Recap of the Axcess Baseball Showcase

Every time we have hosted some sort of an event whether it be the Awards Banquet, Home Run Derby or All-Star Game we’ve dealt with some unique circumstance that nearly undermined it. We’ve had Dowling College unexpectedly closing, 105 degree temperatures, monsoons, Polar Vortex’s and grumpy school officials.

So it’s no surprise we would be handed another curveball yesterday. Of course, a massive storm rolls through western Suffolk County that nearly forced us to cancel our inaugural Showcase at Ducks Stadium.

Nevertheless, we were able to continue the event and for that I’m certainly fortunate.

We had 78 players and 17 college coaches in attendance at the preeminent ballfield on Long Island.

Here is the list of schools that were in attendance:

• Franklin Pierce
• NYIT
• Adelphi
• Molloy
• New Haven
• Queens
• Manhattanville
• St. Joseph’s-LI
• St. Joseph’s-Brooklyn
• Farmingdale State
• SUNY Old Westbury
• SUNY Maritime
• Farleigh-Dickinson
• John Jay
• CCNY
• Queensborough

The event started off with players getting introduced to the college coaches on the field, before getting stretched out by the Pro Game trainers in a dynamic warm up.

Following that, the players got their arms loose before heading into the real start of the day.

The infielders took their ground balls while the outfielders ran their 60-yard dash, and then they switched. We saw some special talent on display during this time. The outfielders had some remarkable arm strength, most notably Dylan Bruno, Michael Ciminello and Kensil Flores.

The catchers showed off their strong arms. I was very impressed with what I saw from that group.

We went into BP and that’s where we saw some fireworks from a couple players specifically Preston Gerena, Pat Bartoletta, Anthony Laietta and Jason Campo.

After we broke down BP we had Team 1 take on Team 2 for an 8-inning game. We had a couple stand out performances on the mound.

Right off the bat, Jackson Baris made his presence known. The rising senior at East Hampton hasn’t been on the radar much, but he popped a few in the low 80s and with his 6’2 frame, showed that he has some real potential to be a college pitcher.

Dylan Bruno, a southpaw entering his junior year at St. Dominic, has been known since he plays for Body Armor, but he showed that lightning quick arm with some high-octane fastballs to go along with a potent breaking ball.

Ian Murray also showed some real potential with his 6’2 180 lb frame. He certainly looks the part. He’s coming off Tommy John Surgery but has touched 80 this summer and has great command of his fastball and change up down in the zone.

Offensively, CJ Picone and Anthony Laietta were the standout performers. Both smoked line drivers and Laietta had multiple extra-base hits in the game.

Our Game 2 starter was Michael Ciminello. Without question, he was the biggest head turner today. First, he displayed his cannon from right field during the drills and in the game he struck out all five batters he faced and it was not particularly close. He’s a Division-I pitcher with a 1320 SAT so he’s in that rare territory of athletes that could truly choose where he wants to go.

Uncommitted Michael Ciminiello (Smithtown East 2020) struck out all five batters he faced pic.twitter.com/1ldKMLMGgx

— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 23, 2019

Another pitcher that turned heads was Will Corda. He is a rising senior at Archbishop Molloy. He was polished, displaying command of all his pitches and getting swings-and-misses. He was one of the players that all the coaches seemed to be pleasantly surprised by.

We also were introduced to Dylan Pohl, a 2020 East Meadow catcher that was stout defensively and looks like he could find his way into a Division-II or III lineup tomorrow.

Catchers were definitely on display today, we also saw some great stuff from Centereach 2020 Alex Goldberg, a two-sport athlete that plays with intensity and can handle the stick. He had a hit in the game and showed out defensively.

Lastly, we had a number of younger high school players in attendance. These players were certainly fighting an uphill battle playing against players 3 years older than them at a critical age for physical maturity. Players like Nick Farnacci (Hills East), Nick Del Vecchio (St. Anthony’s) and JJ Palumbo (St. John the Baptist) are raw but possess high ceiling and will be players to watch in the near future.

All told, it was a terrific day and I was pleased with how it turned out. Special thanks to the parents for sticking around through a long day of baseball and, of course, Pro Game Athletics, for co-hosting the event with us!