Trio Of Local College Stars Take Another Step Toward Making It To Big Leagues
BOSTON (CBS) -- We still don't know if there will be a 2020 MLB season as owners and players squabble over a return to play. And while that fight has dominated the headlines, there are still some great stories out of the world of baseball.
Look no further than a few players who made some noise in Boston, who are now hoping to get a shot in the big leagues sometime in the near future. Joe Suozzi, a solid bat for Boston College the last three years, just signed with his hometown Mets. Sam Jacobsak, who toed the rubber for the Northeastern Huskies for three seasons, has signed with the Phillies. Nick Raposa, a backstop from Wheaton College, signed with the Cardinals.
All three are moving on from college for a shot at pro baseball, agreeing to $20,000 minor league contracts.
"Signing with the Phillies, it's like a childhood dream," said Jacobsak. "I always played baseball because it was a hobby and I loved it, but eventually, I wanted to play it as a job. It's awesome, a dream of mine and I'm grateful to get the opportunity."
"I was on the highway when I got the phone call and I had to pull over right away because I think I would have been in an accident" recalls Suozzi.
"I'm just so grateful," said Raposa. "For just the opportunity; sometimes in life you get just one opportunity and you really can't pass it up and I'm just grateful for that. I'm just really excited to see where that next step takes me."
For all three of these MLB hopefuls, their Little League careers forecast their future. Jacobsak grew up a Phillies fan, and had their hat handy when he signed his contract.
Raposo already has pictures of himself in a Cardinals uniform, though he looks much, much different than he will when he eventually dons the gear again.
"It's kind of funny how life turns around on you sometimes," said Raposo. "I guess it's just one of those things where I played Little League for the Cardinals and then I end up signing a couple days ago. It's cool, it really is.
"My mom said something to me about it, and then a couple of days later my grandmother sent me a picture she had in her house," he said. "They really enjoyed it and so did I."
Suozzi says his travel team was the Mets, but that's not where all his Mets gear came from. He grew up a die-hard fan of the team, and lived just 20 miles away from Citi Park.
"There's just so many photos of me at Met games. There's one my Mom brought out that she's so proud of -- me with Mr Met as a kid," he said. "The little stuffed animal of Mr Met, me holding in my hand. I was wearing Mets pants at a game, so it was just really crazy how it all worked out."
"My best piece of memorabilia is definitely my Shea Stadium seats that I have downstairs," he admitted. "I should have sat in them right now."
The only problem for these young MLB hopefuls in their pursuit of big league dreams are on hold while the world waits to see if and when Major League Baseball returns.
"They said they're hopeful we'll get down there in September or even earlier, maybe late July," said Jacobsak. "But right now we're just having Zoom calls and conference calls with player development people, pitching instructors, just trying to figure out what we should do and how we stay better here."
"Right now a lot of things are up in the air," said Raposo. "It's probably going to be a couple of months or in the fall, but nothing definitive yet. I'm just going to be prepared for what comes; you can't really control those type of things. They kind of just come and when they do come, I'll be ready."
"They're not really sure what's going on right now, but throughout the day today I've been getting phone calls from nutrition people, their hitting coordinator," said Suozzi. "Just to give you a program to stay busy and be best prepared when it is time to go."