While Long Island may not be the most fertile ground for developing big league talent, I think this list is pretty clear that we do have some high quality players. Two Hall of Famers is nothing to scoff at, but we will delve a little deeper to take a look at some of the other ones that don’t have the same national recognition.
This is a subjective list but I will base it off their career MLB numbers via Baseball Reference – not high school or college accolades – so at least there’s at least a standard criteria.
Here it goes.
15. Tony Graffanino (East Islip)
Tony was really the perfect utility player at the Major League level and it allowed him to stick around for 15 years in a big league uniform with the Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals, Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers and Cleveland Indians. His numbers did not jump off the page from an offensive standpoint – he compiled 746 hits over his 15-year career with a slash line of .265/.335/.394 but his defense and base running were both assets to every team he was on. He won the Carl Yastrzemski Award in 1990.
14. Steven Matz (Ward Melville)
Matz has been able to shed the unfair perception of being injury-prone by putting together back-to-back full seasons. He is entering his age-29 season, so it’s entirely possible his best days are ahead of him. In 2015, he entered the league with a bang, defeating the Cincinnati Reds but also driving in four runs at the plate. He went on to go 4-0 with a 2.27 ERA and pitching the clinching game of the NLCS against the Chicago Cubs. In 2016, he was a critical piece of the Wild Card winning Mets, going 9-8 with a 3.40 ERA. He endured a down season in 2017, but has bounced back since then with 60 starts over the last two seasons. He’s won 31 games with a 4.05 ERA over 549 IP. He won the Carl Yastrzemski Award in 2009 with Ward Melville as they won their first league title since 1975.
13. Keith Osik (Shoreham-Wading River)
If we are including high school and collegiate career than Osik is probably number two on this list after Heaton. He led Shoreham-Wading River to the New York State Championship in 1987, he was a two-time League MVP and three-time All-County player. They won two Suffolk Championships during his time, where he was their ace and shortstop, winning the Carl Yastrzemski Award. He was drafted by the Texas Rangers in 1987 but chose to attend LSU which wound up being a great decision as he led them to two College World Series appearances. Over his three seasons, he played shortstop, third base and catcher. It was behind the dish where his future in the big leagues was. He played 10 season with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Milwaukee Brewers, Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals mainly as a backup. He retired in 2005, where he took over as head coach of Farmingdale State College. He has taken them to new heights since then, reaching the College World Series in 2009, but also winning the Skyline Conference every year from 2008-2014 and once again in 2019.
12. Paul Gibson (Center Moriches)
Many people recognize the name from All Pro Sports Academy, which was a pioneer in the indoor multi-purpose training facility industry. Before that, he was a durable left-handed pitcher for a decade for the Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees and New York Mets. He pitched in 319 games, compiled a 4.07 ERA and won 22 games. He was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 3rd round of the 1978 MLB Draft out of Center Moriches HS.
11. John Lannan (Chaminade)
Lannon was drafted out of Siena College in the 11th round of the 2005 draft. He made his big league debut just two years later for the expansion Washington Nationals. They used him sparingly that year, but he was in the rotation by 2006 – starting 31 games. He was with them through the 2012 season, before staying in the division but signing with the Philadelphia Phillies. He finished up his career in New York with the hometown Mets in 2014, pitching in five games out of the bullpen. Over his eight year career, he won 46 games with a 4.18 ERA over 862.0 IP. His ERA+ of 98 shows he was just below league average, but his durability was certainly valuable.
10. Ross Gload (East Hampton)
Gload sometimes gets overlooked in the annals of Long Island baseball, maybe because he doesn’t have a major award named after him and he’s not in the Hall of Fame, but he will be getting his number retired by East Hampton this year and he does sit atop the New York State record books. He won the Carl Yastrzemski Award in 1994, hitting a New York State single-season record 20 home runs including three in the Long Island Championship. He went on to play at South Florida and was drafted by the Florida Marlins in 1997. He played in the Major Leagues for 10 seasons, including a ring with the Chicago White Sox in 2005. He batted .281 for his career with 34 home runs, mostly off the bench. He did eclipse 20 home runs on three occasions and his best season was his rookie season in 2004 in which he batted .321 with an .853 OPS. He finished seventh in Rookie of the Year voting – Bobby Crosby of Oakland won. He finished with an OPS+ of 92, so he was just below league average but was certainly a weapon off the bench.
9. John Habyan (St. John the Baptist)
Habyan was most recently the pitching coach for Hofstra University from 2018-2018 before accepting a minor league pitching coach job with the Kansas City Royals. Prior to that, he was a very successful coach at his alma mater, St. John the Baptist where he led them to back-to-back CHSAA Titles in 2013-2014. He had an outstanding career there, playing for legendary coach Buddy Corr in the early 80s. He pitched 11 years in the Major Leagues with the Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, California Angels and Colorado Rockies. He pitched in 348 games, compiling a record of 26-24 with an ERA of 3.85. His best season came in 1991 with the Yankees when he compiled a 2.30 ERA over 90 IP. Ironically, that was the last time the Yankees finished in last place – with a 71-91 record.
