Chandler Giovinco (Newfield 2019) discusses his experience with the college recruiting process and why he chose @HofstraBaseball pic.twitter.com/Vr0j7HoC0x
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) November 28, 2018
Tonight was the annual Media Day for the Long Island Titans at Prospect Sports in Farmingdale. Their 51 members of the 2019 graduating class came together for photos and interviews, discussing their experience with the college recruiting process.
Among those 51 are 20 Division-I signees including schools such as Miami, St. John’s, Georgetown, Maryland, Kansas, Jacksonville, Northeastern, Hofstra, Stony Brook, Rhode Island and UNC-Wilmington.
Smithtown East catcher Matty Tempone had the following to say about his experience:
“The college recruiting process can be draining. There is a lot of research, a lot of emailing schools, a lot of people say ‘no’, there’s just a lot of performing in big opportunities when schools come to watch you. Sometimes schools will come and you’ll struggle, then there’s a school like Rhode Island–I didn’t even know they were at the game, but whenever they were there I had my best game. Once I visited the campus, I fell in love with it, the coaches loved me, so it just felt like a good fit.”
Kellenberg infielder Luke Napolitano had a unique experience as well. He was previously committed to Pittsburgh prior to signing his NLI to attend another Division-I powerhouse in the University of Kansas. Here’s what he had to say:
It was really a whirlwind experience. I was originally committed to Pitt and then their coach left, so that fell through. Kansas saw me this summer playing around at a lot of Perfect Game events and they really liked me. I went over there for a visit and I really liked it, liked the coaching staff. The Titans and Next Level were awesome. Shaun Manning is great, he’s got a lot of great connections and he really got me in with a lot of coaches and got me a lot of good looks, so he was awesome.
Several of these players will be members of our Pre-season All-Long Island list for 2019. If you would like to recommend a player, please email vinny@axcessbaseball.com.
