FORT WAYNE, Ind. (ADAMS) – Fort Wayne TinCaps outfielder Joshua Mears has been awarded the High-A Midwest League’s Player of the Week for April 18-24, Minor League Baseball announced Monday.
The 21-year-old outfielder hit a league-high five home runs and had a league-best 10 RBIs in six road games last week against the Lansing Lugnuts (Oakland A’s affiliate). He posted a .368 batting average and a 1.718 OPS. Mears also doubled twice, walked once, and was hit by two pitches.
During the road trip, the right-handed batter from the state of Washington had a pair of games with two homers — first on Wednesday and again in the opening game of a doubleheader on Saturday. Mears’ final home run of the week Saturday night was measured to have traveled 504 feet out to left-center field, according to TrackMan technology. For context, since Major League Baseball began to use tracking technology in 2015, there has been only one homer hit further in a big league game (Nomar Mazara of the Texas Rangers hit a 505-foot homer in 2019).
Mears previously received national acclaim in spring training last year. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound slugger made the front page of MLB.com after homering off Colorado Rockies reliever Carlos Estevez, a six-year major league veteran. The home run’s exit velocity was measured at 117.3 MPH, which would’ve ranked in the top 10 in the 2021 MLB regular season.
Through the first 15 games of the season, Mears, a 2019 second-round draft pick, has hit seven home runs total to lead the Midwest League (MWL) and rank in the top five across all levels of Minor League Baseball. He also leads the MWL in slugging percentage (.784) and extra-base hits (12). He’s started nine games in right field, two in center, and DH-ed three times. MLB.com rates him as the No. 10 San Diego Padres prospect.
This isn’t Mears’ first recognition from Minor League Baseball. The former Purdue University commit was named an MiLB.com Padres Organization All-Star in 2021 after hitting 17 homers and posting a .897 OPS in 71 games last season with Single-A Lake Elsinore.
While Danny Denz garnered a Pitcher of the Week award for the ’Caps in 2021, the last time a Fort Wayne position player won a Midwest League Player of the Week award was infielder Tucupita Marcano in May of 2019. Jhonatan Peña was the most recent TinCaps outfielder to claim the distinction in June 2016.
Mears and the TinCaps, who boast a 10-5 record, are back at Parkview Field Tuesday night to begin a six-game homestand against the Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati Reds affiliate). Click here for tickets and more information.
