The truncation of the 2020 MLB Draft from the usual 40 rounds to just five meant that over 1,000 players who might have been drafted in previous years would be free to go wherever the right offer came in – and for one local, that place happens to be in his hometown.
Boston College's athletic department has announced that the Mets have signed Long Island native and former Boston College outfielder Joe Suozzi, who is not just any local boy done good – his father, Tom, is a second-term U.S. representative for New York's third district, representing northern parts of Queens and Long Island, and a long-time staple of Nassau County politics.
The Mets have not yet officially announced the signing, which BC revealed was for the full $20,000 signing bonus allotted to any undrafted free agent signings this year.
Joe Suozzi, a Glen Cove native who went to Chaminade High School in Mineola, was one of BC's captains this year, and hit .414 with 16 RBI in a shortened 15-game senior season. That truncated final year culminated a long journey that started when Suozzi, who as a high school freshman was named Chaminade's Team MVP in their CHSAA Championship season of 2013, walked on to the Eagles' program as a sophomore, and ended with a .302 average over 88 career games.
Suozzi, who graduated in May with a degree in economics, was rated as the No. 65 college outfield prospect by D1Baseball.com and was projected to possibly be a middle-rounds pick had the 2020 Draft been longer, but is thrilled to be coming home to Queens.
"It's really surreal," Suozzi said on a Zoom call with the media, according to BC Baseball. "Kind of a pinch yourself moment. Everything in my room is Mets stuff – David Wright posters, Pete Alonso. It really is just a dream come true."
And, if pro baseball isn't a long-term success, Joe Suozzi has quite the lineage if he wants to fall back on the "family business" of politics and law.
Representative Tom Suozzi, Joe's father and a fellow Chaminade and BC grad, served four terms as Mayor of Glen Cove from 1984-91 before being elected Nassau County Executive, a post he held from 1992-99. An attorney by trade, Tom has been in Congress since 2016, and currently serves on the House Ways and Means Committee.
Joe's grandfather, Joseph, and great uncle, Vincent, meanwhile, were also past Mayors of Glen Cove, and the elder Joseph Suozzi also served on the New York State Supreme Court.
