Ernesto Mejia remembers the bus rides. Those long trips to games in rookie ball, Single-A and a notch up the ladder in Double-A. Some of those rides could last for seven, eight, nine hours.
Mejia said that in the Texas League — he played for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, the Kansas Royals' Double-A affiliate, in 2010 — he took a road trip that lasted 15 hours. "They were special buses with beds, but (the trip) was still long," Mejia said.
There were more plane trips in Triple-A, but even that lacked most of the trappings that come with a spot on an MLB roster. For 10 seasons, Mejia played in the minors, first in the Atlanta Braves' organization, then the Royals' and back to the Braves again, without an MLB call-up.