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MMN Prospect Time Machine: Lee Mazzilli

By Former Writers

June 23, 2013 2 Comments

lee-mazzilliIn honor of his son getting drafted in the fourth round by the New York Mets and starting his professional career this week with the Brooklyn Cyclones, today’s prospect time machine takes a look at Lee Mazzilli’s time in the Mets organization.

Born on March 25th, 1955 in New York City, Mazzilli grew up in Brooklyn before getting drafted by the Mets. The Amazins took him in the first round of the 1973 amateur draft with their 14th overall pick out of Abraham Lincoln High School. Being a hometown boy and quite the looker, he was expected to become a fan favorite, while also making a splash at the major league level relatively soon.

He began his professional career with the Anderson Mets of the Western Carolinas League, which was New York’s Class-A affiliate at the time. He immediately flashed all the skills fans were hoping to see; he hit hit .269/.376/.403 with 11 home runs, 48 RBIs, 24 doubles, 82 runs scored, and 46 steals in 472 at-bats.

His successful 1974 season in A-ball led him to the California League with the Visalia Rawhide. In about 40 fewer at-bats (430, to be exact), he improved in all of the above statistical categories. His triple slash jumped to .281/.409/.414, while hitting 13 homers, 52 RBIs, 103 runs scored, and 49 stolen bases. In fact, Mazzilli stole seven bases in a game against San Jose in June of 1975, which is a Cally League record.

Mazzilli was finally promoted to Double-A in 1976, and tore up the Texas League with Jackson as a 21-year-old. He hit .292/.439/.456 in 439 at-bats, including 13 homers, 43 RBIs, 28 stolen bases, and an astonishing 111 walks. His consistently stellar play earned him a September call-up at the end of the ’76 season before being a full-time player in the big leagues at the beginning of the 1977 season.

He would spend the next five seasons in Flushing as a fan favorite, with his best year coming in his All-Star campaign of 1979. The outfielder hit .303/.395/.449 with 15 home runs, 79 RBIs, 78 runs scored, and 34 steals. He was ineffective and injured often in 1981, leading to a .228 average in 95 games played. That led the Mets to make the unpopular decision (at the time) to deal Mazzilli to the Texas Rangers.

While fans weren’t too keen on this deal because New York traded away their hometown boy and fan favorite, this transaction netted the Mets Ron Darling and Walt Terrell. Darling went on to pitch for nine years with New York, winning 99 games and being a crucial part of the 1986 World Series championship team. Terrell was used in a deal with the Detroit Tigers before the 1985 season to get Howard Johnson, another important cog of that championship team.

However, it worked out in the end, as the Mets were able to re-sign Mazzilli in August of 1986 after he was released by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He hit .276/.417/.431 in 39 regular season games, and hit .300 in 10 at-bats during the ’86 postseason.

Overall, Mazzilli spent ten years in the Orange and Blue, compiling a .264/.357/.396 line in 979 games played (3,013 at-bats). After his playing career was finished, he was the first base coach for the Yankees from 2000 to 2003 before two unsuccessful seasons as manager of the Baltimore Orioles (129-140 combined record). He returned to the Yankees as Joe Torre’s bench coach in 2006, but never got another chance to manage.

Now, he gets to enjoy watching L.J. begin his own professional career with the same team he spent 10 of his 14 big league seasons with.

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