Red Sox draft pick Nazzan Zanetello has a basketball connection with Jayson Tatum
Zanetello played high school basketball in St. Louis, where he was coached by Tatum's father.
One of the newest members of the Red Sox organization is from St. Louis and has a connection with one of Jayson Tatum’s immediate family members.
Nazzan Zanetello, who the Red Sox picked in the second round of this week’s MLB Draft, played high school basketball for Tatum’s father, Justin Tatum, according to Alex Speier of The Boston Globe.
“Justin was my basketball coach,” Zanetello told The Globe. “He actually texted me [Monday] morning and said, ‘I’ll hook you up with Jayson. He’ll take care of you. That was sick.”
Zanetello, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound infielder, was drafted out of Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis, which is about five miles away from Chaminade College Preparatory School, where the Celtics star graduated from.
Meanwhile, the Christian Brothers baseball team that Zanetelo played on had former Red Sox pitcher Al Nipper on staff as an assistant coach, Speier reports.
Zanetello is ranked No. 53 among 2023 draft prospects according to MLB.com. He’s primarily a shortstop, and he led Team USA in hitting with a .429 batting average at a qualifying tournament for the World Cup in the fall.
The Red Sox took Zanetello with the No. 50 overall pick in the draft, and the 18-year-infielder seems thrilled to be in the Red Sox organization.
“I’ve been floating the whole time. I got to put this jersey and hat back on this morning and I was like, ‘I get to do it again,’” said Zanetello. “Last night I didn’t take it off. My mom told me to take it off to go to dinner so I would get anything on it. I didn’t want to take it off. It just feels like a dream come true. I can’t even put into words, I can finally live my lifelong dream of becoming a professional baseball player and take the first step.
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