseball in the Cape Cod League.

Mazeika was drafted by the New York Mets in the 8th round of the 2015 draft. In 2015 in the rookie league, he batted .354 in 62 games for the Kingsport Mets, followed by a .305 season at A ball, Columbia in 2016. He moved from St. Lucie to AA Binghamton in 2017. 

He was their main catcher in 2018 ahead of Tomas Nido. He hit .231 with 9 HRs & 39 RBIs in 87 games.  

In 2019 he was one of the team's best hitters, as Mazeika led the Binghamton Rumble Ponies in HRs (16) doubles (25) & RBIs (69) while coming in second in hits (101) & runs scored (50). He played in 116 games overall, 53 at first base & 55 games behind the plate, ten games less than main catcher Ali Sanchez. 

Mets Career: In 2020 he was called up to the Mets twice but was demoted both times without seeing any playing action.

On May 5th 2021, he was called up to the Mets big league squad to replace the injured, Brandon Nimmo. He had never played above the AA level before this point. 

That night, he made his MLB debut, coming in as a pinch hitter in the second inning, grounding out in a 7-2 win over the Cardinals. 

Walk Off Hero #1: On May 7th, in his second career at bat, he became a walk off hero for the first time. 

In the bottom of the 10th inning, the Mets were in a 4-4 tie with the Arizona Diamondbacks. 

With the new rules, Pete Alonso was placed on second base. Dominic Smith was then walked intentionally & Kevin Pillar flew out.

 Next Jonathan Villar was also walked intentionally. With the bases loaded, Mazeika came in to pinch hit & then hit a fielder's choice back to the pitcher, Pete Alonso scored with the game winning walk off run.

The Mets stormed the field & celebrated by ripping Mazeika's jersey off his body.

On May 9th, the Mets had a 2-1 lead in the 6th inning. Pete Alonso led off with a walk & Dominic Smith was hit by a pitch. Kevin Pillar struck out, then Jonathan Villar drew a walk to load the bases. 

After James McCann struck out, Patrick Mazeika came to bat as a pinch hitter. Mazeika drew a walk as well, collecting his second RBI without ever getting a hit. The Mets went on to a 4-2 win, sweeping the series, winning their fifth straight game.

Walk Off Hero #2: On Tuesday May 9th, Mazeika came to bat as a pinch hitter, the last man off the bench, once again, in the bottom of the 9th inning, in another tied game. The Mets entered the 9th inning, down 2-1 to the Baltimore Orioles. Kevin Pillar & Jonathan Villar both singled. 

Dominic Smith came through with a base hit to tie the game. Mazeika grounded a roller to first base, Oriels first baseman, Trey Mancini threw home. 

Jonathan Villar's good base running & good slide under the catcher's tag, scored the winning run. Mazeika was a walk off hero for the second time in five days. Once again, his teammates celebrated by pulling off his uniform jersey.

Patrick Mazeika had still yet to have his first major league hit but had two game winning walk off RBIs & three RBIs overall. 

Trivia: He is the first player since the RBI became a stat in 1920, to have multiple walk off RBIs in first four games.

On May 16th his first career hit came, it was a HR off the Rays' Deigo Castillo in a 7-1 loss at Tampa. But his hot hitting cooled off & he was used in a back up role through the season.

He would have a multi-hit game on June 25th in a loss to the Phillies then another in September. He would not drive in another run until September 9th, when he had an RBI single in a 11-9 win over the Nationals. He drove in one other run in his next game.

The Mets had a good start & remained in first place until August 13th. They went 21-36 the rest of the way finishing third at 77-85. 

Mazeika saw action in 37 games batting .190 with one HR & six RBIs. Behind the plate he made two errors & threw out 3 of 10 runners trying to steal.

2022: The next year the Mets had many new players & were a much better team. James McCann & Tomas Nido remained the teams' main backstops & Mazeika started the year at AAA.

As McCann went down with injury, Mazeika was brought up to back up Tomas Nido. In his first game back on May 14th, he returned in dramatic fashion. 

In a game against the Seattle Mariners at Citi Field, with the score tied in the bottom of the 7th inning, Mazeika homered off Andres Munoz to put the Mets ahead. It ended up being the game winner in the 5-4 win. It was short lived, as it was the only HR he hit all year. 

In the first game of a May 21st double header in Colorado, he hit a two run double in the Mets 5-1 win. He drove in another run in his next game as well.

But he didn't hit much after that & the Mets did not get much offense from their catcher's position which hurt them in the long run, as well as other factors. 

On July 13th he hit another two run double, this one at Wrigley Field in a Carlos Carrasco / Trevor Williams combined 8-0 shut out.

Mazeika was batting just .191 on August 1st & was sent down to AAA Syracuse. On August 18th he was designated for assignment.

Post Mets Career: He was selected off waivers by the Giants but was soon released.

Family: Patrick & wis wife Jordan were married in 2019. They have one son.