8. Marcus Stroman (Pat-Med)
Marcus has a real chance to move up this list when it’s all said and done because he is very likely to ink a long-term contract after this season when he’s a free agent for the first time. Assuming good health, I can see him landing a deal in the 5 or 6 year range over $100 million and he will end up with over 10 years in the bigs. He’s already achieved quite a bit, which doesn’t even include leading Team USA to the Gold Medal in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. He finished in 8th place in the 2017 AL Cy Young race. He also went a perfect 4-0 with a 1.67 ERA in September 2015 when he came back from a torn ACL in record time. Overall, he’s pitched 849.1 IP, he’s won 51 games with a 3.76 ERA. He is likely to finished fourth or maybe third on this list.
7. Billy Koch (West Babylon)
Billy is the definition of a hard-throwing closer, back when that meant something. Now every bullpen has someone throwing in the high-90s. He was pumping it 20 years ago. He had a great four-year run from 1999-2002 in which he saved 31, 33, 36 and 44 games. In 2002, he was an absolute bullpen ace for the Moneyball-A’s, throwing 93.2 innings – all in relief, with 11 wins and 44 saves. He finished 18th in the MVP race. He also finished 7th in the Rookie of the Year race in ’99. He really struggled in 2003 and was out of the game by 2004. He went to Clemson, out of West Babylon – a jump that rarely works out.
6. Neal Heaton (Sachem)
If you factor in high school and college, Neal would probably be No. 1 on this list for what he accomplished at Sachem and Miami. He was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1979 January draft. He opted to attend Miami instead, and it was a good decision. He has his number retired at Miami, he was just on another planet for his three-year career. He won 18 games in one season and 42 in his career. He owns several records, including most wins in a career despite only playing three years. He struck out 23 batters in one game, 172 in a season and 381 for his career. He pitched 12 years in the majors, making the All Star Game in 1990 while pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He won 80 games, compiled an ERA of 4.37 and pitched 1,507 innings. He also saved 10 games. He has given private pitching lessons for close to two decades and he has spent time as assistant coach at Bellport and head coach in the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League.
5.Pete Harnisch (Commack)
We did a feature story on Harnisch over the winter and you can read that here. He had a remarkable career at Fordham University in which he went 21-3 with a 2.29 ERA. He was fast tracked to the big leagues, where he debuted in 1988 with the Baltimore Orioles, who are infamous for beginning the season 0-21. Harnisch wound up having a very solid career, pitching 14 seasons for the Houston Astros, New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers. He won 111 games, compiled an ERA of 3.89 over 1,959 IP. His best season came in 1993 with Houston when he led the league with four shutouts, won 16 games with a 2.98 ERA. He hung it up after the 2001 season. His son, Jack, plays at Fordham University as well.
4. Frank Catalanotto (Smithtown East)
Frank has gotten plenty of attention – and deservedly so – for the rapid turnaround of the New York Tech baseball program since he took over in the summer of 2018. What made things more impressive is the fact that he was able to relate and get through to college players despite the fact that he went straight from Smithtown East to the minor leagues. He was the definition of a pure hitter – as you can see in the above video when he went 6-for-6 in one game. He is cerebral and made the most of his talent. He was able to compile a career AVG of .291 over 14 seasons. He notched over 1,100 hits and a .357 OBP. He retired in 2010 after finishing up with the New York Mets, which seems to be a common theme among players on this list. His best season was in 2001 with Texas, when he batted .330 with a .391 OBP over 133 games. Overall, he finished with a WAR of 14.5 over 3824 at bats.
3. Frank Viola (East Meadow)
While he may not have the same recognition of some of the other players on this list, his accomplishments exceed most of them. He was originally drafted by Kansas City out of East Meadow HS, but chose to attend St. John’s where he was selected in the 2nd round of the 1981 draft by Minnesota. He wound up winning a World Series with them in 1987 (was named MVP) and a Cy Young the next year. Four times he finished in the Top-10 of the Cy Young – including 1990 with the New York Mets. Finished his career with 176 wins, 3.73 ERA and 2836.1 IP over 15 years. While not a Hall of Famer, he’s a notch below – making the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame in 2009. He also matched zeros with Ron Darling in 1981 in what is considered the greatest college baseball game of all-time. He went 26-2 in his collegiate career.
2. Craig Biggio (Kings Park)
The most recent Hall of Famer on the list hails from Kings Park HS, where the field is now named after him. He played his entire 20-year career with Houston, beginning as a catcher and finishing as a second baseman. In between, he compiled over 3,000 hits, 414 stolen bases. 1844 runs scored and 668 doubles. He made 7 All Star games, won four Gold Gloves and was a five-time Silver Slugger.
- Carl Yastrzemski (Bridgehampton)
This one is a no-brainer. Yaz is baseball royalty and a Hall of Famer. Over his 23 MLB year career (all with Boston) he was an 18x All Star, 7x Gold Glove winner, 3x batting champ, MVP Award winner in 1967 in which he also won the Triple Crown by leading the American League in batting average, home runs and RBI. He compiled 3,419 career hits, hit 452 home runs and drove in 1,844 runs. Yaz is the greatest baseball player to ever come from Long Island.
