BILLINGS – Reshard Munroe is one happy man.
“It’s been a blast. It’s unexplainable,” Munroe said of his start with the Billings Mustangs.
Maybe he’s still riding high from his birthday on opening night. Maybe it’s because he hit nearly .500 in his first week as a Mustang. Or maybe it’s a product of his upbringing in the Bahamas, where happiness is infectious.
“I love the Bahamas. It’s just the best,” gushed Munroe. “I’m lost on words for the Bahamas how much I love it. I do all this for the Bahamas.”
So far, he’s doing a lot – hitting almost everything in sight, usually on one pitch.
“I just try to hit the fastball, I don’t like off-speed,” the 22-year-old outfielder admitted. “So I just try to hit the fastball, so I don’t have to see the off-speed.”
Off nights are rare. Munroe had at least one hit in eight of his first nine games this season. You can chalk that up to his positivity, as well.
“I don’t really like to beat myself up on the game,” Munroe said. “I don’t want to make it seem like I don’t care, but that’s how I go about it. If I strike out four times, I don’t care. It’s going to go for the best sooner or later, so I just keep pushing.”
“We like him a lot in the organization,” said Mustangs manager Ray Martinez. “He has a very good swing, very mature and under control.”
It’s behavior he likely learned from his time playing alongside Major Leaguers on Great Britain’s World Baseball Classic qualifying team back in 2016. The Bahamas doesn’t field a senior team yet, but most players are grandfathered in since the island nation was a British colony.
“I think our whole lineup was from the Bahamas,” said Munroe, “so we had that team chemistry right away. It was really fun. It was like being in the big leagues.”
Chemistry is what Munroe thinks will help turn the Mustangs around, when the international roster learns to gel.
“We have Germany, we have Venezuela, Dominican Republic, the U.S. It’s cool to see all the different cultures, all the types of music they like compared to what I like. And I think it makes us more of a team – we appreciate each other more,” Munroe said.
Munroe and the Mustangs open a two-game series with the Helena Brewers Thursday at 7:05 p.m.
