With 2019 upon us, it is time to turn the page and start to think about the upcoming season. College ball is just 44 days away, and that will be here before you know know. First, let’s start off with high school. Below are some of the major storylines to watch for this upcoming season.
The more things change, the more they stay the same?
At the high school level, we had repeat winners at the AA level (Massapequa), A (Wantagh) and Suffolk AA’s winner (West Islip) won their third since 2014. It came as a bit of a surprise just considering the quality of teams they were facing. Oceanside was so talented that they would’ve been the prohibitive favorites in Vegas after they swept the Chiefs in April and started out 12-0. Massapequa still found a way to run the table in the postseason on the heels of an incredible run by Christian Denave on the mound. Wantagh had lost one of the best players in program history (Jimmy Joyce) and still found a way to 3-peat as champs, thanks in large part to the Diamond Award winner Anthony D’Onofrio and Anthony Fontana‘s ice-water veins in the big moments. West Islip had lost an incredible 2017 class and still went on a 21-game win streak after the emergency of Bobby DiCapua, Mike LaDonna on the mound and terrific seasons by Jake Guercio, Anthony Cinquemani, Tommy Parson and Anthony Ippolito at the plate.
It’s hard to pick against any of these teams, plus it is a bad look to discount them. Once the rosters become more clear in March we will have previews of all these teams, but you can assume they are all in great shape once again. It is clear, though, that Wantagh will have the biggest challenge in terms of replacing the 2018 impact players just considering D’Onofrio, Fontana and Pat Willix all graduated.
Is Connetquot as good as it gets?
Once I saw them in 2017 I said they are the County Champs in 2019 and I’ll stand by that. I just think they have an embarrassment of riches in terms of talent. The pitching staff (Joe Savino, Alex Ungar, Matt Brown-Eiring) is as good as there is. They have Division-I players around the field and Trevor Adamo recently committed to Division-II Coker College. With the Yalon twins (Stony Brook) in the middle-of-the-lineup, they are dangerous offensively too. This is a similar situation to Commack in 2017, where they have a first-year Head Coach in Robert Burger, who is replacing Matt Budderman. He is inheritting one of the best rosters, as Bryan Bonin did in 2017. I just think when the dust settles on Memorial Day Weekend, they will be the last team standing.
Who’s the favorite for the Yaz Award?
Last year, Matt Hogan fulfilled his promise and captured the award after years of being a prominent name in the baseball community. He is now at Vanderbilt University and it’s anyone’s award in 2019. I think my favorite is Roman Dorosh (Sachem East), due to playing in the competitive League 1 and he will probably accrue some of the best strikeout totals we have seen in a decade as well as hit over .400 at the plate with some pop.
Is the Catholic League as good as advertised?
Yes and it will make for some compelling games through out the season. With the influx of new coaches at St. Dominic and St. Anthony’s, it injects some more intrigue. Each team is back to having multiple high-end players. With St. John the Baptist graduating many of their best players (O’Hoppe, Shaw, Czeczotka), they will likely take a step back but still be strong especially with E.J. Exposito manning the SS position. Kellenberg obviously is going to be dangerous with Miami-commit Jason Diaz, Kansas-commit Luke Napolitano and the potential that C.J. Picone showed this weekend down in Miami. Chaminade is led by George Washington-commit Logan Koester and the Orbon brothers. When all is said and done, I think St. Dominic comes out on top, they are battle tested from playing in the finals last year with a terrific Carlos Hidalgo (St. John’s) and Johnny Flannigan back plus Notre Dame-commit Sean Lane providing the punch.
Who might get drafted?
Last year Franklin Parra and Logan O’Hoppe were the two prep players to get selected. Here’s some names to watch:
Jake Lazzaro (Oceanside)
Tim McHugh (Commack)
Joe Savino (Connetquot)
Roman Dorosh (Sachem East)
Jason Diaz (Kellenberg)
David Falco (Center Moriches)
Max Nielsen (Ward Melville)
Logan Koester (Chaminade)
Kyle Rausch (Longwood)
Based on history, we can expect probably 2-3 of these names getting selected.
