By Nathan Rode
National Supervisor

HEMPSTEAD, NY—The 2015 Metropolitan Baseball Classic kicked off Thursday with all eight participating teams going through workouts at Hofstra. Games will happen Friday at two separate sites—Hofstra and MCU Park, the home of the Brooklyn Cyclones. Each team will play two games Friday followed by a game a day on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday games will be at Hofstra while the final day will be at Brooklyn.

This is the third year of the event, put on by the New York Mets scouting department. More than 90 players drafted in 2014 and 2015 played in the first two years of the event, including six first rounders. The 2015 participants include five travel teams—Chandler World, Chet Lemon’s Juice, Evoshield Canes and two-time defending champion Team Elite. The rest of the field is filled out by scout teams put together by the Mets—the Heartland Mets, National Mets and Northeast Mets.

Here are some highlights from the workout day…

+ Chet Lemon’s Juice was the first team on the schedule Thursday and SS Harrison Ray (Lake Brantley HS, FL) started things off right on defense. His hands were OK, but he showed off easy arm strength across the diamond. He also flashed some bat speed, though his swing was loopy at times. Ray has a lean, athletic frame at 5-foot-11, 185 pounds.