Hofstra pitcher Carlos Martinez has loved baseball since he was an infant, sitting in a stroller behind the dugout fence while his dad coached Little League.
Now the 21-year-old righty may get drafted into the bigs this weekend.
“Hopefully, I’ll get my name called on the first day,” he told The Post. “My goal is to play professional baseball and be one of the best at it.”
Martinez is ranked 212 in ESPN’s top 250 MLB prospects ahead of the draft, and the senior-to-be — a Yankees fan from Queens — enjoyed the mentorship of Hofstra’s coach, former big leaguer Frank Catalanotto.
“He’s just given me a lot of confidence,” Martinez said. “I feel like I can compete with anybody on the planet.”
Long Island high school shortstop Aiden Ruiz is also hoping to hear his name called, as there’s been much noise around the Stony Brook School star who just graduated.
“I’m pretty calm right now. I haven’t thought too much about it, but as we get closer, I mean, it’s a thought every kid is going to have,” added the Vanderbilt commit, also from Queens.
“I feel like I am very consistent, I’m very hard working, and that’s just going to carry on and off the field,” Ruiz said of his defining qualities.
Should the 19-year-old have to wait another two years for a path into an MLB system, he’s OK with that too.
“I’ll go to college and go win a national championship with Vanderbilt,” Ruiz said.
Chris McHugh, a Commack High School 2023 graduate and North Carolina State first baseman, also attended the draft combine in June as a top prospect.
Title on the line
The Fighting Tomcats are on a highway to the danger zone.
American Soccer Club will take on New Haven United FC for the NPSL’s North Atlantic Conference championship after a 3-1 playoff win over the New York Shockers on Wednesday night.
“They’re up for it — it’s a healthy rivalry that we have with them,” head coach John Fitzgerald told The Post of the Connecticut team.
Their last meeting was plenty dramatic at Mitchel Field, when a storm forced an evacuation of the stadium while AFC trailed in the final minutes.
The Tomcats responded when the clouds cleared with a last-minute tying goal to end the match at 2-2 in June.
“I think the boys are feeling good,” Fitzgerald said of Sunday’s match.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
