by Zevan Shuster
Heading into the 2020 season, Miller Place head baseball coach Ricky Caputo does not expect his team to miss a beat. They finished with a record of 16-4 in League VII, but they will move up to League VI this season due to enrollment.
“I think we’re going to continue the success we had last year. We have a bunch of returning players, a lot of key players returning, so I don’t expect us to have a down year, or a rebuilding year, or anything like that,” Caputo said. “I think it’ll be pretty much full steam ahead from the start.”
The familiarity of this team, both from player to player, and from Coach Caputo to his players, plays such an instrumental role for Miller Place, and will almost assuredly attribute to however much success Caputo’s club has this coming season.
“(Our biggest strength is) Probably our experience. We have Kevin Bowrosen, who’s been playing varsity for four years now, and then Gavin McAlonie who’s got three years of experience. We’ve had younger guys coming up (as well), so I think we have some experience and some leadership that I think will help us big time,” said Caputo.
Bowrosen is committed to James Madison University and is widely considering one of the top hitters in the 2020 class. McAlonie, committed to Molloy drew rave reviews for his performance against elite competition in the summer.
As for tactically, Caputo made no bones about what his team’s approach would be to try and put runs on the scoreboard. The Bronx Bombers, they are not.
“I think we’re more speed and contact built team,” he said. “Our park is pretty big too, so it’s not like we can get a lot of cheap home runs. We have to manufacture runs, we have to play small ball. I think pitching and defense is key. Our offense has always been pretty solid, but pitching and defense and defense is what’s going to win in the games,” said the head coach.
Caputo makes no secret about him and his coaching staff’s approach to indeed winning in those games. He may touch on analytics, but they are from from his go to.
“I am 100% a go with your gut, old school kind of guy. The stats we use mostly are QUAB’s, which are quality at bats, over batting averages; which could be a hard line drive that gets caught, any hit, even a cheap hit. QUAB’s are easy. You can get one by a hit, a walk, or a hit by pitch. You can get an RBI to get a QUAB, a sac fly, a successful bunt (sacrifice or squeeze)… a lot of it is built on situational hitting, taking the panic out of hitting, and taking the ego of batting average out of it, and putting it more on getting a quality at bat,” said Caputo.
Caputo may be unorthodox in certain aspects of his approach, but he is equally as unapologetic. Beyond his on field criteria, Miller Place’s head coach’s motto of leaving one’s ego at the door, and doing what’s best for the team, is something preached not just through stats, but through the culture he tries to help create for his club.
“I’m definitely a big team guy. So I want them spending as much time together as possible off the field, having that relationship, that brotherhood,” said the skipper. I definitely want them to enjoy being together on the field. We have a thing on our offense that you have to care about the guy hitting in front of you, and you have to care about the guy hitting behind you in the lineup. You can’t just care about yourself. You’re just a part of the team.”
Some key guys Caputo expects to contribute this upcoming season include Gavin McAlonie and Dylan Carleo who Caputo says are “going to be big parts of the staff. Also in the rotation will be Kai Loftin and Kevin Bowrosen, who will also see time on the mound. Additionally, according to their head coach, “those guys are also a huge part of our offense. They’re probably four of our top five hitters as well.” Caputo needs his best guys not only to play well, but to maintain their versatility as well. “Those are our core returning players,” said Caputo.
As for what it will make the difference, especially when things get tight, Caputo knows it will take everybody for his squad to reach their goals, and to get where they want to go.
“Yeah, we’re going to need starting pitchers to step up, and our number three hitters to get a big hit, but in high school baseball, a lot of times it’s the nine hitter getting the squeeze down, or something like that on a championship team, that really makes them a championship team,” said Miller Place’s head coach.
Will Caputo and his team indeed be made into a championship team? Only time will tell, but it will absolutely take the whole roster to get them there.
