Travis Nathaniel Taijeron (born January 20, 1989) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

Career

He was born in

La Mesa, California La Mesa () is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, located east of downtown San Diego in Southern California. The population was 61,121 at the 2020 census, up from 57,065 at the 2010 census. Its civic motto is "the Jewel of ...

and attended Granite Hills High School, where he was a catcher. Before playing professionally, he attended

Grossmont College Grossmont College is a public community college in El Cajon, California. Its name originated with the silent film actor and producer William J. Gross, who was enticed by Ed Fletcher to invest in the purchase of land, part of which was called Gro ...

in 2008, where he spent a year and played for their baseball team. In 32 games, he posted a slash line of .382/.472/.563. He transferred to Southwestern College in 2009 and hit .353/.453/.601 in 42 games. For 2010, he transferred to

Cal Poly Pomona California State Polytechnic University Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) is a public polytechnic research university in Pomona, California, United States. It is the largest of the three polytechnic universities in the California State University syst ...

, hitting .345/.441/.670 with 16 home runs and 48 RBI in 52 games. He played 59 games in 2011 and hit .392/.534/.744 with 16 home runs and 51 RBI. He earned numerous honors, including the 2010–11

California Collegiate Athletic Association The California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division II, Division II level. All of its current m ...

Male Athlete of the Year, 2011 CCAA Most Valuable Player and

Daktronics Daktronics, Inc. is an American company based in Brookings, South Dakota, that designs, manufactures, sells, and services video displays, scoreboards, digital billboards, dynamic message signs, sound systems, and related products. It was found ...

American Baseball Coaches Association The American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) is the world's largest Amateur baseball in the United States, amateur baseball Manager (baseball), coaching organization. It was founded in 1945 as the American Association of College Baseball Coach ...

Rawlings Rawlings may refer to: *Rawlings (company), a U.S. sports equipment company *Rawlings, Maryland, an unincorporated community in Allegany County, Maryland *Rawlings (surname) Rawlings is an English-language surname. Notable people with the name in ...

and

National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) is an association of baseball writers, broadcasters, and publicists in the United States. It was founded in 1962. The NCBWA compiles a preseason ranking of the top 30 teams in the n ...

West Region Player of the Year and an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division II All-American selection by Daktronics, the NCBWA and the ABCA.

New York Mets

The

drafted him in the 18th round of the

2011 Major League Baseball draft The 2011 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2011, from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Gerrit Cole out of the University of California, Los Angeles, with the firs ...

and assigned him to the

Brooklyn Cyclones The Brooklyn Cyclones are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the New York Mets. They are based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, and play at Maimonides Park, just off the Coney Island ...

of the

Class A-Short Season Class A Short Season (officially Short-Season A) was a level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States from 1965 through 2020. In the hierarchy of minor league classifications, it was below Triple-A, Double-A, Class A-Advanced (crea ...

New York-Penn League New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

. In 56 games, he hit .299/.387/.557 with nine home runs and 44 RBI. He earned his first Player of the Week honor that season, was named a MiLB.com Organization All-Star and was a New York–Penn League Mid-Season All-Star. He hit .255/.362/.477 with 19 home runs and 65 RBI in 112 games split between the

Savannah Sand Gnats The Savannah Sand Gnats were a minor league baseball team based in Savannah, Georgia. They were a member of the A-level South Atlantic League. The Sand Gnats were an affiliate of the New York Mets in their final nine seasons. The team relocated t ...

and

St. Lucie Mets The St. Lucie Mets are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the New York Mets. They are located in Port St. Lucie, Florida, and play their home games at Clover Park. The Mets have been members ...

in 2012, won another Player of the Week and was a

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its h ...

Mid-Season All-Star. In 2013, he hit .271/.356/.531 with 38 doubles, 23 home runs, 69 RBI and 131 strikeouts in 120 games split between St. Lucie and the

Binghamton Mets The Binghamton Rumble Ponies are an American Minor League Baseball team based in Binghamton, New York. The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the New York Mets major-league club. The Rumble Ponies play in Mi ...

. He was a Player of the Week twice and was again a MiLB.com Organization All-Star. With Binghamton in 2014, he hit .248/.357/.476 with 15 home runs and 64 RBI in 101 games and earned another Player of the Week selection. He began 2015 with Las Vegas, his first stay at Triple-A. In his first 15 games, he hit .352/.419/.667. He is projected to be, at minimum, a fourth outfielder and a power bat off the bench with the potential to be an effective starting outfielder with 20-home run power. He has been listed on numerous Mets top prospect lists. He was called up to the Major Leagues for the first time on August 26, 2017, when fellow outfielder

Yoenis Céspedes Yoenis Céspedes Milanés (born October 18, 1985), nicknamed "La Potencia" (The Power), is a Cuban-born former professional baseball outfielder. He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut on March 28, 2012, for the Oakland Athletics, and has ...

landed on the

disabled list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 Major League Baseball season, 2019 season, it was known as the disabl ...

. He made his Major League debut that day against the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...

Nationals Park Nationals Park is a baseball stadium along the Anacostia River in the Navy Yard (Washington, D.C.), Navy Yard neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It is the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals. Since its completion in 2008, it wa ...

. He recorded his first hit on August 31 against

Robert Stephenson Robert Stephenson , (honoris causa, Hon. causa) (16 October 1803 – 12 October 1859) was an English civil engineer and designer of locomotives. The only son of George Stephenson, the "Father of Railways", he built on the achievements of hi ...

of the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

Great American Ballpark Great American Ball Park is a baseball stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It is the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds, and opened on March 31, 2003, replacing Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium), the Reds' for ...

. On September 27, Taijeron hit a ninth inning walk-off single against A. J. Minter of the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

Citi Field Citi Field is a baseball park, baseball stadium located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, in the Boroughs of New York, borough of Queens, New York City, United States. Opened in 2009, Citi Field is the home of Major League Baseball's New York M ...

. He elected free agency following the season on November 6.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Taijeron signed a minor league contract with the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

on November 20, 2017. He played in 87 games for the Triple–A

Oklahoma City Dodgers The Oklahoma City Comets are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and play their ho ...

, hitting .269 with 11 homers and 44 RBI. Taijeron elected free agency following the season on November 2, 2018.

New York Mets (second stint)

On March 16, 2019, Taijeron signed a minor league contract with the

and was assigned to Triple–A

Syracuse Mets The Syracuse Mets are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets. They are located in Syracuse, New York, and play their home games at NBT Bank Stadium, which ope ...

. In 123 games for the Triple–A

, he batted .229/.364/.496 with 24 home runs and 70 RBI. Taijeron became a free agent following the season on November 4. Taijeron re-signed with the Mets organization on a new minor league contract March 13, 2020. He did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Taijeron was released by the Mets organization on May 28.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taijeron, Travis 1989 births Living people Baseball players from La Mesa, California Major League Baseball right fielders New York Mets players Grossmont Griffins baseball players Southwestern Jaguars baseball players Cal Poly Pomona Broncos baseball players Brooklyn Cyclones players 21st-century American sportsmen Savannah Sand Gnats players St. Lucie Mets players Binghamton Mets players Las Vegas 51s players Caribes de Anzoátegui players Oklahoma City Dodgers players Syracuse Mets players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela