Alfonso Soriano thought he had just met the new Cubs bat boy.
Joking with reporters gathered in the clubhouse, Soriano saw the diminutive Mike Fontenot enter the locker room in 2007, fresh off a plane from the triple A Iowa Cubs.
The man they called “mini-me” at LSU, Fontenot took it in stride and let his bat do the talking.
As he did in his two years as a Tiger, the 5-foot-8-inch Salmen High product asserted himself quickly within the organization, winning the starting spot at second base and finishing runner-up in National League Rookie of the Month voting in June of 2007, his first full month in the majors.
Not much else has come easy for Fontenot, 32, during his career, one that has seen him in and out of the minor leagues and playing for three different teams at the major league level.
“I’m trying to hone my game until where I can try and last in the big leagues,” Fontenot said. “There’s always young guys coming up trying to get in the big leagues, so you always have to be at the top of your level.”
Bursting onto the national scene early, Fontenot garnered Freshman All-American Honors and was named Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year in 2000, a season that saw him break Blair Barbier’s freshman record for home runs and his team win the program’s fifth College World Series title.
Two years later, Fontenot was selected No. 19 overall by the Baltimore Orioles, and he was off to begin his cross country journey in Frederick, Maryland, where the grind of almost 140 games presented challenges for the rookie.
“You’re going from playing every weekend and one or two times a week, to playing something like 140 games in the minor leagues,” Fontenot said. “That was the part that took adjusting.”
After being traded to the Cubs in 2005, Fontenot bounced around the minor league system before reaching Iowa in 2006, where he credited hitting coach Von Joshua with revamping his stance and infield coach Bobby Dickerson for vaulting his game to the next level.
“I feel like they turned my game around,” Fontenot said. “I had some good years up until that point, but for some reason I took that stuff up to the big leagues and kept it ever since.”
A fixture on major league rosters after 2006, Fontenot enjoyed teaming with fellow Tiger Ryan Theriot in the middle infield for the Cubs – Chicagoans affectionately referred to the duo as the “Cajun Connection – until he was traded in August of 2010 to the San Francisco Giants, where he would win his only World Series title later that year, with fellow former Tiger Brian Wilson recording the winning out.
While acknowledging it is sometimes difficult to be involved in numerous trades and transactions, Fontenot said it simply comes with the territory.
“It’s always a little weird when you get traded like that, but feel like it’s just part of the game though,” Fontenot said. “There’s very few guys who end up playing for one team for their whole careers.”
Fontenot’s travels have not deterred him from keeping tabs on his alma mater in the postseason. He said he kept eyes on the Tigers run to the super regional, even getting to see the miraculous ending to game one against Stony Brook after a day game.
Now with the Philadelphia Phillies, Fontenot said he’s happy to be in a city where the atmosphere is electric and a place where he is mentored by different managers and meets new people constantly. Hitting .325 with 27 hits in 37 games, Fontenot has picked up where he left off after his last big league stop.
While it may not be the most convenient aspect of his career, Fontenot says he has grown to love his constant traveling and relishes the bonds he forms.
“I get the chance to meet new people, play for different organizations and wear different uniforms,” Fontenot said. “It’s been fun.”
Contact Chandler Rome at [email protected].