Often when a baseball prospect fails to achieve the hype placed upon him, he is remembered more as a trivia question or in a pejorative way.  Fortunately no one in NatsTown could remember this fan-favorite in a negative manner due to his passion for the game and engaging personality.  This edition of Heroes of Half Street fondly recalls one of the most affable players in Washington Nationals’ franchise history, catcher Jesus Flores.

Flores signed with the New York Mets as an amateur free agent in March of 2002. For the first three minor league seasons, Flores hit .257 and was named to the Gulf Coast League All-Star team. 2006 saw Flores breakout at High-A St.Lucie, slugging .266/.335/.487 with 32 doubles and 21 home runs while making the mid-season and post-season All-Star teams. The Mets decided to pass on including Flores on their 40-man roster after the season, thereby exposing him to the Rule 5 draft that offseason.

Having never played above A-ball, on December 7, 2006 the Washington Nationals selected Flores from the New York Mets in the annual Rule 5 Draft. Although these were lean years for the franchise, Flores somewhat surprisingly spent all of 2007 as the backup catcher to Brian Schneider for the Nationals. For the year Flores played in 79 games for Washington, hitting .244/.310/.361 with 4 home runs in 180 at-bats.  In an otherwise poor season for Washington, Flores was one of the few bright spots for the Nationals’ organization heading into that offseason.

2008 was another difficult year for the Nationals, as the team finished with a 59-102 record for the season; however, due to an offseason trade of Schneider to New York, Flores found himself serving as the starting catcher much of the year. He played in 90 games in 2008 batting .256/.296/.402 with 9 home runs and 59 runs batted in. Unfortunately his season was cut short in early September after a collision at home plate with Philadelphia’s Chase Utley. This event would begin his career-long struggle to stay off the disabled list.

Flores rehabilitated that winter and returned in time to begin the 2009 season as the opening day catcher for the Nationals. After only 29 games, Flores was placed on the disabled list with a stress fracture in his shoulder, instantly ending his season after only 93 at-bats. Sadly, Flores was in the midst of a breakout season at 24-years-old, hitting .301/.371/.505 with 4 homers at the time he was placed on the disabled list. This injury would cause him to miss the entire 2010 season and limited him to only 30 games in 2011.

Some of the other medications that may interact purchase generic viagra cute-n-tiny.com with ED drugs are alpha blockers like alfuzosin, tamsulosin terazosin, doxazosin, or prazosin and antibiotics such as troleandomycin, sparfloxacin, erythromycin and clarithromycin medications consumed to treat HIV or AIDs infection. In some cases, gallbladder removals can also lead cialis mastercard to the anxiety and causes impotence in tadalafil for men . The secret of true and lasting beauty is to provide your body with lots of pure water, pure and organic foods containing adequate amounts of macro-and micronutrients, enough levitra buy generic http://cute-n-tiny.com/tag/anteater/ sleep, regular exercise, limit stress to a minimum and to live a lifestyle that results in wellbeing. Doctors diagnose it as hypertension and will prescribe medication, lifestyle cialis online Continue Shopping change and maybe even a high blood pressure patient and facing difficult in erections and losing interest in sex, then you need to consult Dr. Flores put his injury struggles behind him to play 83 games for the Nationals, essentially splitting time behind the plate with Kurt Suzuki and others after Wilson Ramos struggled with injuries. He batted only .213/.248/.329 with 6 home runs in 277 at-bats in 2012 and with Ramos emerging as the future catcher in Washington, Flores was granted free agency on November 30th.

Quickly Flores signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers on a minor league deal with a spring training invitation. He did not make the 25-man roster and was assigned to Triple-A Albuquerque, playing in 22 games before being released in late May. A few weeks later Flores signed a minor league contract with Tampa Bay and spent the rest of the season with Triple-A Durham, hitting only .178 over 52 games played. Flores was granted free agency by Tampa Bay soon after the end of the 2013 season.

Shortly before the 2014 season Flores signed a minor league pact with Kansas City and was sent to Triple-A Omaha, hitting .248/.304/.394 in 40 games before being released on July 23, 2014. Last winter Flores again signed a minor league contract, this time with the Atlanta Braves. Flores failed to make the team during spring training and was released by Atlanta on April 3rd. Then on May 2, 2015, Flores signed a minor league deal with Miami, spending 27 games with Triple-A New Orleans. Still only 31-years-old, one would expect Flores to seek another minor league offer this winter, along with a spring training invite, in an effort to compete for a role as a backup catcher next season.

Certainly there is an element of “what if” he stayed healthy involved with Flores, as a catcher capable of hitting for power and average while holding his own defensively is a franchise type player.  And no question injuries curtailed what could have been a fantastic career in Washington for him.  However, I prefer to recall his wonderful personality, infectious smile, and love for baseball when remembering Jesus Flores.

His achievements on the field will never get him inducted into the Washington Baseball Ring of Honor, but I recommend Flores be honored in the Washington Baseball Hall of Fan Favorites, trademark pending. Good luck Jesus, and here is hoping you have one more summer in the sun coming your way in 2016!

* Special Thank You to Cheryl Nichols of District Sports Page for generously sharing some of her impressive photos! *