Devin Mesoraco Enjoying Next Phase of Life After Injury-Riddled Big League Career

Life moves pretty fast. One day you're signing a lengthy contract extension, solidifying yourself as part of the future for a Major League Baseball franchise. Then before you know it, the future becomes the past. 

Ten years ago the Cincinnati Reds were coming off their third playoff appearance in four seasons. Unfortunately, the 2013 Reds did not fare any better than the prior two clubs, suffering another early round exit. This time in the form of a one and done loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League Wild Card game. 

After that, well, you don't need me to sit here and dive into every last depressing detail that encompassed the past decade of Reds baseball. A seemingly endless rebuild followed by the COVID shortened season, and subsequent slashing of talent and payroll from a team that was finally ready to compete. That time frame offered very few bright spots. 

Although, that's not to say it was all bad. 

No one will forget Todd Frazier's furious comeback and walk-off win in the Homerun Derby at Great American Ball Park or that time Derek Dietrich dressed up like a beekeeper. 

Devin Mesoraco's breakout season in 2014 was another highlight. The Reds missed out on the postseason that year, because in a cruel touch of irony, the ballclub's success was marred by other key injuries in the healthiest and most productive year of Mesoraco's big league career. 

Joey Votto, fresh off four consecutive MVP caliber seasons (including being named NL MVP in 2010), ended up missing 100 games that year. Jay Bruce, Brandon Phillips, Homer Bailey, Aroldis Chapman, Mat Latos and Jonathan Broxton all missed moderate to significant time as well. 

The Reds faithful found hope in guys like Todd Frazier, Billy Hamilton (who finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting) and Mesoraco. 

The 2014 campaign was Mesoraco's second season as the Reds' primary catcher. He posted career-highs in every major offensive category, hitting .273 with 25 homeruns and 80 RBI in just 114 games behind the dish. 

He was named to his first career All-Star team that season and even received some votes for league MVP. He was a budding star worthy of the first round draft pick the Reds selected him with. 

Believing he was a core piece of the roster worth investing in, the Reds did exactly that. In January 2015, general manager Walt Jocketty signed Mesoraco to a four-year contract extension worth $28 million dollars. 

"He's an example of a guy who has worked extremely hard," Jocketty said. "He's the kind of guy you want to build an organization around."

Unfortunately, injuries got in the way. Mesoraco would suit up for the Reds in less games over the next four seasons combined than he did in all of 2014. 

The very year he put pen to paper on that contract extension, Mesoraco ended up going through an injury riddled season. Hip problems kept him on the injured list (DL back then) for all but 23 games in 2015 and he would eventually have to undergo multiple surgeries to correct those issues. 

He required surgery again the following year, this time to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder and he missed all but 16 games. 

Shoulder problems would persist in 2017, forcing Mesoraco to miss even more time. He'd return to action over the summer only to have his season end early yet again, when he was hit by a pitch by Cubs starter Jose Quintana and broke a bone in his foot. 

The Merrium-Webster dictionary should have a photo of Mesoraco next the term "snakebit," because he was the living embodiment of the word during his final years in Cincinnati. 

Inside the Reds recently caught up with the former big league backstop and despite all the ups and the many downs, Mesoraco says he's still able to look back on his career fondly.

"Surely throughout the course of my career, there are things that I would've done differently. But I always felt like I did everything that I could with the information that I had at the time," Mesoraco said. "It wasn't a matter of me not putting in the effort and not putting in the work and looking back on this thing and kind of regretting that. It's more so just looking back and learning that, hey, things happen. You try to control what you can control in life."

Due to his inability to stay healthy and the rise of Tucker Barnhart, who held down the starting job Mesoraco's absence, Mesoraco entered the 2018 season as the Reds backup catcher. He was later traded to the New York Mets in the deal that brought starting pitcher Matt Harvey to Cincinnati. 

"The biggest issue that I have with my career is that I couldn't have been more productive for the organization, couldn't have been more productive for the fans," Mesoraco said. "I wish I would've fulfilled my contract. I wish I would've been on the field a lot more, not so much for me, but because the organization invested in me and I didn't give them a very good return on their investment." 

