David Racaniello (born June 3, 1978), usually known as Dave and nicknamed Rac, is a

bullpen catcher The bullpen catcher is a member of a baseball team's staff, often a former professional player, who catches the ball for relief pitchers warming up before entering a game and starting pitchers before games. A bullpen catcher differentiates from a ...

for 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 ...

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), ...

(MLB).

Early life

Born June 3, 1978, in Stamford, Connecticut, Racaniello attended Westhill High School, later going on to attend

Norwalk Community College Norwalk Community College (NCC), formerly Norwalk State Technical College and Norwalk Community-Technical College, is a Public college, public community college in Norwalk, Connecticut. It is the third-largest of the twelve colleges in the Connec ...

and

Central Connecticut State University Central Connecticut State University (Central Connecticut, CCSU, Central Connecticut State, or informally Central) is a public university in New Britain, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1849 as the State Normal School, CCSU is Connecticut ...

Amateur career

Racaniello played baseball at Westhill High School, including time as a catcher. He later went on to play baseball for Norwalk Community College for two years, where he was a teammate of future MLB pitcher

Érik Bédard Érik Joseph Bédard (pronounced ''baydar''; born March 5, 1979) is a Canadian former professional baseball pitcher. He pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, Ho ...

. In 1998, Racaniello's team at Norwalk won the NJCAA Division III Baseball World Series. Afterwards, Racaniello transferred to Central Connecticut State University, where he also played baseball.

Professional career

In the summer of 1997, Racaniel