In what can best be described as a final lifeline to the MLB, those that participate in the second half of the MLB Draft League do so knowing it can be their last stop on a baseball journey that started before preschool. Even with the changing MLB Draft League format that has the second-half season start a week before the MLB Draft, those not selected this weekend will more often than not have their baseball careers end this summer.

But that isn’t to say miracles don’t happen. Even after the draft, there is an opportunity to be picked up by higher independent ball leagues, a chance abroad or even get picked up by an MLB club in the free market.

For Williamsport Crosscutter infielder Jake Zitella, a rare chance to be picked up will most certainly have a deja vu effect.

A native of West Chicago, Illinois, the 21-year-old’s journey to Williamsport will conclude his fourth year of semi-professional baseball. After an electric high school campaign that saw the infielder commit to the University of Illinois, Zitella instead jumped to the minors after being selected by the New York Mets in the 16th round of the 2023 MLB Draft.

Jake Zitella of the Crosscutters singles against the IronBirds at Bowman Field. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

But Zitella’s story was a sad similarity to the thousands of other high schoolers that attempted to skip the college level for the pros. Dealing with a lingering back injury that began in his senior year of high school, Zitella’s story with the Mets is an agonizingly incomplete one.

After a decent first full season with the FCL Mets in rookie ball that saw a .252 average in 45 games, the corner infielder would feature just five games in the 2025 year before season ending back surgery turned into being released.

The beginning of the 2026 season also displayed a lack of consistency. Following his FCL coach Jay Pecci into the Frontier League with the Mississippi Mud Monsters, a two month cycle of being activated, placed on the IL, released, activated again, and quietly released again plagued the five game journey down south that saw the former top 200 recruit muster just one hit in 14 plate appearances.

But like the fabric of America as a whole, the second half of the Draft League can provide refuge to baseball journeys of all types for one last glimpse of making a career out of America’s Pastime. It is an opportunity that Zitella took advantage of, with the 21 year old signing on with the Cutters for the second half season.

For the first time in a day shy of 3 years as a 19 year old with the FCL Mets, Zitella would muster a multi-hit game in his debut for the Cutters. Despite the brutal sudden death defeat to open the second half campaign, the West Chicago native would provide two of Williamsport’s 10 hits on the night while maintaining three assists in the hot corner of the field on defense.

Even one of his outs, a 102 mile-per-hour lineout to left field that would have landed on the warning track, showcased the potential of the third baseman that the Mets saw in him nearly four years ago.

Zitella, like the other 22 members of the second-half roster, will always have that dream in the back of their mind with the upcoming draft this weekend and the anxiety of a second chance just one phone call away.

If that miracle phone call would belong to Zitella, it would be just the resumption of a journey that’s already much longer then most.