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Travis Jankowski, a star outfielder on the Stony Brook University team that played in the College World Series in 2012, is officially a New York Met.
The Mets announced yesterday that the 30-year-old veteran outfielder has made the team’s Opening Day roster. And with starting centerfielder Brandon Nimmo potentially sidelined for the season’s first game today in Washington with a stiff neck, Jankowski may very well get playing time in his first game wearing orange and blue.
Jankowksi was signed to a minor-league deal by the Mets last month. He appeared in 76 games for the Phillies last season, hitting .252 with a home run, 10 RBIs, and 24 runs scored. Jankowski made his major league debut with San Diego in 2015 after being drafted by the Padres with the 44th overall pick in 2012.
At Stony Brook, Jankowski started in the outfield all four years. In 2012, he led the nation in hits, runs scored and triples and ranked in the top 10 in the country in batting average (.414) and stolen bases, setting Stony Brook school records for runs scored, triples and stolen bases in a season.
That year, he was the ABCA/Rawlings National Co-Player of the Year and the America East player of the year. In 2017, Jankowski was inducted into Stony Brook’s athletic Hall of Fame.
Jankowski played with San Diego until 2020, joining the Reds briefly during that COVID-19 shortened season, before playing for Philadelphia in 2021.
A career .239 hitter, Jankowski is valuable to the Mets as an above-average defender at all three outfield spots.
Top: New York Mets’ Travis Jankowski runs to first base as Dominic Smith scores after Jankowski grounds into a forceout during the second inning in the first baseball game of a doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals, Tuesday, May 17, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
