Jerry Del Priore
The Somerset Patriots of the independent Atlantic League inked former New York Yankee farmhand and Emerson, New Jersey, native David Palladino for the 2018 campaign, the team announced yesterday.
The six-foot-eight-inch righty spent last season between short-season Single-A Staten Island and High-A Tampa. Palladino posted a 2-1 record with a 0.98 ERA and 38 strikeouts across 27.2 innings in his 15 combined appearances in 2017.
The Los Angeles Dodgers drafted Palladino in the 13th round of the 2011 MLB draft out of Emerson High School, but he instead decided to play college ball at Howard College (Big Spring, Texas). Palladino’s choice to play college ball paid off, as the Yankees selected him in the 5th round of the 2013 MLB draft two years later.
Palladino started his professional career in Staten island, where he went 3-3 with a 4.67 ERA in 54 frames in 15 games in 2013.
The 25-year-old registered a 21-20 mark with a 4.10 ERA, seven saves and an 8.9 K/BB ratio over his five-year professional career with New York, which included 305 innings in 92 contests.
