SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Call it a hunch that Lee Mazzilli, one of the more colorful New York baseball people of the past 40 years, is not shy about discussing his playing days with his family.
His son, L.J. Mazzilli, confirmed that to The Post on Thursday, here at Scottsdale Stadium, moments after the 2014 Arizona Fall League season concluded.
“He’s gangsta,” the younger Mazzilli said of his dad, known back in the day as “The Italian Stallion.”
L.J. Mazzilli hits righty, whereas his father switch-hit. He looks only a little like his old man.
“He’s got the heavy, Italian, rugged face,” L.J. said of his dad. “I’m a little mixture [of both parents].”
Yet the 24-year-old hopes to emulate his father in the most important professional manner possible. He, too, wants to excel with the Mets.
He’s on the right track. The Mets’ fourth-round pick in last year’s amateur draft, out of the University of Connecticut, Mazzilli put together a .301/.361/.440 slash line in his first full professional season, splitting his time between Class A Savannah and Class A St. Lucie with a one-game cameo at Triple-A Las Vegas. And in the AFL, with the Scottsdale Scorpions, the second baseman tallied a .306/.433/.469 line in 15 games.
“He’s a really good hitter,” said Scorpions batting coach Val Pascucci, who played briefly with the Mets in 2011 and worked as Mazzilli’s hitting coach at Savannah. “He’s got great hands when he doesn’t try to do too much. When he stays within himself, he’s got a good approach to the plate. He doesn’t give away at-bats. He goes up and he battles, especially with two strikes. He lays off some close pitches. So he knows the strike zone pretty well.
“He’s got a little more pop I think than people really think he does. When he turns those hard line drives, they get some backspin and end up as home runs.”
Mazzilli’s approach matches the philosophy Mets general manager Sandy Alderson has instituted, which has come not without its share of controversy. The elder Mazzilli’s 1986 Mets teammate Keith Hernandez has lamented, during the team’s SNY broadcasts, what he perceives to be a passiveness by Mets hitters.
Yet to hear the younger Mazzilli discuss it, it’s just a matter of going up to the plate with a plan and not wasting at-bats.
“I know that they’re percentage guys,” L.J. Mazzilli said of his bosses. “Say my approach is middle-away fastball early in the count. He throws a fastball in, but I’m clearly looking out. In years past, I’d probably swing, roll over it, get jammed or maybe get a hit. But now I’m trying to see, he’s going to come where I’m looking. And if he’s not, then I’ve got to expand, obviously. I’ve got to protect.
“If I’m looking here,” he said, placing his right hand at chest height, closer to his body, “then don’t swing here,” further from his body. “Until it’s two strikes.”
L.J. Mazzilli was born in 1990, the year after Lee Mazzilli retired from playing. So the son saw his father only as a Yankees coach and Orioles manager. He must rely on old highlights to see his dad play.
The junior Mazzilli hopes to add some major-league footage of his own shortly. Mets fans old enough to remember the gangsta, senior Mazzilli surely would get a special kick out of that.