Chris Mazza Named International League Pitcher of the Week Inbox

Syracuse Mets right-handed pitcher Chris Mazza was named International League Pitcher of the Week for the week of May 20-26 in an announcement from the league office. Mazza has split time between Syracuse and Double-A Binghamton this year. The 29-year-old’s start on Friday was his best of the year. Mazza allowed just one run and three hits in seven innings with one walk and six strikeouts against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.

“This is definitely an honor,” Mazza said. “Any time you get rewarded for doing a good job is always nice. I want to also give credit to the team and their defense. René Rivera called a great game behind the plate, David Thompson made some nice plays at first base that changed the game, and the defense as a whole was solid.”

“Mazza did an excellent job coming up from Double-A to give us seven quality innings and put our team in a position to win the game,” said Syracuse Mets manager Tony DeFrancesco.

This is the second time in Mazza’s professional career that he has won a weekly league award. Mazza was named Texas League Pitcher of the Week on September 3, 2018 when he was with the Arkansas Travelers.

Mazza is the first Syracuse Mets player to be recognized for a weekly award by the league this season.

Please see the full release belowfrom the International League office:

BREYVIC VALERA & CHRIS MAZZA NAMED INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

The International League announced today that Scranton/Wilkes-Barre infielder Breyvic Valera and Syracuse right-handed starter Chris Mazza have been named the League’s Batter and Pitcher of the Week for the period covering May 20-26. Both players are the first members of their respective teams to claim an IL weekly award this season.

BREYVIC VALERA, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders IL BATTER OF THE WEEK

The 1st place Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders have won five straight games thanks in large part to the hot hitting of Brevic Valera. Over the past week, Valera banged out twelve hits and led the International League with a .522 batting average, four homers, twelve RBI, and a .607 on-base percentage. The highlight came Friday night when his 8th inning grand slam propelled SWB to a 6-5 comeback win over Syracuse. Since the Yankees claimed him off waivers from San Francisco earlier this month, Valera is hitting .405 with nine runs scored and 16 RBI in a dozen games played with the RailRiders.

27-year-old Breyvic Valera is in his tenth season playing professionally. After spending the majority of his career in the Cardinals organization, since the beginning of last season he’s played in the Dodgers, Orioles, Giants, and Yankees farm systems. He is a veteran of 37 games in the big leagues. Valera is a native of Montalban, Venezuela.

CHRIS MAZZA, Syracuse Mets IL PITCHER OF THE WEEK

Chris Mazza has bounced back and forth this season between the Double-A and Triple-A levels, and on Friday in just his third start of the season for the Syracuse Mets, he delievered the week’s strongest pitching performance in the IL. Mazza limited the visiting SWB RailRiders to one run on three hits and a walk over 7.0 innings of work, striking out six. He departed with a 4-1 lead, but when SWB exploded for five runs in the 8th against the Mets bullpen, Mazza was denied the opportunity for his first victory with Syracuse this season.

29-year-old Chris Mazza is in his eighth season pitching professionally. He was an original draft pick of the Minnesota Twins but was released in 2015. After time in the Marlins and Mariners organizations, the Mets acquired Mazza this past offseason in the Rule 5 draft. Mazza is a native of Walnut Creek, California.

Chris Mazza Named International League Pitcher of the Week Inbox

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