It’s unlike Rays manager Kevin Cash to call a team meeting after win, but that’s just what he did after Friday’s victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. However, this meeting was to inform the team that another one of their own was heading to Denver to represent the American League in Tuesday’s All-Star Game, as infielder Joey Wendle had been selected as a replacement.
“It’s super exciting. I definitely honored,” Wendle said Saturday. “You look in our clubhouse and I see just so many guys deserving of the All-Star Game. So many good players.
“I’m just truly humbled to even be in consideration and then to be picked even as the last-minute guy, it’s really humbling and excited. I’m looking forward to it.”
The announcement came in typical Cash fashion.
“He had a meeting, got everybody together after the game, and told the guys,” Wendle explained. “He said ‘Mike Trout was selected for the All-Star Game, but he can’t come, so they wanted the next-best player in the league: Joey Wendle.'”
But Cash feels that Wendle’s selection displays how Tampa Bay is constructed differently that most clubs and still finds a way to succeed.
“He kind of embodies the Rays and what’s we’re about as much as any player,” the Rays manager explained. “Versatile, just that guy who’s had the ups and downs, that has made the most of whaever opportunity is presented.”
And now he’ll get the opportunity to show that to a worldwide audience in Denver next week.