Staten Island Advance

No Picnic

Baseball season is finally upon us, and with that we take a look back at one of Staten Island's finest athletes on the diamond.

Graniteville resident Frank Menechino, now 48-years-old, is still involved in the game he loves, but it was no picnic carving out an MLB career for the undersized infielder.

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Staten Island Advance

Through the Ringer

The game of baseball has taken the 5-foot-9, 175-pound utility player out of Susan Wagner HS through the rigors of the Minor Leagues to the MLB postseason, a World Baseball Classic, and provided him coaching opportunities abound.

Today, he's a hitting coach for the Chicago White Sox' Triple-A affiliate Charlotte Knights after spending the past six years tutoring the likes of Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich, the last two National League MVPs, during his time as the Miami Marlins hitting coach...but 30 years ago he was a 150-pound catcher at Susan Wagner.

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Two-sport Star

In the late 1980's, Menechino starred as a two-sport athlete at the Manor Road school -- excelling on the football grid, as well as a backstop and shortstop for the Falcons baseball team.

His size likely cost him scholarship opportunities and led to him attending Gulf Coast Community College, where he played for Darren Mazeroski, the son of MLB Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski.

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Roll Tide

Menechino transferred to the University of Alabama, where he led the team in hitting as a junior and became a 45th round draft pick of the Chicago White Sox in 1993.

He was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the 1997 Minor League draft and ultimately spent seven seasons toiling in the Minors before getting his crack at The Show.

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Getting the Call

A few months shy of his 29th birthday, Menechino finally got the call he'd spent a lifetime waiting for when he made his MLB debut with the A's in 1999.

In 2001, while playing second base alongside American League MVP first baseman Jason Giambi for the "moneyball" A's, Menechino posted the best stat line of his career.

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Staten Island Advance

Moneyball

The Staten Islander hit .242, but scored 82 runs, drove in another 60, smacked 12 homers, and reached base at an impressive .369 clip -- demonstrating one of the key skills Oakland general manager Billy Beane looked for in "value" players.

That same season, Menechino's Athletics met his hometown New York Yankees in the American League Division Series -- where Derek Jeter's renowned "flip play" helped lead the Yanks past Oakland.

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Canada, eh?

Menechino spent five seasons with Oakland before he was dealt to the Toronto Blue Jays, where he played the final two seasons of his MLB career, which ended in 2005.

In 2006 he competed in the World Baseball Classic as a member of the Italian national team.

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Hanging Up the Spikes

He would attempt to stick around the game as a player until 2007, bouncing around the Minor Leagues, but he never made it back to the Bigs.

All in all, Menechino hit .240 while reaching base at a .358 mark over seven Major League seasons, and posted a .284 batting average over 11 Minor League campaigns.

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Coach Menechino

Menechino spent two months playing in an Italian league in 2008 before calling it quits due to injuries.

Later that year, he took a job with the Yankees Double-A affiliate Trenton Thunder as their hitting coach, and in 2011 he filled the same role for the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees before moving onto Miami in 2013.

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Miami's Masher

In 2017, then-Marlin Giancarlo Stanton credited Menechino for changing his stance during his MVP season, in which he crushed a league-leading 59 home runs.

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Off the Field

Menechino opened a school for the blind in 2009 and hosts a charity baseball event for the school each October.

In 2012, he was recognized at home when he was inducted into the Staten Island Sports Hall of Fame.

Menechino will spend the 2019 season tutoring some of the White Sox top prospects at the Triple-A level.