Meet the Nationals' wonder from Down Under: Aussie Curtis Mead breaks out for Washington
WASHINGTON – Curtis Mead, the Washington Nationals’ starting third baseman, will be getting ready for a ballgame come Friday, June 19, when his Australian countrymen take on the U.S. men’s national team in World Cup group play. Mead considers himself not quite a soccer aficionado but pays attention and was pleased the Aussies registered an opening victory over Turkey.
Now, the Socceroos, ranked 22nd by FIFA, might be a slight underdog against the 15th-ranked Americans.
“The cool thing for the Australians,” Mead tells USA TODAY Sports, “is it’s kind of the win-win: Not expected to win, so just go out there and give it their best and see what happens.”
Win-win also neatly sums up this season for Mead and the Washington Nationals: He is winning. And they are winning.
Acquired as an end-of-spring, end-of-the-roster afterthought, Mead is now the No. 3 hitter for the most prolific offense in baseball. And it is hard to determine what’s more surprising: That the Nationals have sustained beyond early-season surprise to crawl four games above .500 for the first time in seven years
Or that Mead, a once-notable prospect passed around through three organizations in eight months, found his footing so quickly, and with such authority, after a March 28 trade from the Chicago White Sox.
Turns out a shot of confidence from an old mentor – in this case, Nationals manager Blake Butera – went a long way.
“The one thing Blake said is, the cool thing about you coming here is we know you’re a good player. So you don’t need to feel you gotta prove it to us,” Mead says of Butera, who managed Butera in low Class A when both were in the Tampa Bay organization.
“Which was nice. I felt like every stop I’ve had in the big leagues, I’ve felt the need to prove my worth a little bit. I think that’s the biggest thing here, is the pressure being off here and just playing the game.”
Finding a corner man
And for the past month, few have played better.
In 21 games since May 21, Mead has posted an .882 OPS and smacked seven home runs. The most recent: A go-ahead three-run shot in the seventh inning against Kansas City June 16, after the Royals clawed back to tie the game in the top of the inning.
It was the sort of galvanizing victory that these Nationals, now 39-36 and hanging in playoff position, have racked up: A bullpen ranked 23rd in the majors blows a lead, only for the offense to rescue them.
“I haven’t hit a whole lot of big league homers,” Mead said after smacking his 11th of the season and 16th of his career. “But that one was extra special.
“I felt like a couple times early in the year I didn’t come through in those moments. It’s more enjoyable when I do. I felt like I tried to hit the three-run homer with nobody on base.”
That’s where Butera, at 33 the youngest manager in the major leagues since 19XX, comes into play.
Butera and bench coach Michael Johns were minor league managers, and then field coordinators, in the Rays organization when Mead ascended to the upper third of Top 100 prospect lists. Mead was acquired by Tampa Bay in exchange for left-hander Cristopher Sánchez, a swap that looked increasingly bad as the Phillies ace reached All-Star status and Mead languished.
After receiving sporadic at-bats for part of three seasons the Rays dealt him to the White Sox last July. Between the Rays and White Sox, he racked up a career-high 264 plate appearances, with just three homers and a 74 adjusted OPS to show for it.
And then the trade to the Nationals, where Butera did not forget the best version of Mead: A 6-1, 225-pound corner infielder with decent power and a smattering of speed.
Steer into that guy, Butera said.
“I’ve seen Curtis at his best, in the minor leagues with the Rays when he was one of the best prospects in baseball. I think there’s something to be said when you don’t have to prove to people that you’re good,” says Butera.
“When someone’s in your corner, in the dugout, it helps you just go play.”
At least after a while. Mead received just 33 plate appearances in his first two weeks with the club. The Nationals were committed to giving prospect Brady House a long runway at third base.
All the while, Mead, who was playing largely against left-handers, asked how he might get more at-bats against righties. Butera’s response: Hit lefties really well.
And he’s crushed them, slugging .520 with an .861 OPS. And when House struck out 50 times in his first 44 games, the club surprisingly optioned him to Class AAA on May 19.
A couple days later, Mead began his tear.
“I know at the beginning of the year it probably wasn’t what he wanted and expected, playing-wise, but he’s definitely earned everything he has so far,” says Nationals outfielder Daylen Lile. “He works hard, he’s a great guy on and off the field and I just love talking baseball stuff with him.
“I’m happy he’s a part of this whole rebuilding.”
Thunder from Down Under
And Mead only keeps climbing higher in the pantheon of Australian ballplayers. He now trails only 1990s stalwarts Dave Nilsson and Craig Shipley in modern era plate appearances, a quick climb after his methodical rise once the Phillies signed him, at age 17, to a $200,000 bonus.
Mead was partial to Australian rules football and baseball over soccer as a youth. He took a shine to infielder Tim Kennelly, who dominated with the Perth Heat, spent eight seasons in the Phillies organization and reached Class AAA in 2012.
“I remember going out to watch my loca team take on Perth,” says Mead, “and Tim’s playing and kicking our ass most weeks.”
This spring, then, marked something of a full circle moment as Mead was teammates with Kennelly on the last of the 39-year-old’s four trips to the World Baseball Classic. Led by Mead and Rookie of the Year candidate Travis Bazzana of the Cleveland Guardians, the Aussies went 2-2 in the WBC, with losses to Japan and Korea preventing them from advancing out of pool play.
“It was pretty special to get the group together,” he says. “I was really proud of the group and it was an honor for me to play for my country.”
The Socceroos are going through that right now. When they tip off against the USMNT at 3 ET Friday, Mead will be back on familiar ground, in Tampa Bay for the Nationals’ interleague series.
Perhaps he’ll be the lone soul in the Nationals clubhouse pulling for the gold and green side. Yet there won’t be any beef, manufactured or otherwise, for a player enjoying support from two hemispheres.
Before many of Mead’s at-bats at Nationals Park, a small throng of fans will serenade him with the iconic “Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi” chant, as if he were a gold medalist swimmer or rugby star.
“It’s pretty cool,” he says. “It’s been pretty special and cool to see how the city of DC has embraced me, which is nice.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Australian Curtis Mead making MLB impact from Down Under for Nationals
