Mets agree to deal with local product Suozzi

NEW YORK -- As they continued to fill out their Minor League system this week with undrafted free agents, the Mets on Tuesday stayed close to home. The team agreed to terms with Glen Cove native Joe Suozzi, a Boston College outfielder whose father, Thomas, is a congressman representing a portion of Queens just minutes from Citi Field.

Also this week, the Mets agreed to terms with Lamar University right-hander Austin Faith and University of Central Oklahoma righty Dylan Hall. The Mets have not confirmed any of the deals because they remain unofficial, but the various schools’ athletic departments announced the three signings.

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Originally an unrecruited walk-on at Boston College, Suozzi hit .414 with one home run and 16 RBIs in 15 games as a senior before the pandemic cut short the NCAA season. One year earlier, he batted .282/.363/.423 with three homers in 48 games.

Since 2016, Suozzi’s father has represented New York’s 3rd District, which stretches from Queens to Suffolk County and includes the Suozzis’ Glen Cove hometown. The younger Suozzi played at Chaminade High School on Long Island. He now joins fellow Long Island natives Steven Matz and Marcus Stroman, among others, in the Mets organization.

Teams were first eligible to sign undrafted free agents on Sunday. The player pool is far larger than normal because the Draft was only five rounds long, leaving many prospects who otherwise would have been drafted in Rounds 6 through 40 available as free agents. The cap on any individual signing is $20,000.

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Earlier this week, the Mets agreed to terms with undrafted outfielder Brandon McIlwain and pitcher Drake Nightengale in separate deals. They also struck a deal with Faith, a transfer from Navarro College who appeared in only three games at Lamar before the coronavirus shutdown. And they agreed to terms with Hall, a Virginia Tech transfer who threw seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts in his final start before the shutdown. He, Suozzi, McIlwain and Nightengale all received maximum $20,000 deals.