In the Cleveland Indians’ minor league system, Joey Wendle played second base from 2012 to 2014, then was traded to the Oakland Athletics.
Cleveland selected him in the sixth round of the 2012 amateur draft and paid him a $10,000 signing bonus.
By way of comparison, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers’ Wendle hit a career-high 327 home runs and 80 runs batted in during the season.
To cap off a stellar season in 2013, he was selected to both the Carolina League Post-Season All-Star team and the MiLB.com Organization All-Star team after going 16-for-64 with 64 RBI and 10 stolen bases in 107 games with Carolina Mudcats.
With the Double-A Akron RubberDucks, he began in 2014. There he played 87 games and also had a brief run with the Arizona League Indians. With 46 runs scored and 50 RBIs in Akron, he slugged .253/.311/.414.
He was traded to the Oakland Athletics on December 8, 2014, for 1B/OF Brandon Moss in exchange for Wendle.
His regular second baseman for the Nashville Sounds of the Pacific Coast League in 2015, he hit .289 with 42 doubles, eight triples, and ten home runs in 137 games.
Despite his outstanding performance the year before, he returned to Nashville in 2016 for a second full season.
In 125 games, he slugged .279 with 31 doubles, nine triples, and 12 home runs.
A total of 81 runs were scored, and he drove in 61. Against the Houston Astros on August 31st, he made his major league debut as a starting second baseman.
The A’s fell, 3-4, and he had a .260 batting average in 28 games with Oakland.
For the second straight year, he spent the majority of his time in Nashville, where he hit .285 with eight home runs and 54 RBIs in 118 games, and only had an appearance in one game for the Athletics, where he went 4 for 13 with a run scored.
How Tall Is Joey Wendle?
Joey Wendle’s height is 1.85 m.