Mets promote 51s infielder T.J. Rivera to help boost offense

By Wayne Epps Jr., New York Times News Service

Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016 | 7:05 p.m.

NEW YORK — When he was told that his hot-hitting infielder T.J. Rivera was being called up by the New York Mets, Wally Backman, the manager of the Las Vegas 51s, played a little trick on him. The 51s, the Mets’ Class AAA team, were between games during a Tuesday doubleheader in Albuquerque when Backman called Rivera into his office and told him he was resting him for the second game.

“And then he kind of snuck it up on me that I was flying out,” Rivera said.

It was exciting news for the 27-year-old Rivera. “But I was more excited for my family and then the experience they’re going to get to have,” Rivera said. “Their reactions were hilarious, I mean, how excited they were for me.”

Rivera grabbed a red-eye flight from Albuquerque and landed in New York around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday. By the afternoon, he was penciled into the starting lineup, batting sixth, against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

It is a homecoming for Rivera, a Bronx native who graduated from Herbert H. Lehman High School. He said he would have at least 20 family members at Citi Field for Wednesday’s game, plus some friends.

Growing up, Rivera was a New York Yankee fan, although he said that he also liked the Mets and his father was a Met fan. The Mets signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Troy University in 2011. He had also played at Wallace Community College in Dothan, Alabama.

“When I wasn’t drafted, honestly, I was trying to instantly figure out, ‘What am I going to do with my life? I don’t know what’s going to happen,'” Rivera said.

However, Rivera said that going undrafted is not something he often thinks about.

“I knew once they signed me I was going to have a chance just like everybody else, just like the guys that were drafted,” he said. “I might’ve had to prove myself a couple more times, but I knew it was an opportunity, and I wasn’t going to let up on it.”

Rivera credited his wife and the rest of his family with providing him support and helping him to stay in the right frame of mind.

“You have your doubts here and there, but you try to push that away with positive thoughts and positive thinking,” he said.

Rivera said it was special telling his father about his promotion to the big leagues. “I was like, ‘I’m going to your favorite team,'” Rivera said. “And he was super excited.”

Rivera was leading the Pacific Coast League with a .349 batting average. He also had 11 home runs and 80 RBI in 97 games. Rivera went 15 for 29 from Aug. 1-7 and was named the league’s player of the week.

Mets manager Terry Collins said the plan is to give Rivera a chance to play third base. Rivera had played mostly second base until the last two seasons, when he spent the majority of his time at third. He has also played first base, shortstop and left field.

Collins remembered that Rivera “swung the bat very, very well” in spring training.

“I had heard a lot of minor league guys talking about, this guy can really hit,” Collins said. “So I was interested to see his swing and see what his approach was. And, real short swing. Not a lot of movement in his swing.”

As the season went on, and injuries to Mets players mounted, Rivera wondered if this was going to be the year that he got the call to come to New York.

“But you try to put that behind you,” he said.

Now his chance is officially here.