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Major league dream comes true for Misner
ST. LOUIS — Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Kameron Misner said something before Thursday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium that proved to be prophetic.
“We’ve fallen short the last couple of games, but it’s baseball,” said Misner, who grew up in Poplar Bluff while playing football and baseball at Poplar Bluff High School. “I’m glad to be here and whenever they call my name, I’m going to be excited to get in there and try and help them out.”
Misner did not have to wait long for the Rays to call his name. By the middle of the first inning, Misner was in leftfield and hitting cleanup for the Rays after starting left fielder Josh Lowe had to leave the game when he was hit by a pitch in the top of the inning.
Misner went 0-for-2 in Thursday’s contest, striking out in the third inning and grounding out in the fifth before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the top of the seventh inning. However, the Rays rallied for a 6-4 win over the Cardinals to salvage the final game of the three-game series for Tampa Bay.
Misner, who made his major-league debut during a three-game series last weekend against the Houston Astros at Minute Made Park in Houston before the Rays headed to Busch, is excited to see his dream come true.
“It’s a whole lot different feeling than I’ve had in the past — but it’s awesome,” Misner said. “I can’t complain. It’s everything I thought it would be, and I’m very, very appreciative of it. I’m glad to be here.”
Misner graduated from PBHS in 2016 and played three seasons at the University of Missouri before being drafted by the Miami Marlins with the 35th overall pick in the 2019 Major League Baseball draft. After two seasons in the Marlins’ organization, he was traded to Tampa Bay following the 2021 season for All-Star infielder Joey Wendle.
Misner played for the Rays’ Class AA affiliate in Montgomery, Alabama in 2022 before being promoted to Class AAA Durham to begin the 2023 season. After a successful 2024 season with Durham that saw him bat .247 with 15 home runs, 47 RBIs and 27 stolen bases, he got the call to the majors last week.
So how did Misner feel when he finally got that long-awaited call to “the Show” last week?
“There’s a lot of different emotions, but the biggest thing was I just really wanted to call my family. I really wanted to let them know. It was a pretty special moment.”
Misner said “about everything” stands out about playing in the majors, from the travel to the pregame to the locker rooms to the cafeterias.
“I think there’s several different things you can go into,” Misner said. “But I think just how the game develops, how you think about the game, and how you go about your business (all stand out). It’s a different game up here. There’s not the development side of it. You’re up here to win, and that’s a big difference from the big leagues to the minor leagues. … I’m still just trying to take it all in and get used to it (having) only been here less than a week.”
And the icing on the cake so far for Misner, who grew up a Cardinals fan, has been getting to play at Busch Stadium.
“It’s awesome,” Misner said. “It’s one dream to play in the big leagues, and then it’s another dream to play here. It’s really cool to be able to be in the dugout, be a part of the team and hopefully get in there and help the team out.”
Notes: Misner has a rich tradition of athletics in his family. His younger sister, Brylee, played softball and soccer at PBHS, while Misner’s older brother, Logan, was a lineman for the Mules and later played at Southeast Missouri State University. In addition, Misner’s uncles, Trevor and Bryce Huffman, were standouts in high school football for the Mules — Trevor in the late 1980s and Bryce in the mid-1990s. … Misner passed for more than 2,000 yards in his high school as the Mules’ starting quarterback and also hit the first home run at the new Strenfel Field in 2016.