Hindsight being what it is, Mesoraco says he would have taken a different approach to the rehab process during his career. Admitting that as the injuries began to pile up, his body just couldn't perform the way it did in his earlier playing days. 

"I would've invested into doing some more biomechanical studies. Get with different people and really just kind of broke it down even further. Just to make sure that my body was getting back to the position that I was in pre-injury," Mesoraco said. "I thought that once they happened, I didn't move the same. Things didn't work in the same way. I put in a ton of effort and a ton of work trying to get back there. I just think that, perhaps, I could have done things a little bit differently."

Mesoraco was able to put together a fairly productive season for the Mets in 2018, amassing just the second multi-homerun season of his career. New York brought him back the next year on a minor league deal, but after not making the club out of spring training, he refused a minor league assignment and decided to retire. 

"I no longer enjoyed playing with where my body was at. It became very, very taxing and it was not fun." 

So what does someone do when they wrap up their career at 30 years old? In Mesoraco's case, a little rest and relaxation was greatly needed. He bought an RV and took his wife and son on a long cross country road trip. They visited nine different national parks.

Upon returning home to Pittsburgh, the realization set in that he needed to figure out the next phase of his life. What was he going to do now that he was done playing baseball? 

Despite the mounting frustration and physical setbacks during his playing days, Mesoraco's love of the game never faltered. He still enjoyed being part of a team, going over scouting reports and talking shop. Which made following in his father's footsteps and becoming a coach, a natural fit. 

"I think the catcher position also lends itself [to being a coach], because it's an unselfish position. You're trying the best that you can to help out the pitching staff and trying to make those guys better and that is very closely associated with coaching," Mesoraco said. "That was kind of my mentality. I wanna be in a position where I can make a difference for some guys in their careers, and I can go out there and help them become the best ball players that they can."

He started off by helping out at the high school level, but before long, he realized what he really missed about baseball was the high level competitive aspect of the team game. 

In a complete swing for the fences moment, he had his agent make a phone call to Mike Bell, the head baseball coach at the University of Pittsburgh.  

"I got incredibly lucky that he had an opening that fit as something that I could do," Mesoraco said. "He took a chance on me. I had never been in college. Up until that point, I'd been to one single college game in my entire life."

Mesoraco, who was drafted 15th overall by the Reds in 2007 out of Punxsutawney High School, may not have had any college experience, but he was still able to find a way to connect with his players after joining Pitt as a volunteer assistant coach in the fall of 2020.

"I can still empathize with them when it comes to the struggles and the challenges that they go through. I still know how very difficult the game is," he said. "I struggled as much as anybody throughout my career. I don't expect these guys to go out there and have success all the time, but I'm teaching them and working with them to get through that." 

Mesoraco has worked with primarily catchers during his tenure, including Tatem Levins. Levins is a talented young prospect in the Mariners organization who hit .286 with 9 homeruns and 55 RBI for Single-A Modesto last season. 

Jayden Melendez and Johnny Long III each had success with the Panthers in 2023 under Mesoraco's guidance as well.

Back in August, he was promoted from volunteer to full-fledged assistant coach. 

"I certainly love it. It gives me a lot of purpose," he said. "It's very gratifying just being down there every day, working with those guys, and trying to help them fulfill their dreams." 

The other great purpose in his life: being a father. 

"We just had a baby in August. We have a 2-year-old and we have a 6-year-old son. So, college coaching you get a really good work and home balance," Mesoraco said. "95% of the time I'm home for dinner and I get to put the kids to bed. And that's what's important for me right now." 

His major league career may not have gone the way anyone wanted, but he's able to look back on everything now and be thankful for where the game of baseball has landed him in life. 

Does he have aspirations to advance his coaching career? Absolutely. Maybe one day, but not today. 

"There's certainly things that I would have some interest in doing in the future, but I think I'm in a great situation and I'm very much content here. My life is revolves around my family."