Gilbert Allen Meche was born on September 8th, 1978, in Lafayette Louisana. He attended Acadania High school, and graduated in 1996. During his senior season at Acadania, Gil suffered a viral infection that limited his pitching; however, the Mariners showed they still felt Gil had a lot of talent when they used their first round draft pick (22nd overall) to select Gil. Gil was on a senior class cruise trip when he heard he was drafted. Gil made his major league debut on July 6th, 1999, where he got a no decision. He gave up two earned runs to the Angels in 5 2/3 innings. He earned his first major leage win soon after.
Soon after Gil was called up, he married is high school sweetheart, Robin. In 2000, it appeared all was going great for Gil Meche: he was 21 and starting his first full season in the major leagues. But in early July he told doctors that something was wrong. He didn't know what, but his arm didn't feel strong. The doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong, they figured Gil just had a "dead arm" caused from pitching more innings then he had ever in his baseball career.. They tried to have Gil sleep differently, give up golf, but he continued to pitch. When nothing had changed by mid-July, they had to shut him down. They put him on the 15 day DL, assuming that was all the time he would need to recover from his "dead arm." ("dead arm" is a term used when a pitchers arm doesn't feel strong)
Gil did not throw another pitch in the major leagues until April 5th, 2003, in Texas. As it turned out, they discovered Gil Meche had a torn labrum. They found this when had a MRI during Spring Training of 2001. He had the surgery, and was told it would be about six months before he could pitch again. Six months passed and he still wasn't ready to even throw a baseball, let alone pitch. By September, they decided another surgery was needed. It would be exploratory surgery where the Mariners' doctor would scrape part of Gil's shoulder to allow more room for it to heal. By this time, many skeptics were wondering if Gil would ever throw a pitch in the big leagues again (especially my grandpa!).
In 2002, he was finally healthy enough to pitch--the only question was whether he was the same promising pitcher he had been in late 1999 and early 2000. He spent the year in double A San Antonio, just trying to get his arm strength back; he struggled going 4-6 with a 6.51 ERA in his first 25 games. It was really beginning to look like the shoulder injury had ruined Gil Meche's career. However, after going to the bullpen for a while, he returned to the starting rotation and finished out the season stong--going 1-2 with a 3.33 ERA in his final 7 starts.
Was Gil Meche finally back on track? He followed his double A season by pitching in Winter Ball in Venezuela, where he went 2-1 with a 3.54 ERA in 5 starts. It was looking as though Gil Meche may have found his stuff. Still, coming into Spring Training 2003, he was a long shot to make the Mariners rotation. It had just been too long, and they wanted someone with more experience. Gil proved them all wrong though; he made the team, and on April 5th was finally back in the big leagues where he belonged, pitching against the Texas Rangers, near his home town of Lafyatte Louisana.
He had many family members and friends at this game. He didn't win, but all that really mattered at that point was that he had done it! After going through so much, and waiting so long, he was finally pitching in a Major League Stadium!. Gil picked up his first win in over two years on April 11th, 2003, as he rebounded from the loss the previous week, to beat the Texas Rangers at Safeco Field, home of his team, the Seattle Mariners. He received a standing ovation when he took the mound to start the game, AND when he was taken out by manager Bob Melvin, after pitching a very strong game. After the game, Gil received the ball from from Jeff Nelson.
Throughout the season, Gil has shown that he really can pitch and right now he has a great shot at making the All Star Team. Welcome back Gil--we missed you! |
