Seattle Mariners backup catcher José Godoy makes history as 20,000th MLB player
By Jordan Shusterman
FOX Sports MLB Writer
On May 21, 2021, at approximately 9:40 p.m. San Diego time, José Godoy trotted out behind home plate in his catcher’s gear for the bottom of the sixth inning at Petco Park.
Godoy was in for Tom Murphy, who started the game behind the dish for the Seattle Mariners but sensibly departed because the San Diego Padres were up 12-1, and no catcher should be squatting for any longer than he absolutely has to.
When Yohan Ramirez, just into the game for Seattle, threw ball one to Padres catcher Austin Nola – a former Mariners catcher, ironically – Godoy became the 20,000th player to appear in a Major League Baseball game.
After weeks of anticipation, Mr. 20K had finally arrived.
It was hardly obvious that Godoy would be our man. I did not mention him when attempting to guess Mr. 20K with 11 debuts to go, though he was on my radar, as I'm a Mariners fan who follows the organization closely.
"I didn’t know I was gonna be 20K," Godoy said Sunday in an interview with FOX Sports. "I found out after the game. I saw the news. My teammates told me, on the video board, they put it up there that I was Mr. 20K."
Godoy was off to a hot start in Tacoma this year, hitting .310 through seven games, and he was called up Thursday on Seattle’s off-day before the team arrived in San Diego.
"I was in Tacoma, in my hotel room, 10 a.m., [when] I got the call from the manager," he said. "It really surprised me. I didn’t expect that call. When the manager called and told me I’m gonna travel with the team, I thought it was gonna be the taxi squad. And he told me, ‘No, you’re gonna be activated today,’ and I was like ‘Really?!’"
Further complicating matters, however, was a move that had nothing to do with Godoy or the Mariners. The Tampa Bay Rays traded shortstop Willy Adames to Milwaukee on Friday afternoon, which appeared to clear the way for Wander Franco, the top prospect in all of baseball, to arrive right on time.
Alas, the Rays instead opted for one of their other amazing infield prospects, Taylor Walls, but it was reported that he would not be activated until before Saturday’s game.
This put Godoy in prime position, as we entered Friday’s action at 19,997 debuts. Right-handed pitcher Tyler Ivey got the start for Houston in its 8 p.m. ET game against the Texas Rangers, so Ivey was No. 19,998. Shortly after, right-hander Jean Carlos Mejía came out of the bullpen for Cleveland in its game vs. the Minnesota Twins. He was No. 19,999.
With the Mariners' game starting at 10 p.m. ET in San Diego, the stage was set for Godoy.
Only one problem: He wasn’t in the lineup.
Thus commenced a frantic observation of this random Mariners-Padres game in the middle of May. Fortunately, with the Padres blowing the game open early, it became increasingly obvious that Godoy would, in fact, be our guy at some point, as either a pinch-hitter or a defensive substitution.
Finally, in the bottom of the sixth, it happened.
"It was a long time ago that I was dreaming of this moment," Godoy said of his debut. "And it was amazing to be a part of the history, 20,000 players. I’m the 20,000th. My teammates started calling me Mr. 20K."
As for his thoughts on the milestone for the sport, "I think it’s a very small number," he said. "I thought it was gonna be more people. We’re talking about more than 100 years, so ... I don't know, like 50,000? That’s a lot of years."
Indeed.
So who the heck is this guy?
Godoy is 26-year-old catcher who signed with the St. Louis Cardinals as a 16-year-old out of Maracaibo, Venezuela. He received a $200,000 signing bonus, commensurate with his general outlook as a solid defensive catcher with an unspectacular bat. These kinds of players are rarely stars, but they can be key ingredients for any organization. Catching is extremely difficult for a thousand reasons, and anyone capable of handling that position well is considered valuable.
As a player, Godoy has proven to be exactly what the Cardinals likely hoped for when they signed him nearly a decade ago. His defense has remained steady, and though he has never put up eye-popping power numbers, he’s a career .275 hitter in the minors in more than 1,500 at-bats – more than passable for a backstop.
As for Godoy the person, it thrills me to report that leading up to this moment, I heard from multiple people around baseball how excited they were to see him get the call. He seems to be incredibly well-liked in the Mariners organization and has been a popular teammate at his many stops along his baseball journey.
His favorite players growing up were Yadier Molina, whom he got to play with in spring training with the Cardinals, and Ivan Rodriguez.
Predictably, a catcher who has never appeared on a prospect list is not someone who has been interviewed all that frequently, not even over the course of nearly a decade in the minors. But this – a pregame interview from his time in the Midwest League in 2016 – is a good glimpse into Godoy’s affable nature:
Godoy is the eighth player from that Peoria Chiefs team to reach the big leagues – seventh if you don’t count 15-year veteran Jhonny Peralta, who rehabbed with them for five games.
The first six, in order of debut: Magneuris Sierra, Sandy Alcantara, Edmundo Sosa, Ryan Helsley, Junior Fernandez and Jake Woodford.
Godoy’s journey to the big leagues had stops at every level of the minors, from the Dominican Summer League in 2012 all the way up the newly minted and terribly named Triple-A West League in 2021 before his call-up on May 20. He didn’t skip a rung on the minor-league ladder, appearing in 468 games across nine leagues along the way – and that doesn’t include the Venezuelan Winter League, in which he has competed multiple times in past offseasons.
In 2020, Godoy was invited to the Cardinals' alternate site and had a brief appearance on the taxi squad – so close! – but he never got the call to the big leagues. It probably didn’t help that the Cardinals have that guy named Yadi, who likes to play as many games as possible behind the plate.
After the 2020 season, Godoy elected free agency after nine years in the Cardinals organization and signed a minor-league deal with Seattle with an invite to spring training shortly thereafter. Nearly every team needs catching depth, and the Mariners were no different.
"I just wanted to be in the big leagues," he said of the decision. "I saw the opportunity to be here and part of this team, this family."
This season, after a hot start in Triple-A for Godoy and an ugly stretch offensively and defensively in Seattle for Luis Torrens, it was José’s time to shine.
Reflecting on this moment, Godoy had one more thing to share. "I wanna say something to who was my best friend: Derian Gonzalez, he was my best friend. This is for him."
Gonzalez, who was also Venezuelan, was Godoy's teammate in the Cardinals organization for six years, including in Peoria in 2016. Gonzalez was killed in a motorcycle accident earlier this year, and Godoy wanted to dedicate his debut to him.
No one knows what will come of Godoy’s time as a major leaguer from this point forward. By all accounts, everyone will be rooting for him to stick around at the highest level and enjoy a long, fruitful career.
No matter how it goes, though, we’ll always think of him as Mr. 20K.
Jordan Shusterman is half of @CespedesBBQ and a baseball analyst for FOX Sports. He lives in Maryland but is a huge Seattle Mariners fan and loves watching the KBO, which means he doesn't get a lot of sleep. You can follow him on Twitter at @j_shusterman_.