by Vinny Messana
Two days ago the Skyline Conference announced that Farmingdale State‘s junior, Matt Seelinger, has been named Pitcher of the Year.
While the awards are not the be-all-end-all when evaluating a player’s season, anybody would love the reassurance that their efforts did not go unnoticed.
While Seelinger had a spectacular season for the Rams–and I noted that he was capable of that in January–we will delve into a couple other names that had comparable seasons and debate who was more worthy of the honor.
This differed from previous years because last year Tim Ingram had a phenomenal year and was a pretty easy selection. In other years, there were pitchers like Arismendy Nunez, Mike Dolce and Chris Phelan that dominated the conference and made it an easy decision. There was a lot more ambiguity this season.
Winner:
Matt Seelinger, Farmingdale State
Stats: 4-1, 2.72 ERA, 2 CGs, 56.1 IP, 39 H, 17 ER, 15 BB, 60 Ks, 0.96 WHIP
Breakdown: These numbers are not counting his relief outing yesterday because that was post-award voting. Up until yesterday, he had been on a tremendous roll having not allowed more than 2 ER in any outing since March 19 at Stockton. Ten days later, he turned his season around with a win against Merchant Marines, firing six innings and allowing two ER. After defeating Purchase in his next outing, he had the defining moment of his season against Old Westbury. He fired a CG, allowing one ER, with 9 Ks in his biggest outing of the season. He followed that up with another CG against St. Joseph’s-Brooklyn. Those two outings really won him the award. Whereas, he had struggled with command in the past he really harnessed his fastball command and his curveball was always a weapon, so that took him to the next level. In fact, his power curve is so eye-opening that he has begun to put his name on the draft radar. He’ll be pitching in the Battle of the Border All Star Game.
Contenders:
Jeremy Charles, Old Westbury
Stats: 6-2, 3.05 ERA, 2 CGs (1 shutout), 62.0 IP, 52 H, 21 ER, 75 K, 8 BB, 0.97 WHIP
Breakdown: Charles came over from the University of Hartford and dominated from day one. His strikeout to walk ratio is alarmingly good. He also could’ve been 7-1, but took the tough luck loss in the season-ending loss at St. Joseph’s-Brooklyn. Charles and Aguilo formed a formidable duo for the Old Westbury Panthers and were the primary reason they did not skip a beat in replacing last year’s top two starters in Tim Ingram and Caleb Olsen. While Ingram was more of a traditional power pitcher with an over-the-top arm angle and power curve, Charles is nastier. His pitches have more horizontal movement and his slider ties hitters in knots. Additionally, he was the kind of fiery pitcher that demanded his team play with passion.
Ryan Aloise, St. Joseph’s
Stats: 7-2, 2.06 ERA, 1 Save, 1 CG, 61.0 IP, 51 H, 14 ER, 50 K, 15 BB, 1.08 WHIP
Breakdown: When I watched Aloise last year, it was clear he was capable of more than his ERA suggested. He put it all together this season, and also learned to pitch deep into games. He fired eight innings in three outings and really only had one poor outings against St. Joseph’s-Brooklyn on April 16. After that, he was a stopper for the Golden Eagles and one of the main reasons they overcame a mediocre start to their season and took off running. He’s not a huge strikeout pitcher, but his two-seam and curveball generated tons of weak contact. He throws strikes and was efficient with his pitch counts. He threw six shutout innings on Sunday to pitch his team into the championship.
Verdict: This is a really tough call. They all were terrific and all brought something to the table but if I had to choose one it is Charles because of his outstanding K:BB ratio and the amount of clean innings he had. A 10:1 ratio is just not seen often, reserved for pitchers like Curt Schilling and Clayton Kershaw in the big leagues. For that reason, I believe he was worthy of the award.
