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Got MiLB? & Nelson Figueroa of Your 2009 New York Mets

By Jimmy Scott - Posted on 19 February 2009

My close, personal friend Lisa Winston, who writes about the minor league side of the big corporation called Major League Baseball, did a three-part profile of Mets pitcher Nelson Figueroa last week. I've got some good news for you. You're going to actually hear Nelson Figueroa here next week. I went out with him one night, put some pills in his chocolate milk, and was able to convince he and his wonderful wife, Alisa, to talk to me simultaneously on the phone. "Now, Jimmy," you're saying, "if Nelson & Alisa spoke simultaneously, we wouldn't be able to hear anything they said. They'd both be babbling away at the same time and deciphering would be difficult, if not very hard. And besides, if you drugged Nelson, what on earth would he have to say that would contain any coherance?"

My friends, I reply publicly between just you and me, I didn't really drug Nelson Figueroa of the Mets. C'mon. Do you think he & I have that A-Rod/Cousin relationship where Nelson, so young & stupid, will do anything I say? Nyet, I think not. You see, Nelson isn't young & stupid. Did you know he's very nearly 35 years old? That makes him mature. He looks young, yes, but that's more because of the glow from his wife, Alisa, that rubs off anyone who is around her.

Can you tell I'm fond of Mrs. Figueroa?

What I'm going to do now, in a fit of pure imagination, is give you a link and an excerpt from Lisa Winston's Part I interview with Nelson. Tomorrow I'll give you Part II. And on Saturday, you'll get Part III. Of course, you could just hang out at Lisa's blog, Got MiLB?, and read all three at once. But that would spoil all of our fun here, wouldn't it? I mean, she is awesome in every way possible, like Alisa Figueroa, but you've got to love me too. Don't I deserve it? The way I've slaved for you and cooked for you and wiped your bottom on your worst days? Well, maybe not the bottom part. But I've been here for you and will remain. Trust me. You know I'm good for it.

Thus, here's your link to PART I of Lisa Winston's Got MiLB? interview with Nelson Figueroa. And here's an excerpt. Enjoy!

THE FULL NELSON, PART 1

It's times like these that I thank heaven for having GotMiLB as an outlet. And I'm sure my editors do too.

Trying to get everything awesome from an interview with a player like New York Mets pitcher Nelson Figueroa, Jr., into a column that is supposed to top out at 1,000 words max is like trying to pour the ocean into a Dixie Cup.

So while readers of MLB.com can enjoy the "encapsulated" version of Figueroa's amazing journey, here at Got MiLB I can give you the "full Nelson."

First of all, it's hard for me to believe that Nelson Figueroa, Jr., will turn 35 this May. His green eyes still twinkle like a teenager's. He still exudes the amazing energy and passion that he had the first time I talked to him, back in 1996 when he absolutely blew away the hitters in the Class A South Atlantic League.

Nelson Mets.jpg In his first full season after being drafted in the 30th round out of Brandeis University in 1995, Figueroa took the hill for the Capital City Bombers in Columbia, S.C., in 1996 and went 14-7 with a 2.04 ERA including eight complete games, four of them shutouts. In 185 1/3 innings he scattered 119 hits and struck out a minor-league high 200 batters.

Writing for USA Today/Baseball Weekly at the time, I dubbed him the "Brooklyn Cy Clone," several years before the Mets themselves moved their short-season New York/Penn League club to Coney Island from Pittsfield, Mass., and gave them the same name.

Figueroa grew up in Coney Island and graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School. His fellow alumni there range from former Mets star Lee Mazzilli, Stephon Marbury and Marv Albert to Mel Brooks, Louis Gossett, Jr., Leona Helmsley, Arthur Miller and the Neils Diamond AND Sedaka.

But clearly a guy who saw the big picture, he accepted an offer to head to Brandeis, a Division III school known more for its academics than its sports, rather than any of the Division I schools that showed interest.

Go HERE to read the rest.