Mets sign Italian teen Matteo Marelli as franchise's first European amateur
According to reports, the Mets signed their very first European prospect on Saturday, agreeing to an amateur contract with Italian teenager Matteo Marelli. Both sides made the deal official with a ceremony at a baseball field in Rovigo, a city in northern Italy.
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Marelli, who turned 19 back in February, is a right-handed pitcher who competed at MLB's European Development Tournament (EDT) in the last two years. He was discovered by scout Rosario Chiovaro, who's the son of an Italian immigrant and worked for the Mets since 2020.
'I'm super proud to bring an Italian into the organization for the first time,' Chiovaro recently told Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. 'I hope that Matteo goes back and tells his teammates and tells his coach how well we treated him, and I think that can help the Mets moving forward -- just that we're going to have a global footprint and a global impact in more markets.'
While he received a scholarship to pitch at Arizona Western College -- they don't compete at the Division I, II, or III level -- Marelli's deal with the Mets will reportedly send him to the Dominican Summer League.
Listed at 6-foot-2 and 202 pounds, Marelli played for two teams across three seasons in the Italian Serie A league, logging a 5.15 ERA with 98 strikeouts across 108.1 innings (39 games). His velocity has also jumped from 88 mph to 94 mph over the last year, according to Chiovaro.
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