Our reporter, Nick Vecchione, was on the scene Saturday for NYIT-Adelphi double header. Here are his scouting observations from a former Div-I player for our Premium Axcess Members.
So it was a much anticipated wait to finally get to see the surging Panthers of Adelphi in action, and on Saturday they did not disappoint. On a gorgeous sunny day, that I thought would never come, on the beautiful Westbury campus of New York Tech, a 6 Foot sophomore out of Eastport-South Manor sets the tone out of the 2 hole for the rest of the lineup. Tyler Becker is the prototypical top of the lineup stick, possessing versatility as to what he can do in the box. Being a situational hitter seems to be a strength of his, and something he takes pride in. He throws his personal success to the side, making it secondary to the success of the team, at certain times and gives up his at bats for the sake of the team. Moving runners over, not being afraid to bunt, and making the pitcher work are only a few of the things that he does well. The slender lefty stands tall in his approach, and features a BIG load with his hands, effectively closing his front side, almost to a fault. What I mean by this, is that it became apparent as the game wore on that he is susceptible to not being able to get to the inner most part of the plate. I believe the drastic nature of his load with his front side, ties himself up with anything hard in on his hands, as he unfortunately doesn’t consistently show the necessary bat speed to make up for such a mechanical flaw. Becker looks for the ball out over the plate where he can extend his hands and arms and spray the ball to his power alleys. The NYIT staff actually did a pretty decent job of having a gameplan at attacking the Adelphi shortstop as they went hard in and soft away, which seemed like the perfect way to attack a hitter of his ilk. However, like any elite level hitter, he still found a way to reach base 3 times because of his plate discipline. Furthermore, he came across to me as a big guesser up at the dish. Evidence of this were his easy takes, and a handful of times getting caught looking at pitches that split the plate in half late in the count, however, when his timing is right, and the pitcher makes a mistake where he can extend and drive, you would be hard pressed to find a prettier left handed swing on the Island.
A very similar pre swing routine to Becker is his infield mate out of Patchogue Medford, Brett Malm. His load and front side action, though not as drastic are incredibly identical. From the right side of the plate, the Junior infielder may flash similarities to Becker, however, there is NOTHING similar about the approach or the swing. Malm is LETHAL to his pull side, featuring electric bat quickness, and flashing power that shouldn’t be possible with the shortness in his swing that he exudes. He has the inmate ability to keep balls fair that are significantly in off the plate. No easy feat, as he validated this observation by taking Alex Passarella of NYIT, who was sitting 88-89 and hitting 91 MPH at times. He did it on a pitch that a majority of college players wouldn’t sniff on the inner half. It was a complete eye opening moment as it was an absolute heat seeking missile that reached its apex at maybe 15 feet off the ground. Malm flashed consistent hard contact(elite exit velocity) albeit only to the left side of the field, but if it works for him, then keep at it! One can come to the conclusion after watching his at bats that a hole in his swing can be found to the outer half, as he is very comfortable with keeping his hands in and close to his body, utilizing his quick compact swing path. Forcing Malm to extend his arms out over the plate is taking him out of his comfort zone, and somewhere that opposing pitchers can find success. Adelphi skipper Dom Scala shows off his wits by strategically placing Malm at the lower half of the order, which sets him up for success, where he will see a heavy dose of fastballs, as he quite possibly can be the be fastball hitter in the lineup, attacking the top half of the baseball on every pitch he offers at. A seasoned veteran move on Scala’s part, which is why the move speaks for itself in seeing the type of numbers the 6’2 3rd basemen is putting up this year.
