Gil Meche
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kansas City Royals — No. 55 | |
| Starting Pitcher | |
| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
|---|---|
| July 6, 1999 for the Seattle Mariners | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through April 2, 2007) |
|
| Record | 56-44 |
| Strikeouts | 581 |
| ERA | 4.62 |
| Former teams | |
|
|
Gilbert Allen "Gil" Meche [MESH] (born September 8, 1978 in Lafayette, Louisiana) is a right-handed pitcher for the Kansas City Royals. Meche previously pitched for the Seattle Mariners.
During his senior season at Acadiana High school, Meche suffered from a viral infection that caused him to miss a considerable amount of time playing baseball. Even with this medical set-back, because of his tremendous potential, Meche was still chosen in the 1st round of the 1996 amateur draft. His first Major League game was on July 6, 1999 against the Anaheim Angels, making him the second youngest debut for the Mariners at that time.[1]
His 2000 season was cut short due to what was thought at the time to be a dead arm. In February of 2001 he underwent arthroscopic surgery to partially repair a frayed rotator cuff, and at the time he was expected to only be on the disabled list for six months. [2] Unfortunately things were more severe, and he had to undergo surgery again on October 3, 2001 on his right AC joint.[3] He was forced to miss the entire 2001 and 2002 MLB seasons.
He made his return in to professional baseball on April 5th, 2003.
Meche was a member of the U.S. Junior Olympic team in 1995.
On December 7, 2006, Meche and the Royals agreed on a 5-year contract worth $55 million, which matches Mike Sweeney's contract as the richest in club history. [4]
| Preceded by Tim Salmon |
AL Comeback Player of the Year 2003 |
Succeeded by Paul Konerko |
