Photo by Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Texas A&M Baseball
"It's weird, I only had five starts in Midland and six in Nashville and then they were like, 'Hey, here you go'. It's one of those things where it's kind of like putting blinders on like a horse. I just try to stay locked into the catcher and try not to make the game bigger than it is. My family came out my opening start and then they came to my second start as well."
"What's really nice about A&M is our facilities and everything we have are top of the line. People don't think about it until you leave it. When I was there I took it for granted, you think that's just what we have. Guys go into rookie ball and go into short season right now, they are literally going from the best facilities ever at A&M, best trainers, top shelf everything to the worst. I remember rookie ball was the biggest shock ever. Maybe a hundred people in the stands, if you're lucky there might be a couple of places that get maybe 1,000 to 3,000 people. Most of the time when you go to a game it's your family and maybe that one super fan that goes to every game."
"The buses might not have AC. These hotels might have roaches and you might not have AC, you might have just the worst beds ever. It was a grind. The saying is, 'if you don't like it - play better." Literally every level you go it gets just a little bit better. The food gets better, the buses get better, the hotels get better, everything."
"It's a grind. You just have to really want it in my opinion. You have to keep your head down and when you're off the field try to make it as fun as possible. Reach out and make friends with the guys because you're going to be with them for a while. Usually the guys you're drafted with, you play with them at every level. You're going to be with them for a while so you might as well get to know them. If you don't have fun off the field and hang out with people, your life is going to be miserable. Not necessarily go out, but go out of your way to be social with your teammates."
"In rookie ball one time we were going to State College, which was I think six hours away. Usually trips are only like an hour or two in short season just to keep it easy. It was the playoffs so we were facing our rival in the other division and of course maybe 30 minutes in the AC shuts off and we have five and a half hours left. It was one of the worst rides ever. We had to double up almost everybody in every seat and it was just not good and not very fun."
"(The daily routine) depends on the day. For a night game you kind of get up on your own. I'll probably get up around 10 or 10:30 and go eat breakfast with some of the guys. I'll head to the field probably around 12:30 or 1. My day consists of video probably for about the first hour or so, going over the hitters I'll be playing the next week. After that it's just working out or something, maybe eat lunch and talk with the guys. Mess around for a little bit. We'll go out, the pitchers will go out early and stretch and throw do everything we need to do, our conditioning and then go to batting practice. Basically after that until the game you just kind of do whatever."
"It's crazy (seeing his name everywhere). I don't know if it was me or my mustache that they were talking about more. One of my buddies sent me a picture and I was actually trending on Twitter. I thought that was kind of cool. It said Daniel Mengden was trending, but I couldn't tell if it was actually about me or more the mustache. The Alonso catch might have been up there too."
"I've been here maybe 17 or 18 games. Every game we have here is awesome. I've always loved the Athletics' field. It's a beautiful surface. I've always liked fields with different dimensions, not just a generic wall. The Athletics' field, I can't even name them all because there are so many different distances and the fences are high and low. The look of it is just really cool. I always like good scenery."
"I did a variation of (his wind up). In college I just did the wind up without the pumps. For some reason in this past offseason when throwing I just started doing it for fun in a bullpen. One of the guys was like, 'That's kind of deceptive.' For me it's basically all timing and it just synced me up with everything. It's basically the same wind up from college just with I guess you could call it the double pump or triple pump. I guess the no pump is the original one I did in college.
I'm surprised you didn't say anything about the socks and the pants. Besides the wind up and everything else, the pants I wear actually came about when I got traded. They only had one pair of pants left when I got to high A with A's. They stopped half way at my calf, they didn't go all the way down and they didn't go all the way up. I wore them at what we call 'tweeners,' in the middle. So I wore those pants as tweeners and then I wore stirrups or our socks. Of course being with the A's we have great color combinations. So I wear the three ring socks with the tweeners, like right on top of the three ring socks. That to go along with everything else that's old school."
"When we were back in college, Coach Childress was very strict about facial hair. You couldn't have a beard or anything like that. But he allowed you to grow whatever he grew. Coach Childress grew a fabulous mustache as he would say. Me being the smart college kid, I was like, 'I'm going to one up him. If he's going to let us do a mustache I'm going to do a curly mustache, just one up him and beat him.' I ended up doing it and of course our fans loved it and nicknamed me the 'power stache' and just fell in love with it. I started throwing really well and it kind of became a little superstitious thing. Everyone really loved it so I decided to keep it. If you're going to grow it you have to embrace it. People are going to talk about it and say it's terrible. You have to hold strong and just go with it. If you want a mustache you just have to grow it."
