The dream had lasted so long that it couldn’t feel real. Imagination had been so vivid that it couldn’t align with the experience.
One evening earlier, T.J. Rivera was in Albuquerque, playing in the 617th minor league game of his career. On Wednesday, a six-year odyssey — Brooklyn to Kingsport to St. Lucie to Savannah to Binghamton to Las Vegas, with certain steps sometimes repeated — finally had brought The Bronx native to Citi Field.
Finally, he was a major leaguer.
“It’s unbelievable right now. It still feels unreal,” Rivera said before getting his first major-league hit and starting at third base in the Mets’ 3-2, 12-inning loss to the Diamondbacks. “It still hasn’t hit me fully.”
Just five years ago, Rivera assumed the day never would come. After going from Lehman High School to Wallace Community College in Dothan, Ala., to Troy, he watched 50 rounds and 1,530 selections pass in the 2011 MLB Draft without his name being chosen, leaving him without a hint of his future.
“When I wasn’t drafted, honestly I was trying to instantly figure out — what am I going to do with my life?” Rivera said. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen.
“You have your doubts here and there, but you try and push that away with positive thoughts and positive thinking.”
Rivera, 27, wasn’t forced to ponder an alternate career for too long, signing a deal with the Mets shortly afterward. Debuting in the minor leagues that summer, the right-handed hitter quickly became one of the most consistent bats in the organization.
Throughout his time in the minors, Rivera never hit below .290, with his .323 career average through six seasons the best of any active minor league player. This season, the infielder posted a Pacific Coast League-best .349 average with a career-high 11 home runs and 80 RBIs.
Despite his success and the struggles of the Mets’ offense this season, the call from the majors never came. Time after time, a teammate was elevated instead, making Rivera wonder if another season would pass without coming back home.
“After the trade deadline, you start to wonder if this year is gonna be the year that you do get the call, but you try to put that behind you and just grind away at the season and keep having fun,” Rivera said. “You play hard and hope for the best. … I knew I had an opportunity. I knew once they signed me I was gonna have a chance like everyone else, just like the guys that were drafted. I might have had to prove myself a couple more times, but I knew it was an opportunity and I wasn’t gonna let up on it.”
Tuesday night, the call finally came.
“It was a very surprised feeling,” Rivera said. “I didn’t really know how to act. It was a weird feeling because I was so excited, but I was more excited for my family. Their reactions were hilarious how excited they were for me.”
Playing in front of at least 20 family members, and an unknown number of friends, Rivera batted sixth in his major league debut, starting for his father’s favorite team.
He had made it. He was a major leaguer — and being asked to help his team make the playoffs.
“To be in a race and to play for something and hopefully be able to contribute to a great team, that’s my goal,” Rivera said. “Every game and every pitch means something, so that’s pretty cool.”