Last but certainly not least for Adelphi is the wildly talented 5’10 Junior out of St John the Baptist, Thomas Colombo. The lefty swinging middle of the order stick is well balanced up at the plate, and there aren’t any parts of the field that are off limits to him, including beyond the fences. Probably the most well rounded hitter the Panther lineup has to offer, Colombo sees everything but the kitchen sink from opposing pitchers. Easily able to make adjustments from at bat to at bat, but what makes him special is that he’s able to make adjustments mid at bat. Given Colombo’s reputation, pitchers are forced to nibble on the edges of the strike zone, often never seeing pitches he can truly do damage with. Knowing the pitchers scouting report against him, he thinks along with them, anticipating pitches in “safe spots” of the zone. The unfortunate thing about that for opposing pitchers is that those “safe spots” really don’t exist as Colombo features elite plate coverage to almost all quadrants of the zone. I say “almost” because to the trained eye he could have trouble with pitches in the up and in quadrant of the zone. I made that educated guess because of the placement of Colombo’s hands, which sit above his batting helmet, and given his high load. His hands tend to drift, which puts him behind the 8-ball and forces him to play catch up at moments. The educated guess come to fruition as he was tested with high and tight heat a couple of times which resulted in a swing and miss or weak contact. He would much rather drop the hammer on balls low in the zone rather than go up and get something to the upper portion, which will more times than not, result in a tardy swing. No doubt in my mind that he can do damage on any given pitch regardless of location, but for consistent success it would be a feasible option to know that his strengths lie elsewhere than chasing in this part of the zone. Now this is not saying that his hands are slow in any way, because they absolutely are not! However, the very nature of his hitting mechanics can make it difficult for him to succeed at offering at pitches in the area that was previously mentioned. I might be nit picking here, but even the best of the best have a chink in the armor, and this could very well be Colombo’s, even though the opposition hasn’t exposed it yet on a consistent basis, which is evident by his outstanding statistics on the year. Look for him to carry this lineup into the postseason and make some noise in the conference tournament and beyond.
A little bonus action, as the Panthers took on a fellow Long Island University in NYIT. Despite their under .500 record this year, they still have some pieces that are very much worth noting.
Setting the table for the Tech lineup is their big and burley 2nd basemen, Joey Fusco. With shades of the great Jeff Bagwell in his batting stance, Fusco gets into a deep wide crouch hunched over the plate, making an uncomfortable visual for opposing pitchers to deal with. With his low center of gravity, he gets deep into his lower half which is complimented by his free and easy top half motion. Looking in one spot for pitchers make a mistake in his wheelhouse, which stands at the inner third of the plate, he has tendencies to bail on his lower half to any backdoor off speed pitches that are thrown his way. He consistently flares his hands as they are abandoned by his back side creating weak contact with nothing but lost momentum behind it. I get the feeling that he doesn’t truly trust his hands and he tries to do more than he need to, which seems forced. Whereas, in his situation, less would be more! Keep it simple!
Next is middle of the order standout Ben McNeill. The Commack native is crushing baseballs all over the yard this year. He brings a patient yet attacking approach to the table, as he seems never to be caught in a bad count or chasing pitches that aren’t going to lead to a quality at bat. Furthermore, with his loose handed approach, his hands are magnets for the Baseball, throwing the barrel of the bat, and putting the ball in play on a consistent basis. One gripe that I have with McNeill doesn’t have anything to do with mechanics or approach, as he seems to have conquered that part of his game. However, a physical attribute is where his hole lies, as player of his stature needs to use every ounce of himself and utilize ever ounce of momentum to take his game to the next level. He can spray the ball with the best of them, but against advanced level pitching, the extra base hits will be few and far between. The Baseball meets his bat instead of his bat meeting the ball, whereas a lot of what he barrels up seems to die and fizzle out, almost like he’s swinging a wet newspaper. Of course I’m sure this is something that he’s heard his entire life, and he obviously has been proving people wrong left and right considering the level he is currently playing at.
A true diamond in the rough of the NYIT lineup. Lastly is the Brian Urlacher of the bunch, Ryan Kuskowski. No pun intended with the Bear’s reference, as I truly thought the great longtime middle linebacker of the Chicago Bears had snuck into the locker room and slipped on a NYIT Baseball uniform and was penciled into the lineup that Saturday Afternoon. The NYIT Bears catcher has one thing, and one thing only on his mind as he steps into the box, DAMAGE! Very aggressive early in the count as those may just very be the best pitches he sees his entire at bat, he is looking to rip the cover off of the Baseball. Kuskowski features a huge launch angle swing engaging his hips and shoulders and transferring weight beautifully. His swing is very much suited for being a run producer which he definitely fits the bill for. As any young player with as big a swing as he possesses, of course there will be more holes than a contact hitter would have, as he displays a very long swing, often dragging late through the zone as his hands are not the quickest. Taking the growing pains with his slow bat, you just can’t teach the raw power that he has within his barrel.
I’m sure he will continue to be a mainstay, and a top run producer in the Bears for the remainder of his career.
