CINCINNATI – Two thousand, eight hundred and one days.
That’s how long it had been – nearly eight full years – since Jon Singleton last was on an active roster in the major leagues.
Until Saturday.
Singleton made his long-awaited return to a major-league clubhouse as his towering presence stood in the visiting clubhouse at Great American Ball Park after being called up by the Milwaukee Brewers ahead of the second game of the series against the Cincinnati Reds.
Singleton’s remarkable journey just keeps going.
“There’s been a lot of hard work that I’ve put in,” Singleton said. “There’s been a lot of things I’ve done emotionally, physically, spiritually, to get to this point. I’m very, very grateful.”
Singleton found himself in the starting lineup Saturday, for the first time since July 29, 2015, just a matter of hours after being pulled from the game with Triple-A Nashville in the ninth inning of a tie.
“Honestly, keeping the faith, you know, that’s, that is definitely something very hard,” Singleton said. “It’s been a long journey. You have faith and belief in what you can do, your faith and belief in God. Your family, your friends, they’re always behind you, but just to do it every day, that’s something very difficult .”
Singleton was once a top prospect, but was out of baseball within a few years of his debut
Singleton making it back wasn’t just unexpected not all that long ago, too, but almost unthinkable.
Singleton, 31, was an eighth-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Phillies back in 2009, but he ascended to elite prospect status with the Houston Astros.
Singleton became a big name around baseball in the early 2010s with Houston. He was one of the best prospects in the league, rated as high as the No. 25 prospect overall by Baseball Prospectus in 2013. Singleton signed a five-year, $10 million extension in 2014, becoming the first player to sign a multiyear, multimillion extension before appearing in a big-league game.
His bat was can’t-miss. Until that’s mostly all it did.
Singleton batted only .168 with a .620 OPS as a rookie in 2014. He struggled similarly the following year in 2015, striking out in 36% of plate appearances. Singleton opened 2016 in the minors at Triple-A, then spent all of 2017 at Double-A, never once sniffing the majors as the Astros made their way to a World Series championship.
In 2018, MLB handed Singleton a 100-game suspension for a third failed drug test – he failed two previous tests for marijuana in 2012 that both resulted in 50-game suspensions. Houston released him that May.
“The perseverance that his career and the journey his career has taken is unique,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “It’s been hard. You’re just thrilled for people like that, that they can go on that journey, keep going through a lot of tough, tough times.”
Singleton makes his return to baseball in Mexico, then with the Brewers
Singleton, completely out of baseball altogether at that point, had a lot to mull.
“There definitely comes a time when you have to kind of take a step back and consider life and understand what’s important to you,” Singleton said. “What do you consider important moving forward? Things like that? I would say the number one thing is to put things in perspective of what you really want out of life.”
Singleton resurfaced in the Mexican League three years after being released, playing for Diablos Rojos del Mexico – and he dominated.
Singleton hit .321 with 15 homers and a 1.196 OPS in just 46 games, which was enough to earn him a minor-league deal with the Brewers the following year.
He spent the entire year with Nashville, appearing in 134 games with 24 homers and an .809 OPS. The Brewers considered Singleton for a September call-up but it never came to fruition.
Milwaukee did add Singleton to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft in the off-season, but only briefly. He was designated for assignment in January to make room on the roster for the signing of Brian Anderson, but ultimately re-signed with the team on a minor-league deal.
“I was having a child, and that was my number one concern. But I still wanted to play baseball,” Singleton said. “This is a good group of people that I enjoyed being around. It’s a good organization. So I had no problem signing with this organization once again.
“It was a little disappointing with the transaction I had, of course, but it’s a good organization. I was glad to come back.”
In his second go-around with the Sounds, Singleton reduced his strikeout rate from 27.7% to 19.0% and has walked (37 times) nearly as much as he’s struck out (41). He was batting .258 with 10 homers and an .867 OPS and the time of his call-up.
Singleton has made a key impact on young Brewers
How loved did Singleton become at Nashville?
When he was told in the dugout Friday night he was going to the majors, the Sounds dugout made such a ruckus that the game was briefly paused as the umpires had to figure out what was going on.
Traces of Singleton’s mentorship are all over the current big-league club.
Outfielder Blake Perkins, who was also recalled Saturday as Tyrone Taylor and Darin Ruf went on the injured list, called Singleton the fun uncle of the team.
“He does a good job of working hard,” Perkins said. “I wouldn’t say he cheated the system at all. That’s why I say he’s a leader by example, because everyone can follow what he does.”
Infielder Andruw Monasterio, who was with Nashville all year until being called up earlier this week, said he wore a big smile on his way to the stadium when he saw the lineup and it included Singleton.
Infielder Brice Turang was motivated just by watching Singleton try to work back to the majors all of last season.
“He’s a great, great teammate,” Turang said. “He was always there for you. You asked him anything, and he would talk to you. Just his story, the grind that he went through, the focus that he has to go through to get back, I mean, I’m so happy for him. He’s a great guy. I love him.
“It’s dedication. It’s hard work. I mean, there’s a lot of sacrifices that every player makes to chase their dreams.
“And he’s back.”
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Former Astros prospect Jon Singleton returns to majors with Brewers