Italian American Mets Infielder: Gavin Cecchini (2016-2017)

Gavin Glenn Christopher Cecchini was born December 22, 1993 at Lake Charles, Louisiana. The six foot one, right hand hitting shortstop is listed as weighing in at 180 lbs.

In 2012 Cecchini flew to New York for a pre-game work out at Citi Field. He did well & got to meet with Mets Captain David Wright. Wright told Cecchini he hoped they'd be team mates soon as Cecchini stayed for the game. That was the night Johan Santana threw the first no hitter in Mets history, quite a night for the youngster.

2012 Mets #1 Draft Pick: Three days later the Mets selected Cecchini as their first-round pick (the #12 player overall). 

He was selected right out of high school where his father had helped coach him & his brother. David Wright also called to congratulate him on being selected.

In 2012 Cecchini started out in the Rookie League with the Kingsport Mets. He moved on to the Brooklyn Cyclones playing five games toward the end of their season.

In 2013 he played 51 games at Brooklyn as the team's main short stop, batting .273 second best average on the team to L.J. Mazzilli.

In 2014 Cecchini started out at the Mets A ball Savannah Sand Gnats club, getting promoted to the A ball + St. Lucie Mets. He played 68 games there showing a bit more power hitting five HRs, which was more than he had playing the three previous teams combined. 

As the season ended, he played one game at AA Binghamton gong 1-4.

AA Rookie of the Year: In 2015 he was invited to Mets Spring Training camp & enjoyed playing with the eventual NL Champions. 

He would go on to win the Eastern League Rookie of the Year Award batting .317 with a .377 on base% finishing in the league's top five in both categories. He hit 7 HRs with 26 doubles & 51 RBIs in 109 games as the team short stop posting a .943 fielding %.

In 2015 was rated as the Mets #10 prospect moving up to #3 by 2016.

In 2016, Gavin was once again invited to Mets Spring Training. He spent most of the year at AAA Las Vegas having a great year coming in third in the Pacific Coast League batting race, hitting .325 behind teammates T.J. Rivera & Brandon Nimmo. 

Overall, he played 117 games at Vegas, with 8 HRs 27 doubles 55 RBIs & a .390 on base % getting a brief September call up.

MLB Debut: On September 11th, Cecchini made his MLB debut in a 10-2 Mets win at Turner Field. He had his first career at bat, a pinch-hit appearance where he struck out. He would appear in just four games at the big-league level that September. 

On September 24th he got a start at short stop, making the best of it going 2-3 with two RBIs in the Mets 10-8 loss to the Phillies at Citi Field.

 

World Baseball Classic: Cecchini was chosen to play short stop for Team Italy in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. In the first round, he doubled going 1-3 in Team Italy's amazing five run bottom of the 9th inning come back win over Mexico.

In the bottom of the 9th in the second game, Cecchini's RBI base hit tied the game scoring Drew Maggi but Drew Butera was thrown out at home on what would have been the game's winning run.

Cecchini was 0-3 in the loss to Puerto Rico & went 0-4 in the final game, where Italy was eliminated losing to Venezuela 4-3. Overall, he hit just .133 with an RBI in the tournament.

2017: Cecchini began the year at AAA Las Vegas. He was brought up to the big-league club in mid-June. 

First Career HR: On June 19th, in his second game up, he homered off the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw in a 10-6 Mets loss at Dodger Stadium. He hit safely in all four games of that series in which the Dodgers swept. He was sent back to AAA then brought back up in August.

On September 4th, he hit a two-run single off the Phillies Mark Leiter Jr. in a 11-7 Mets win at Citi Field. 

The Mets finished the year a disappointing fourth (70-92) with Gavin finishing the year batting .208 with just the one HR & 7 RBIs. He saw most of his action defensively at second base.

In 2018 he played just 30 games at AAA Las Vegas, missing time after getting hit in the foot with a pitch. He batted .294 with 2 HRs 11 doubles & 9 RBIs. 

Australia: In 2019 he played in Australia but opted out of his contract, due to pollution concerns from brushfires. 

He was signed by the Diamondbacks but was released & then went to play Independent League baseball in 2020. In 2021 he signed a minor league deal with the L.A. Angels of Anaheim.

Family: Gavin is the older brother Garin Cecchini, a former MLB infielder with the Boston Red
Sox (2014 - 2015). 

In his career he played in 13 games batting .229 with three doubles a HR & four RBIs.