Former Albany Foe Vying For New York Mets Roster Spot

Travis Jankowski has been around a little. He broke into the big leagues in 2015 with the Padres and played parts of the next 5 seasons in San Diego. In 2020, Jankowski played for Cincinnati and last year, he was with Joe Girardi and the Philadelphia Phillies. Now, the former UAlbany nemesis is fighting for a roster spot with the Mets. UAlbany nemesis?

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That's right, Travis Jankowski was part of the Stony Brook Seawolves team that went to the 2012 College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. Jankowski spent a plenty of conference weekends on the baseball diamond at UAlbany facing off against Coach Mueller and the Great Danes before heading to the big leagues. To this day, Travis is still proud of what his Seawolves accomplished. He should be.

Jankowski was the best hitter on the 2012 Stony Brook team that knocked off defending champion Maine to earn the America East automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. In its regional hosted by the University of Miami, Stony Brook beat Miami, then Luke Voit and Missouri State and finally the University of Central Florida to advance to a Super Regional. The Super regional was hosted by LSU, who was ranked in the top 10 in the country. The Seawolves lost the first game of the series but then won the next two games to beat LSU and advance to the College World Series in Omaha. Stony Brook was eliminated by Florida State, after losing to UCLA. What they did, for a mid-major northeast baseball program, was remarkable.

Jankowski talked to Greg Joyce of the nypost.com about the experience, “It’s one of those things that it’s cool to put a school on a map by doing something through athletics and being the underdogs...Me personally, I think I let the College World Series — I wanted to win so bad I couldn’t enjoy it. So you got to enjoy it, man. They’re going to keep having fun, the nation’s going to have their back.”

Travis Jankowski is a strong defensive outfielder with a fairly light bat. He signed a minor league contract with the Mets. If the former Stony Brook product does not make the Major League roster Jankowski may end up in Syracuse at the Mets AAA afiliate. Either way, we'll be rooting for the former Seawolf.