Anytime a guy comes up to the Major Leagues and excels as much as Manny Machado has so far, I find myself thinking, “now THAT’s a guy I’d love to meet.” Well, in Machado’s case, I actually *have*. The sad part being that I didn’t even realize it. Let me explain:
Remember the picture I posted as part of my blog entry on the 2012 State Farm Home Run Derby of Cal Ripken Jr. talking to “some guy” that I couldn’t identify? If you do, I applaud you. For those of you like me that have a hard time recalling things that happened more than a day ago, here’s the pic:
Now, take a look at Manny Machado’s profile picture on his twitter account, and see if you notice anything:
Get where I’m going with this? The mystery guy who was talking to Ripken, was in fact Orioles’ top prospect Manny Machado.
Now that I know who Ripken was talking to I feel like such an idiot. I, of all people–keeping up with the top prospects, and such–should’ve been able to recognize Machado when I saw him. I can’t wrap my head around the fact that I was standing 10 feet away from him and had absolutely NO idea. The only thing I can think of is that it was 6:00 in the morning and my brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders. That sounds like a fairly decent excuse to me; so that’s the one I’m sticking with.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let me move onto the thing you really care about: Manny Machado, and the absolutely incredible start to his Major League career.
Machado–who made his MLB debut on Thursday–put up great numbers in his first game; going 2-4, including a triple for his first career hit. Pretty good, but nothing compared to what he did on Friday night. Machado once again went 2-4, but this time his hits didn’t consist of a single and a triple, but instead, a pair of home runs:
The first and second home runs of his career. (Which, interestingly enough, were caught by the SAME fan.)
I was a bit leary of the Orioles’ decision to call up Machado from AA Bowie, but so far he’s done nothing but prove me wrong. Whether or not Manny Machado can keep up the hot streak (4 RBI’s and 2 HR’s, in 2 career MLB games) is yet to be seen, but I guarantee you one thing: You’ll be hearing a lot more from Manny Machado in the many years to come.
You can count on it.
