TRENTON -- Jorge Mateo's long and exciting Tuesday began with packing his suitcase for a relocation that's been more than a year in the making.
After 20 months in the Florida State League playing for the High-A Tampa Yankees, no doubt many of them frustrating, this 22-year-old Dominican shortstop who used to be the Yankees' No. 1 prospect finally was promoted to the Double-A Trenton Thunder.
"I've been waiting for it," Mateo said after flying from Tampa to Philadelphia and then getting a ride straight to Arm & Hammer Park for an Eastern League debut that he probably thought would occur early last summer when he was hitting .