Following their 2017 ECC Championship, I was very confident that it was the beginning of a prosperous period for the LIU Post Pioneers.
Not just because their current team included the reigning Axcess Baseball Player of the Year (Rob Andreoli), runner-up Rookie of the Year (Noah Lorenzo) and future ECC Pitcher of the Year (James Varela), but also because the residual effect that it would have on the current players on Long Island.
Coming from someone who was in that exact situation, I can attest to the fact that there is absolutely a huge percentage of players on Long Island that are looking to a) stay close to home, b) play competitive baseball and c) get a scholarship to keep playing the game they love. For me, it meant attending Adelphi as they were in the midst of a 36-win season. For players in 2018-’19, that means going after the school that offers the best combination of baseball and academics that fit their situation.
Northeast baseball might not be a fertile ground of draft prospects in relation to that of California, Texas and Florida but we have some great Division-II and III programs and plenty of players that are in that realm.
Ironically, as I am writing this, Molloy just locked up one of the top available arms in the 2019 class in William Floyd LHP A.J. Verga and they also nabbed East Meadow’s RHP Charlie Cucchiara. Still, I am extremely impressed with the 2019 recruiting class that LIU Post has brought in. It’s the potential to cause a shift in power of the ECC from St. Thomas Aquinas into their favor. That may be jumping the gun considering they reached the Division-II World Series in 2017 and just barely missed qualifying again this year. Keep in mind, though, that it is a program that just sent four of their premier players to professional baseball. Not many programs in the northeast can withstand losing that quality of upper-echelon players and maintain their excellence.
Look no further than Stony Brook following their “Shock The World” run in 2012. After sending their best 8 players to professional baseball, they restocked with great players, but they were players that needed to cut their teeth at the Division-I level. Players like Daniel Zamora, Cole Peragine, Toby Handley and Tyler Honahan were all good enough to play professional baseball, but they needed to go through the normal growing pains that young players do.
Back to the thesis, let me go through some of the players that have recently committed to Post and why I think they are impact players.
E.J. Exposito (St. John the Baptist 2019)
I have long been a fan of Exposito, but especially since March when I watched him in a scrimmage against Newfield on an absolutely freezing day. He stepped in against Bobby Vath and ripped a triple down the right field line and it turned my head and another scout in attendance. It was then that I noticed he wasn’t fooling around this year. He wound up channeling that all season, consistency putting the barrel on the ball and hitting .342 for the CHSAA champs. Exposito continued that hitting into the summer where I watched him on three occasions and he continued to–at the very least–hit the ball hard, but usually find gaps for extra-base hits. Defensively, he is cool as a cucumber out there, making all the plays and showing flair. He was a guest on the podcast last week and cited Francisco Lindor as his favorite player, not uncommon for amateur players now-a-days. In my mind, he is a Division-I player and I think Post got a steal with him.
Michael Storms (Smithtown East 2019)
The hard-throwing southpaw Michael Storms warming up looking to keep Smithtown East’s undefeated season going pic.twitter.com/FhMCDM7xYE
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 24, 2018
As I mentioned back when he committed, Storms has many positive attributes. Here’s what I said back in July and it remains true:
“Storms is a prototypical left-handed pitcher, who relies primarily on his fastball-change up combo. He sits 80-82 MPH, but gets a lot more swings-and-misses than you’d expect with that velocity mainly because there’s enough of a difference between his FB and CH velocity that his FB plays harder than 82 MPH. Additionally, he hides the ball well. I’ve compared his delivery to that of Billy Wagner and I feel that similarity means he won’t have a discernible difference between facing lefties and righties. He profiles similar to Antonio Deodato, who sat out in 2018 recovering from Tommy John Surgery and could contribute to the Pioneers next season. Storms has no nerves on the mound, he is not easy to get off his game. As we saw this season, he was a huge reason Smithtown East got off to an 11-0 start this season. If his velocity was in that 85-87 MPH range I think all the Div-I schools would’ve been all over him. As it stands, his velocity puts him in that Div-II territory but a spike in velocity could easily put him in another realm. As it stands, it’s a huge pickup for Post because James Varela will be graduated by the time Storms makes it on campus so they will be looking for their next workhorse. As for 2019, I don’t expect Storms to lose more than 1 game next season, he’s one of the early favorites for the Paul Gibson Award.”
Brian Primm (North Babylon 2019)
I didn’t see Primm pitch, but as Coach Corrado stated in the podcast last month he is certainly a difference-maker. Here’s what he had to say on the podcast.
“Brian has maturity and is just a Bulldog–no pun intended on that deal. But he put it all together in 10th grade and he’s just, you know, he can command the ball on both sides of the plate. He throws, we had him between 85 and 87 this year with the gun and he just, he just never gives in. And he really leads the charge. He’s been batting about .400 his first two years. He was All-County this year and he’s only getting better. And he did not make one error at first base this season either.”
Stevie Proko (Locust Valley 2019)
Proko wrote a first-person feature for us last week on his decision to commit to Post which you can read by clicking here. He has a great pitcher’s body, long and lean with clean arm action. Everybody that I’ve spoke to that has faced him has been thoroughly impressed. Fastball up to 87 with command. That is a winning formula. I was also at a game last season in early November when he smacked a triple to left center field where he showed his wheels, so he is extremely athletic as well. Consider this, his local travel team featured him, Justin Rosner and Robbie Manetta. Not a bad trio.
Nick Incalcaterra (Plainedge 2019)
I watched him pitch at Wantagh in April, and admittedly it was not a great showing, but it was also his only poor outing of the season. He is a 6’4″ 210 lb RHP that had a very solid summer as well. As you can see in the video, the body and arm work in synchronization, but as is the case with many young 6’4″ pitchers, it’s somewhat difficult to consistently repeat mechanics. He is more of a project in my opinion, but he has a tremendous ceiling. Sometimes those turn to gold. That 84 MPH heater, which is Division-II caliber now, can turn into 89 with simply utilizing his lower half more and long-tossing this winter. I really like his balance position, but if you pause the video at 00:12 you can see that there’s plenty of more velocity in the tank.