"At first I was a little disappointed and kind of discouraged after being traded. Being from Houston, I've always wanted to play for the Astros. It would have been awesome to be a big leaguer for the Astros. When it happened we knew something was going to happen with the team. They were making a run and they needed a starter and a couple other key pieces to finally make it over the hump. We knew trades were going to happen and coming in, we thought there was a safety blanket over me. He's from Houston, they're not going to trade him. Two days later I'm the first one to go. At first I was a little discouraged and then talking to my agent he was telling me it was probably the best thing that could've happened to me. The Astros organization was so stacked in the minors, I might still be in double A right now if I was still with the Astros. The A's weren't as strong as the Astros and they had a bunch of injuries last year and ran into a bunch of injuries this year. They aren't afraid to give young guys a chance."
"If you look at our starting rotation you have Sean Manaea who is 24, Dylan Overton 24 and just made his debut. Zach Neal made his debut and Sonny Gray is 28. Kendall Gravemen from Mississippi State is 25. They aren't afraid to give young guys a chance. If you show them you have it they will run with you and let you go."
"It's kind of fate, too. You talk about Catfish Hunter and Rollie Fingers are two pitching greats for the A's. People are kind of telling me I have the look of both. I have the mustache of Rollie Fingers and my hair and facial structure kind of looks like Catfish Hunter. It's a nice mix of both."
"It's one game at a time. We have the pirates on Sunday and then if everything lines up correctly I should be throwing Friday against the Astros. I'm going to be really excited, one to finally pitch against the Astros since they traded me and then two because I might have upwards to 200 people at the game. I've had so many people text me and ask me when I'm throwing. Everyone is so excited to see me, friends from high school, my close friends, friends from college, my family. I might have every family member I know at the game and all sorts of friends and miscellaneous fans. I can't even imagine what it's going to be like. I imagine a lot of Aggies will be there, too.
We played at the Minute Maid Classic in college and getting a little taste of playing on a big league field was amazing. Now with the flipped situation not actually pitching for the hometown team but pitching against them there's going to be extra emotions. I want to do well every time I pitch but this specific time I really want to be able to show them they messed up trading me."
Daniel Mengden details the rise to the majors, his magnificent mustache
Key quotes from Daniel Mengden interview
"Day one when they called me up was kind of a whirlwind. I didn't have any idea it was coming. I was throwing well and I knew we had a bunch of injuries, but I thought I was pretty young and they might hold me back until the September call ups. Things happen for a reason and I got called up. Being able to be in the big leagues and throw was a surreal feeling- I can barely explain it. It was everything I ever dreamed of since I was five or six years old trying to play the game and hoping one day to be a big leaguer. Once I finally got on the mound for the first pitch of the game, I think that might have been the most nervous I've ever been. Just jitters and emotions and 40,000 people yelling all around.""It's weird, I only had five starts in Midland and six in Nashville and then they were like, 'Hey, here you go'. It's one of those things where it's kind of like putting blinders on like a horse. I just try to stay locked into the catcher and try not to make the game bigger than it is. My family came out my opening start and then they came to my second start as well."
"What's really nice about A&M is our facilities and everything we have are top of the line. People don't think about it until you leave it. When I was there I took it for granted, you think that's just what we have. Guys go into rookie ball and go into short season right now, they are literally going from the best facilities ever at A&M, best trainers, top shelf everything to the worst. I remember rookie ball was the biggest shock ever. Maybe a hundred people in the stands, if you're lucky there might be a couple of places that get maybe 1,000 to 3,000 people. Most of the time when you go to a game it's your family and maybe that one super fan that goes to every game."
"The buses might not have AC. These hotels might have roaches and you might not have AC, you might have just the worst beds ever. It was a grind. The saying is, 'if you don't like it - play better." Literally every level you go it gets just a little bit better. The food gets better, the buses get better, the hotels get better, everything."
"It's a grind. You just have to really want it in my opinion. You have to keep your head down and when you're off the field try to make it as fun as possible. Reach out and make friends with the guys because you're going to be with them for a while. Usually the guys you're drafted with, you play with them at every level. You're going to be with them for a while so you might as well get to know them. If you don't have fun off the field and hang out with people, your life is going to be miserable. Not necessarily go out, but go out of your way to be social with your teammates."
"In rookie ball one time we were going to State College, which was I think six hours away. Usually trips are only like an hour or two in short season just to keep it easy. It was the playoffs so we were facing our rival in the other division and of course maybe 30 minutes in the AC shuts off and we have five and a half hours left. It was one of the worst rides ever. We had to double up almost everybody in every seat and it was just not good and not very fun."
