Schwing!

63Congratulations to Chris Schwinden, who not only received his first call to the Major Leagues but could make history in a scheduled start on Thursday when he becomes the first Met ever to wear No. 63 in a big-league game. Schwinden, who will turn 25 later this month, is a right-handed starting pitcher who overcame modest expectations of a 22nd-rounder with a strong season at Class AA and AAA and ought to be comfortable in a just-happy-to-be-here number like 63.

Until this week, 63 was the lowest number not to have been assigned to a player in Mets history. The new most eligible virgin is 65. All numbers higher than 65 have also yet to be issued with the exceptions of 73 (Kenny Rogers, Ricardo Rincon); 75 (Francisco Rodriguez); 77 (D.J. Carrasco) and 99 (Turk Wendell).

Coming along with Schwinden from the minors are Mike Baxter, who will again suit up in No. 23 and Valentino Pascucci, who gets Carlos Beltran’s former No. 15. I guess he should have visited those wounded vets. Seriously, happy for Pascucci who deserved this call from the Mets three years ago, when, just as today, he was slugging it out for a Mets farm team. The author of 234 minor league home runs (and another 13 in Japan) Pascucci last played in the big leagues in 2004 — with the Expos. Welcome aboardick.

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One comment

  1. Jon Springer says:

    Submitted by Ranjrz5 on Tue, 09/06/2011 – 9:25pm.
    I would think they could leave #15 off-limits at least for the rest of the season…

    Another first

    Submitted by Shorty (not verified) on Wed, 09/07/2011 – 3:58am.
    Last night — or should I say early this morning — Josh Stinson became the first Met ever to earn a save while wearing No. 64.

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