Every other week this spring season, Andrew Velazquez will take us inside the Fordham Prep baseball team. In his exclusive diary on NYPost.com, the Virginia Tech-bound shortstop will give us an inside look at the Rams’ quest to win a CHSAA Class AA intersectional title and his preparation for the MLB First-Year Player Draft.
What can I say? No words can describe this feeling, but I’ll do my best. First off, it all started when I was just a baby. My first word was “ball.” It took off from there. Countless ground balls and swings later, I found myself watching the MLB draft tracker live on a friend’s phone while on my way to a semifinal game against St. Joseph by the Sea with a chance to go to the city championship.
In the weeks leading up to the draft I was well aware that not many teams were after me. There was this one team though: the Arizona Diamondbacks. After seeing me a year ago at an Area Codes Games tryout, they became interested and saw me a few times in the summer and during the high school season. When the draft was approaching, I had many discussions with the Diamondbacks as to where I should expect to be taken by them and how much they were willing to offer. I was expecting somewhere in the 5-10 round range, so as one can imagine when the fifth round came around I started becoming anxious, nervous, excited, etc., all at the same time.
Watching live on a friend’s phone as the draft entered the seventh round and the Diamondbacks were only a few picks away, my phone began to ring. It was my parents calling to let me know that Arizona had called and were going to be taking me with the next pick. This made me very anxious and in the picks leading up to theirs I was still tentative to celebrate until I saw my name pop up on that screen. My teammate, Steven Fondu, announced, “and the Diamondbacks are on the clock!” My heart began to race like crazy. In the next coming moments my teammates mobbed me as if we had just won the city championship. Had to be one of the best moments of my life.
To go in the top 10 rounds to a team that has shown the same amount of love that I found when picking schools in Virginia Tech was something that made that moment that much better. To know that there were people who believed in the way I play and the future that I can have in the game that I love left me speechless. To this day it’s slowly sinking in and I look forward to hopefully reporting to Arizona sometime soon to prove my worth.
Being drafted was a culmination of all the hard work and sacrifice I put in throughout the past few years. From learning how to switch hit, to making the transfer from center field to shortstop. There were plenty of ups and downs, but the end result has turned out to be a new beginning and great opportunity in my life. It’s funny how your life can change in an instant.
A few things that stood out to me were facts like being the first player ever drafted out of Fordham Prep by MLB. That’s pretty amazing in itself. Also, to be the first in the city to be drafted this year with all of the tremendous talent. Kids I grew up playing baseball with like Fernelys Sanchez and Nelson Rodriguez are amazing players who were steal picks for the teams who took them when they did. We grew up messing around about playing either with or against each other in college and in the pros and now that it can be a reality is pretty surreal.
It’s truly a blessing to be given the opportunity to chase your dream. By no means will it be an easy task, but I’m positive that we’re up for the task at hand and have trained long and hard for this opportunity. Now it’s time to make our marks in the history books.
This week just keeps getting better as we get to play in a championship against our rivals, the Iona Prep Gaels. It’s only fitting that we end the season with the team we started off with. Between the way our lineup has been hitting and the pitching with “Mac & Cheese” (Steven Fondu & Sean McNamara) and A.J. Pinto, I see no reason why we can’t bring the trophy back to Fordham. As a team we are jelling and coming together at the right time. Either way it was a memorable senior season set up perfectly for a fairy tale ending.
Only time can tell how it will end, it’s in our hands now.
This is Andrew Velazquez’s final diary.