Straight 'A's For Hessman

Gimme an A!

Gimme another A!!

Gimme another A!!!

And, well, gimme one more A, this will be over soon.

What does it spell?

Mets rookie Mike Hessman.

That's right, the new Met, nicknamed Crash Davis for his long and well-traveled minor league career, is a "4-A" player, according to the NY Times.

A 4-A player is a guy who's too good for AAA ball--the top level of minor league competition, of course, but not quite good enough for the Big Show.

So he wallows in the metaphorical purgatory known as "4-A."

Writes Joe Lapointe in the NY Times:

Sometimes, players like Hessman are characterized as “4-A players,” too good for Class AAA but not quite good enough to stick with a major league team.

“I’m sure people have probably labeled me that,” Hessman said. “It’s just about getting chances. I’ve had a couple brief little stints up in the major leagues, but no regular playing time.”

UPDATE: The Times' Tyler Kepner used the same "industry jargon" on August 8 when writing about former Yankee Shelley Duncan: Still, with Kearns gone and Hafner out, Duncan may have the rest of the season to try to shake his 4-A label, industry jargon for a player who succeeds at Class AAA but is thought to lack the skills to be a reliable major leaguer.

Hessman is two for 10 with a pair of rib-eye steaks since his call-up last week. Fittingly, he occupies the 25th spot on the Mets roster on Mets.com--one rung above AAA ball.

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