One of the more underrated bats on Long Island over the past couple seasons has been Carey’s Garrett Scavelli. The rising senior was in the news this week as he became the latest impact player to verbally commit to New York Tech. The Bears have locked up a number of high-level players that ensures they will be a championship contender in the ECC for the next several seasons.
Scavelli, who hit a scorching .492 as a sophomore on varsity, has a chance to be a Diamond Award winner in 2020. I had a chance to speak with him and here’s what he had to say…
Who are your favorite players in the MLB and why?
Christian Yelich. I admire his work ethic moving from an average player to an MVP. He overcame adversity around him and continues to succeed.
Who are your biggest role models in life and why?
My parents and really my enitre family. We always keep family at the center of all we do and take care of each other in good times and bad.
Can you talk us through your experience with the college recruiting process and how you made your decision ?
The process has been a long one. I started seriously pursuing the process in about the 9th grade. In addition to my local travel teams, I joined Long Island Baseball and participated at a higher competition level with more tournaments and showcases to get recognized. I informed my high school coaches and my travel coaches of my desire to play at the college level and they helped me spread the word and interest when ever possible. In addition to baseball, I also trained at the gym to get bigger and stronger which helped my performance.
I looked for schools that I thought were good fits for me that had strong academics as well as athletics and contacted them with my interest, schedule and some of my performance highlights. It helped that I had a strong sophomore and junior year receiving All-County and All-Conference recognition. I began to see interest from several schools I didn’t know but also some D1 and D2 programs I was very interested. After many conversations, emails and texts, I got to know many of the coaches at the potential schools I liked and then it was time to narrow down the decision. I had a few offers from D1 programs I had been talking to, but the fit was best I felt at my final decision of NYIT. The academics, the history of success (2019 trip to the Div-II College World Series), the depth of the coaching staff, the current players, location and the feedback from my friends and family all helped me decided that it was the right fit for me.
What has been your biggest thrill playing the game of baseball?
It’s always thrilling to win games and the many tournaments I participated in, but being recognized in my sophomore year with All County recognition was pretty high on the list.
Do you have any private coaches that you work with ?
Anthony Passalacqua of Long Island Baseball and Mike Lisi of Rise Above Strength and Fitness.
Do you have any superstitions on the field?
No black socks!
Favorite pregame meal?
Roast Beef sandwich with fresh mozzarella.
Who are your favorite musical artists ?
Kane Brown
You can follow him on Instagram @gscavelli
