Wayne Randazzo’s road to Flushing started with a drive from Chicago to Nashville.
Far removed from the free-agent intrigue that defines baseball’s winter meetings — back when players signed before March — is a minor league job fair for those trying to break into the sport. That’s where Randazzo found himself in 2007. Inside the Opryland Hotel putting his résumé and demo tape in a pile with hundreds of other broadcasting hopefuls.
“It was a strange system, but I noticed the job seekers were in one room and the teams were in another, so I just went around that room and introduced myself to all the different teams and circumvented that whole process,” Randazzo said. “I ended up with a few job offers and the one in Mobile [Diamondbacks Double-A] was at the highest level, so that’s the one I took.”
Randazzo, 34, has risen up the broadcasting ranks since — including freelancing opportunities with ESPN and Fox — culminating with him getting the Mets radio play-by-play job alongside Howie Rose this offseason. That job opened when Josh Lewin left for a position with the Padres, bumping Randazzo up from the pre- and postgame shows.
But the Windy City native has plenty of experience alongside Rose, filling in previously when Lewin called UCLA basketball and football games.
“It means a lot to me. It’s an opportunity to showcase what I can do as a full-time play-by-play announcer. Sprinkling 30 games in throughout the season isn’t quite the same as developing that routine and rapport with your partner over 162 games,” said Randazzo, whose next game with Rose is Saturday against the Astros.
“Howie is a guy that has become a mentor to me since the day I started with the Mets and will continue to be. It’s amazing to watch him work day in and day out and absorb the way he calls a game. It’s going to be a tremendous opportunity to get better at my craft, sitting next to a guy who is the best in his.”
Rose has been calling Mets games since 1996, moving over from television to radio in 2004. In that booth, he has called games next to Gary Cohen, Tom McCarthy, Wayne Hagin and Lewin. Randazzo, like Lewin before him, is on a one-year deal in the booth, as The Post’s Andrew Marchand reported at the time of the decision.
“I would treat this the same if they gave me a one-year deal or a 10-year deal,” Randazzo said. “It’s my first year doing this and trying to make a good impression and keep Mets radio on the level that it is. It’s already considered one of the best broadcasts in the country and I am trying to maintain that and whatever I could add to that.”
This will be the franchise’s first season on WCBS after the past five seasons were broadcast on WOR. Randazzo was more concerned with the transition on the back end than the voices fans will be hearing this season. He will be doing the lead play-by-play in the third, fourth and seventh innings, as well as any even-numbered extra innings.
“I am pretty straightforward,” Randazzo said when asked to describe his style. “I like to break down and get into the analytics a little bit more as teams are relying on them more. … I just love baseball more than anything. I know there are some announcers, without naming names, that might feel differently toward the game as it changes and I love baseball just the way it is. As a steward of that particular game on that particular day, I plan to write 162 love letters and hopefully the joy that I have just being around baseball catches on to the fans that are listening.”