While Mejia turns 27 later this year, Wilson Matos, who was signed by Windy City on June 24, is the same as age Nate Hall, 24 this year. This is old by minor league standards.
Interestingly, the Frontier League has some sensible policies:
* Only 3 veterans are permitted per team. Mejia, slugging first baseman J.T. Restko, and a pitcher are those 3 veterans, and are top, top performers.
* Two 2-year players are permitted per team.
* Seven 1-year players are permitted. Nate is one of these players.
* The other 12 slots on the 24 man roster must be rookies. Talk about turnover!
Each team has a salary cap of $60,000, with a minimum of $600 per month (a rate of $7,200 per year), which causes most players to live with host families. No wonder Jason Appel retired!
Finally, players cannot be older than 27 as of January 1. This means this season is Mejia's last chance in the Frontier League, as he turns 27 this year, and will be 28 on January 1 of next year.
Wilson Matos is still a rookie, and at age 24, would be eligible to play in the league a couple more years.
For Nate Hall, all this means that after this season, he will be considered a "2-year player", so 5 of the season current "1-year players" will not be eligible to return. In terms of performance relative to the other "1-year players" in the lineup, Nate is slightly behind shortstop Guillermo Martinez (.292/.391/.396, but at a premium position) and ahead of slugging catcher Dan Jordan, who almost never walks and thus gets few at bats these days. The other four 1-year players are pitchers Brandon Garner (1-1, 6.58), Steven Flake (0-2, 5.54), Dustin Pease (5-2, 5.59), and Dylan Axelrod (1-0, 3.38). This puts Nate in decent position to be allowed to return for another Frontier League season in 2010 if he continues to improve.
One last thought. There are seven Frontier League alums in the Majors right now, the most recent being Clay Zavada, he of the Rollie Fingers lookalike mustache, pitching very well for the D'backs. Zavada was a 30th round draft pick by Arizona in 2006, performed well in Rookie ball in Missoula, but then did not pitch in 2007 (injury?) In 2008, Zavada signed with Southern Illinois in the Frontier League, and was completely unhittable. Arizona re-signed him, and Zavada finished 2008 in dominant fashion in A-ball. This year, he pitched very well at AA, and Arizona called him up in late spring. So, take heart, Nate, it can happen!
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