Pitching Help Added in Mesa Jr.
Published on July 4, 2019 under American Association (AA)
Kansas City Monarchs News Release
KANSAS CITY, Kan.- The Kansas City T-Bones announced today that the club has signed right-handed pitcher Jose Mesa Jr. to bolster the pitching staff. To make room for Mesa, the team has released right-handed reliever Jackson Lowery.
Jose Mesa Jr. was drafted in the 24th round of the 2012 MLB June Amateur Draft by the New York Yankees. Mesa was committed to play baseball at Seminole State College of Florida but chose to sign with the Yankees out of Charles Flanagan High School in Pembroke Pines, Florida. He made his pro debut in 2014 with the Yankees rookie club in the Gulf Coast League where he went 2-0 with a 2.79 ERA in nine game appearances. In 2015 he would see time at both Gulf Coast clubs for the Yankees and would spend 10 games in the New-York Penn League at Staten Island and five games a full season low A Charleston in the South Atlantic League. For the season he would go a combined 4-0 with a 2.23 ERA in 40.1 innings with 60 strike outs.
In 2016 at Charleston he would go 1-3 in 14 games with a save, striking out 48 in 30.1 innings. Mesa would see time at advanced A Tampa in the Florida State League and would strike out 11 in 11.2 innings of work. Mesa would split 2017 between high A Tampa and AA Trenton in the Eastern League. He would work 49.2 innings at Tampa with 62 strike outs and a 2.72 ERA in 21 games and post a 1-1 record, and then he would add another 34.1 innings at AA Trenton with 39 strike outs and an 0.79 ERA with a 4-0 record. Mesa was selected by Baltimore from the New York Yankees in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft on December 12, 2017 but was designated for assignment in March 21, 2018 and returned to the Yankees organization on March 27 of the same year.
In 2018 Mesa would spend the entire season at AA Trenton but would be limited to just nine games for a total of 17.1 innings for the Thunder. He would go 2-0 with 21 strike outs with a 5.19 ERA. This season, Mesa returned to AA where he pitched in seven games, striking out 11 in 11.2 innings with a 0-1 record. Mesa is the son of former Major League pitcher Jose Mesa, who played with eight clubs over a 19-year MLB career (Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers) from 1987 through 2007.
Jackson Lowery hails from Little Rock, Arkansas and pitched in college at the University of Arkansas in the SEC. Lowery signed a free agent contract with the Toronto Blue Jays after his senior season with the Razorbacks. Lowery spent parts of three seasons with KC and was the longest tenured player for the T-Bones. Kansas City originally added Lowery to the roster on August 4, 2017 while the team was on their longest road trip of the season. Lowery retired all four of his batters in his debut at Lincoln that night and would go on to have a 2-1 record with a 3.12 ERA in 17.1 relief innings in 2017. He made one spot start for the club and added 25 strike outs in his first season.
He was signed by the T-Bones on December 5, 2017 prior for the 2018 season. He would pitch in 32 games for Kansas City in 2018, totaling 45.1 innings with 56 strike outs. Lowery pitched one scoreless inning in the post-season as the T-Bones won the American Association crown. He was 1-0 overall for KC in the post-season. Lowery inked once again with KC on March 5th and would go 0-2 this season with a 6.64 ERA in 16 relief outings with one save. In 21.2 innings Lowery struck out 28 and walked 16 giving up 27 hits with 16 earned runs. His 63 appearances places Lowery fifth on the T-Bones all-time list in appearances. In his career with the T-Bones, the right-hander has a 4.06 ERA in 84.1 innings, pitching in 63 games for Kansas City. The Arkansas native had 109 strike outs in the American Association.
The T-Bones face the Sioux Falls Canaries tonight at T-Bones Stadium with a first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. It is a "Throwdown Thursday" with $1.50 hot dogs and beers as well as a post-game Independence Day Fireworks show.
American Association Stories from July 4, 2019
- American Association Game Recaps - AA
- T-Bones Fifth Inning Fireworks Provide 4th of July Win - Kansas City Monarchs
- Dogs Drop Back-And-Forth Affair with Railroaders - Chicago Dogs
- Double Plays Down Canaries in Rubber-Game Loss - Sioux Falls Canaries
- Goldeyes Outslug Saints - Winnipeg Goldeyes
- Offensive Fireworks Leave Saints One Short as They Lose 9-8 to Goldeyes - St. Paul Saints
- 'Cats Win Season-High Third Straight Series with 10-5 Win over Hogs - Gary SouthShore Railcats
- All-Around Effort Leads RedHawks Past Dogs - Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks
- 'Dogs Lose One-Off Game in Fargo on Thursday - Lincoln Saltdogs
- American Association Game Recap - AA
- RailCats Activate Left-Hander Liguori from Disabled List - Gary SouthShore Railcats
- Pitching Help Added in Mesa Jr. - Kansas City Monarchs
- RailCats Announce Double-Header Set for July 20 vs. the Dogs - Gary SouthShore Railcats
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
