Long Island Baseball captures the 15U Championship with a 7-6 come-from-behind victory.
Sadier Vicioso fired four hitless innings in relief to record the win pic.twitter.com/uAZQdJT10K
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 14, 2019
(This is the fifth installment of our popular series ‘Up Next’ in which we spotlight the next wave of superstars on Long Island. Previously, we have featured Jayden Stroman, Liam Stemmler, Paul Napolitano and Matt Gileno. None of these players have appeared in a varsity game, but we are confident that they will soon. The series is Powered by The Yard Sports Academy, which you can check out here.)
“JACKPOT!” He thought to himself when he found out he landed a Dominican-born left-handed pitcher in the 12th round of the Baldwin Little League Draft.
Every coach passed over the name of Sadier Vicioso-Bonilla due to the fact that they were unfamiliar with him.
The six coaches that got together for the draft typically pick the players that they’ve seen before–that are talented. But Coach Carlos Quiroz decided he would take a chance on him, and he was able to land a diamond-in-the-rough.
The next day, when it was time to contact the parents, Carlos called up Sadier’s father, who asked him if he speaks Spanish. Quiroz confirmed that he did.
“Good, because he doesn’t speak a word of English,” he said.
Sadier called up his coach the next day and asked if they had practice. They did not. He also called him the next day. And the next day.
“I told him ‘buddy this is little league, and I have a job!” Quiroz recalled. But that type of fire never subsided. Sadier, 10, had just come to Long Island from the Dominican Republic, where he was used to playing baseball every single day for four or five hours.
Coach Quiroz vividly recalls their first practice. Young Sadier showed up “in jeans, with one of those ‘where’s Waldo’ striped shirts with sneakers. He had no bat and he had no glove. Since he was the only lefty on the team, he wasn’t able to play the field that day. But he grabbed a bat and went into the cage and the ball was just flying off his bat. Everyone was thinking ‘WHO THE HECK IS THIS!’
People have continued to have that reaction when watching Sadier. Quiroz noted that people constantly are praising him and coming up to him after games but Sadier is humble, shy and not comfortable in those situations. The southpaw who rarely smiles, is most comfortable on the baseball field–especially on the mound.
After that season of dominating Baldwin Little League, it was time for travel baseball. They joined the 11U Camelot Knights and faced off in a championship game against the Levittown Rays, who had their own stud, James Sill, on the mound.
The first batter of the game crushed a leadoff home run against Sadier to left center field, much to the surprise of everyone on the field.
Everyone except for his coach, who knew that he needs to get mad to pitch.
“Sadier feels bad striking everyone out so sometimes he doesn’t throw as hard. He needs to know the competition is good, he elevates his game, so sometimes I need to get him mad. After that leadoff home run, I looked at him and said ‘are you ready to pitch now?’
That’s all it took.
He struck out 16 of the next 18 batters, allowing 0 hits to win the Championship.
It’s a role he has assumed on every team he’s played on. If there’s a big game, or a Championship game, he’s on the mound. This summer as a 14-year-old pitching for Long Island Baseball, he was twice named to Perfect Game’s All-Tournament team.
When I watched him pitch at the East Coast Columbus Day Tournament last month, he was lights out. Pitching on one day rest after a one-inning outing, he entered with his team trailing 6-0. Tasked with holding the fort to allow his offense to come back, he did just that. He allowed no runs and pitched four hitless innings while LIB came back to win, 7-6, to capture the title.
Two days before, he hit 82 MPH on the gun against Herkimer College, where he struck out three batters. Read that sentence again, a 15-year-old old struck out three college batters.
“The confidence that he has now is the culmination of having success against better competition,” said Quiroz. That has been possible because his organization has put him on the mound against those top-notch teams.
Next up for him is varsity baseball, most likely. Only in 10th grade still, he is far too talented for JV baseball. The only question is for what team he will be playing for. The family has considered transferring out of Copiague to a private school, but no decision has been finalized yet.
If one thing is for sure, Vicioso will be an impact pitcher in 2020. For who, remains to be seen.
