GLENDALE, Ariz. – Three years before Cincinnati Reds minor leaguer Jake Gozzo was pitching in the Arizona Fall League, he was sitting in a Phoenix-area coffee shop contemplating whether to continue his baseball career.
Gozzo went undrafted in 2019 after two standout offensive seasons at Oklahoma Baptist, a Division-II school. He signed with an independent league team in Evansville, Indiana after his college career ended, but he was released after receiving six at-bats in two weeks.
That could’ve been his final chapter in baseball. He gave it all he had and there were no roads left.