Mike Nickeas

Mike Nickeas
New York Mets — No. 13
Catcher
Born: February 13, 1983 (1983-02-13) (age 28) Vancouver, British Columbia
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
September 4, 2010 for the New York Mets
Career statistics (through 2011)
Batting average	.190
Home runs	1
Runs batted in	6
Teams
New York Mets (2010-present)

Medal record
Baseball
Competitor for  United States
Pan American Games
Silver	Santo Domingo 2003	Baseball at the 2003 Pan American Games

Michael James Nickeas (born February 13, 1983 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) is a Major League Baseball catcher for the New York Mets.

Nickeas was born in Vancouver, while his father played for the Vancouver Whitecaps of the NASL. His father, Mark, is from England, and his mother is American. He grew up in California and graduated from Westlake High School in Westlake Village, California.

Nickeas played three years for the Georgia Tech baseball team. He was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 5th round of the 2004 draft. He played for the USA youth team, junior national team and the USA National team, becoming only the second player in USA baseball history to play on 3 teams.^{[citation needed]}. In 2007 he switched his allegiance to Great Britain and played for the team in the 2007 European Baseball Championship. He was voted to the tournament's all-star team as the British team finished as silver medalists.

Nickeas started his pro career with the Spokane Indians of the Northwest League. He batted .288 with 10 HRs and 55 RBIs for Spokane. In 2005, he played for the Rangers' AA affiliate, Frisco RoughRiders. He batted for a .202 average with five home runs and 24 runs-batted-in in 68 games, but Baseball America named Nickeas the best defensive catcher in the Rangers minor league system. On August 30, 2006, he was traded to the New York Mets for outfielder Víctor Díaz. In 2007 he split time between the "High A" St. Lucie Mets and Double-A Binghamton Mets and in 2008, he split time between Binghamton and the Triple-A New Orleans Zephyrs.

Nickeas earned his first promotion to the major leagues on September 2, 2010.^[1] He made his major league debut the same day on Jenrry Mejía's first major league start on September 4, 2010 as he was the Mets catcher against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. On September 29, he got his first two major league hits against the Milwaukee Brewers. He hit his first major league home run April 21, 2011, off Houston Astros pitcher J.A. Happ.

On May 1, 2011 he was sent down to the minors as Ronny Paulino came up to the Mets.

References

1. ^ http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2010/09/03/2010-09-03_mike_nickeas_finally_reaches_the_major_leagues_as_september_callup_catcher_for_n.html?r=sports

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Persondata
Name	Nickeas, Mike
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 13, 1983
Place of birth	Vancouver, British Columbia
Date of death
Place of death