Lee Louis Mazzilli, Jr. (born September 6, 1990), known as L. J. Mazzilli, is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

second baseman and

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

. Prior to playing professionally, he played for the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

. He is the son of former All-Star outfielder

Lee Mazzilli Lee Louis Mazzilli (born March 25, 1955) is an American professional baseball player, coach, and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder for the New York Mets, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, and T ...

Amateur career

Mazzilli was born in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast, Greenwich is home to many hedge funds and other ...

. He played Little League Baseball there, and won a Little League

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

derby at the age of 12. Mazzilli began his high school career at Greenwich High School, where he found that

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

and

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

received more prominence. He transferred to

Iona Preparatory School Iona Preparatory School, or simply Iona Prep, is an independent, Roman Catholic, all-male, college-preparatory school located in the north end of New Rochelle, New York, in suburban Westchester County. It consists of the Upper School for Grade ...

in New Rochelle, New York, which has a stronger baseball program. As schools in the Northeastern United States receive less attention for baseball than schools in warmer climates, Mazzilli transferred to

IMG Academy IMG Academy is a preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. IMG Academy is set across over 600 acres and features programs consisting of sport camps for youth athletes, adult camps, a board ...

in Bradenton, Florida, for his senior year. After graduating from IMG, Mazzilli enrolled at the

, and played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

for the

Connecticut Huskies baseball The UConn Huskies baseball team represents the University of Connecticut, in Storrs, Connecticut, in college baseball. The program is classified as NCAA Division I, and the team competes in the Big East Conference. The team is coached by Jim Pende ...

team along with teammate

George Springer George Chelston Springer III (born September 19, 1989) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Houston Astros from 2014 to 2020. The Astros selected Springer i ...

. The Huskies had

Nick Ahmed Nicholas Mark Ahmed (born March 15, 1990) is an American professional baseball shortstop for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). Amateur career Ahmed attended East Longmeadow High School in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, wh ...

playing shortstop, so they played Mazzilli as a second baseman. He had a .312

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

as a freshman, and a .338 average as a sophomore. In 2010 and 2011, he played collegiate summer baseball with the

Wareham Gatemen The Wareham Gatemen are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Wareham, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Gatemen play their home games at Clem Spillane Fie ...

of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and returned to the league in 2012 to play for the

Bourne Braves The Bourne Braves are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Bourne, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Braves play their home games at Doran Park on the ca ...

. The Minnesota Twins selected Mazzilli in the ninth round, with the 280th overall selection, of the

2012 MLB draft The 2012 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held from June 4 through June 6, 2012, from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Houston Astros, with the first overall pick, selected Carlos Correa from the Puerto ...

, Believing that he should have been selected earlier in the draft, and that he was not a priority to the Twins, he did not sign, even though the Twins offered Mazzilli a signing bonus twice as large as the $130,000 recommended for the slot. Returning to Connecticut for his senior year, Mazzilli had a .354 average with 51 RBIs and 29 stolen bases.

Professional career

New York Mets

The

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

selected Mazzilli in the fourth round of the

2013 MLB draft The 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2013. The first two rounds were broadcast from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. Each team received one selection per round, going in ...

, with the 116th overall selection, and he signed. After signing, Mazzilli made his professional debut with the

Brooklyn Cyclones The Brooklyn Cyclones are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the New York Mets. They are based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, and play at Maimonides Park, just off the Coney Island Boar ...

of the Low–A

New York–Penn League The New York–Penn League (NYPL) was a Minor League Baseball league that operated in the northeastern United States from 1939 to 2020. Classified as a Class A Short Season league, its season started in June, after major-league teams signed th ...

. He hit .278 in 70 games for Brooklyn, and appeared in the New York–Penn League's

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or d ...

. In 2014, he began the season with the

Savannah Sand Gnats The Savannah Sand Gnats were a minor league baseball team based in Savannah, Georgia. They were a member of the A-level South Atlantic League. The Sand Gnats were an affiliate of the New York Mets in their final nine seasons. The team relocated ...

of the Single–A

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

(SAL). After he batted .292 with seven home runs, 45

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

, and 11 stolen bases, and appeared in the SAL All-Star Game, the Mets promoted him to the St. Lucie Mets of the High–A Florida State League in June. He also appeared in a game for the Las Vegas 51s of the Triple–A Pacific Coast League (PCL) during the PCL playoffs. During the 2014–15 offseason, Minor League Baseball suspended Mazzilli for the first 50 games of the 2015 season for his second positive test for a "drug of abuse". He played for Binghamton in 2015 after his suspension ended, and in 2016. In August 2016, the Mets promoted Mazzilli to the Las Vegas 51s of the Triple–A Pacific Coast League. In 122 games split between the two affiliates, he hit .239/.320/.348 with 5 home runs and 43 RBI. Mazzilli split the 2017 season between Binghamton and Las Vegas, batting a cumulative .254/.340/.362 with 5 home runs, 40 RBI, and 9 stolen bases in 110 contests.

New York Yankees

On April 10, 2018, the Mets traded Mazzilli to the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

in exchange for Kendall Coleman. He spent the season with the Triple–A

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (often abbreviated to SWB RailRiders) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They are located in Moosic, Pennsylvania, in the ...

, batting .244/.315/.400 with 7 home runs and 25 RBI in 79 games. On March 29, 2019, Mazzilli was released from his minor league contract.

Long Island Ducks

On May 5, 2019, Mazzilli signed with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. In 122 games for Long Island, he hit .294/.351/.435 with 13 home runs, 74 RBI, and 15 stolen bases. He became a free agent following the season.

Chicago White Sox

On December 9, 2019, Mazzilli signed a minor league deal with the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

. He did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Mazzilli was released by the White Sox organization on June 18, 2020.

Long Island Ducks (second stint)

On April 13, 2021, Mazzilli signed with the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. In 101 games, he put up a slash line of .303/.381/.440 with 11 home runs, 69 RBI, and 19 stolen bases. On April 12, 2022, Mazzilli re–signed with the Ducks for the 2022 season. In 102 games, he hit .263/.380/.388 with another 11 home runs, 46 RBI, and 21 stolen bases.

Personal life

Mazzilli's father,

has played, coached, and managed in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. His mother, Dani, tossed balls for L. J. to hit in their yard while Lee was with his MLB team. His sisters, Jenna and Lacey, also graduated from Connecticut. Lacey is his twin.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazzilli, L. J. 1990 births Living people Sportspeople from Greenwich, Connecticut Baseball players from Fairfield County, Connecticut Baseball second basemen UConn Huskies baseball players Wareham Gatemen players Bourne Braves players Brooklyn Cyclones players Iona Preparatory School alumni Savannah Sand Gnats players St. Lucie Mets players Las Vegas 51s players Scottsdale Scorpions players Binghamton Rumble Ponies players Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders players American people of Italian descent Long Island Ducks players Greenwich High School alumni