Nick Roselli spoke with World Baseball Network about his journey in baseball, his roots, and much more!
World Baseball Network: Talk about how you’re enjoying the experience of being a member of the team you’ve been a lifelong fan of.
Nick: Yeah, I mean, it’s definitely a dream come true, and it’s weird it still hasn’t really sunk in yet, but just walking around seeing all the Mets legends on the wall. Even the other day, I just walked out of the locker room, and Brandon Nimmo was just standing right there rehabbing, I guess, working on his ankle. That was the first moment where I was like yeah, this is it.
WBN: A lot of people have an innate talent they were born with. Do you think there was a time in your childhood, whether it was Little League or other, where signs pointed to the future, as you really found your calling as a ballplayer?
Nick: I always had the belief in myself that I would make it to this point and hopefully the Major Leagues, but it was kind of a little bit of a delusion because I wasn’t very good growing up. I was undersized. I was pretty short and pretty weak, so it didn’t really hit me until like my Junior and Senior year of high school where I was like ok, I could really do this, and that’s kind of where everything took off for me around that time.
WBN: How would you say your Levittown roots helped pave the way for a pro baseball career?
Nick: Yeah, from a young age, I would go to my high school camps of Division Avenue and coach Tuttle, Coach Robins, and Coach Weidlein those are the three varsity coaches, and they really taught me what hard work was in the beginning and they’ve created this tradition where every kid going up that’s going to go to Division you do those camps and you look up to those high school kids. So, getting to that point, being one of those kids where the younger generation looks up now to is super nice and rewarding.
WBN: What was you and your family’s initial reaction in June when you got drafted by the New York Mets?
Nick: It was definitely unreal. I was kind of more relieved. A lot of stress in the week prior and honestly the day prior because there was a situation where it could of happened with the Mets on day two, but it kind of fell through as so many deals do with a bunch of kids. So that was kind of a whirlwind, but I knew that it was going to be early on in day three based off what my agents told me, and I had full trust in them and I was super pumped, of course when the Mets drafted me because you know Long Island kid, New York team, hard to beat.
WBN: Do you have any involvement with team Italy?
Nick: Kind of, but not yet. My agents were talking to them, and they did this thing where they went down to University of Tampa, and they played there but that kind of interfered with the strength camp I’m at so they didn’t want to mess with any of the Mets thing that I’m doing right now but hopefully in the future I can be a part of that because that would be amazing.
WBN: So, talk a bit about what your workouts consisted of this fall in Port St. Lucie.
Nick: Yeah, so early on the first month we got there it was basically just practices. We would lift, hit, field, do a bunch of conditioning and stuff like that. Then we started to do live at bats which is nice kind of get more into the game setting then we played a couple games in the Complex League then me and two of the other kids that were drafted we were called in for a meeting which they told us Hey pack your bags you’re going to play with Port St. Lucie tomorrow. You guys are going down to Daytona. So, we were all pumped and we got to play a month down in low A and those days were long. We would get to the stadium if it were a game at 6 o’clock we would get to the stadium by like 11am and wouldn’t leave until 10:30pm the earliest.
WBN: What would you say your goals are now for the offseason as well at spring training in February?
Nick: Yeah, so just continue working hard doing everything that’s asked me and more and really just put myself in the best situation to succeed and stand out to stand out when spring training rolls around and prepare for the season next year.
Photo Credit Helene Haessler