"(The daily routine) depends on the day. For a night game you kind of get up on your own. I'll probably get up around 10 or 10:30 and go eat breakfast with some of the guys. I'll head to the field probably around 12:30 or 1. My day consists of video probably for about the first hour or so, going over the hitters I'll be playing the next week. After that it's just working out or something, maybe eat lunch and talk with the guys. Mess around for a little bit. We'll go out, the pitchers will go out early and stretch and throw do everything we need to do, our conditioning and then go to batting practice. Basically after that until the game you just kind of do whatever."
"It's crazy (seeing his name everywhere). I don't know if it was me or my mustache that they were talking about more. One of my buddies sent me a picture and I was actually trending on Twitter. I thought that was kind of cool. It said Daniel Mengden was trending, but I couldn't tell if it was actually about me or more the mustache. The Alonso catch might have been up there too."
"I've been here maybe 17 or 18 games. Every game we have here is awesome. I've always loved the Athletics' field. It's a beautiful surface. I've always liked fields with different dimensions, not just a generic wall. The Athletics' field, I can't even name them all because there are so many different distances and the fences are high and low. The look of it is just really cool. I always like good scenery."
"I did a variation of (his wind up). In college I just did the wind up without the pumps. For some reason in this past offseason when throwing I just started doing it for fun in a bullpen. One of the guys was like, 'That's kind of deceptive.' For me it's basically all timing and it just synced me up with everything. It's basically the same wind up from college just with I guess you could call it the double pump or triple pump. I guess the no pump is the original one I did in college.
I'm surprised you didn't say anything about the socks and the pants. Besides the wind up and everything else, the pants I wear actually came about when I got traded. They only had one pair of pants left when I got to high A with A's. They stopped half way at my calf, they didn't go all the way down and they didn't go all the way up. I wore them at what we call 'tweeners,' in the middle. So I wore those pants as tweeners and then I wore stirrups or our socks. Of course being with the A's we have great color combinations. So I wear the three ring socks with the tweeners, like right on top of the three ring socks. That to go along with everything else that's old school."
"When we were back in college, Coach Childress was very strict about facial hair. You couldn't have a beard or anything like that. But he allowed you to grow whatever he grew. Coach Childress grew a fabulous mustache as he would say. Me being the smart college kid, I was like, 'I'm going to one up him. If he's going to let us do a mustache I'm going to do a curly mustache, just one up him and beat him.' I ended up doing it and of course our fans loved it and nicknamed me the 'power stache' and just fell in love with it. I started throwing really well and it kind of became a little superstitious thing. Everyone really loved it so I decided to keep it. If you're going to grow it you have to embrace it. People are going to talk about it and say it's terrible. You have to hold strong and just go with it. If you want a mustache you just have to grow it."
"At first I was a little disappointed and kind of discouraged after being traded. Being from Houston, I've always wanted to play for the Astros. It would have been awesome to be a big leaguer for the Astros. When it happened we knew something was going to happen with the team. They were making a run and they needed a starter and a couple other key pieces to finally make it over the hump. We knew trades were going to happen and coming in, we thought there was a safety blanket over me. He's from Houston, they're not going to trade him. Two days later I'm the first one to go. At first I was a little discouraged and then talking to my agent he was telling me it was probably the best thing that could've happened to me. The Astros organization was so stacked in the minors, I might still be in double A right now if I was still with the Astros. The A's weren't as strong as the Astros and they had a bunch of injuries last year and ran into a bunch of injuries this year. They aren't afraid to give young guys a chance."
"If you look at our starting rotation you have Sean Manaea who is 24, Dylan Overton 24 and just made his debut. Zach Neal made his debut and Sonny Gray is 28. Kendall Gravemen from Mississippi State is 25. They aren't afraid to give young guys a chance. If you show them you have it they will run with you and let you go."
"It's kind of fate, too. You talk about Catfish Hunter and Rollie Fingers are two pitching greats for the A's. People are kind of telling me I have the look of both. I have the mustache of Rollie Fingers and my hair and facial structure kind of looks like Catfish Hunter. It's a nice mix of both."
"It's one game at a time. We have the pirates on Sunday and then if everything lines up correctly I should be throwing Friday against the Astros. I'm going to be really excited, one to finally pitch against the Astros since they traded me and then two because I might have upwards to 200 people at the game. I've had so many people text me and ask me when I'm throwing. Everyone is so excited to see me, friends from high school, my close friends, friends from college, my family. I might have every family member I know at the game and all sorts of friends and miscellaneous fans. I can't even imagine what it's going to be like. I imagine a lot of Aggies will be there, too.
We played at the Minute Maid Classic in college and getting a little taste of playing on a big league field was amazing. Now with the flipped situation not actually pitching for the hometown team but pitching against them there's going to be extra emotions. I want to do well every time I pitch but this specific time I really want to be able to show them they messed up trading me."
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