By now, you are aware that both Section VIII and Section XI have decided to cancel the 2020 spring high school sports season on Long Island. The CHSAA has not made an official decision yet – it will be determined whether the schools go back in session, so we will remain cautiously optimistic on that front.
As far as my opinion goes, I don’t have a scorching hot take on that. We are in unchartered waters and although the death rate has plateaued and we have “flattened the curve”, we still have 1,300 new Covid hospitalizations per day and 430 people died today. So it doesn’t come across great if you are screaming that your season got canceled.
Would I have liked a modified season in June? Absolutely, but that’s not happening.
With that said, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed. We had already begun our 2020 coverage and we had a bunch of great new additions we were just about to implement once the high school season started. I will keep that to myself until next season. If you follow us on Instagram, you see the content we’ve been publishing. The Instagram Live interviews have been a hit, and it’s really the only way to bring fresh new content directly from the top players in our region.
By March 11 (when everything came to a halt), Axcess had already posted 65 high school season previews, hosted two showcases, covered several college games, intersquads, pro workouts, travel team practices, a dozen podcasts and countless highlights. With no live games, the content dries up and that’s a death sentence for advertising revenue.
On a bright note, it does appear we will have summer ball. Thanks to our partnerships with East Coast Youth Baseball, Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League and Boys of Summer, we should be able to survive this.
But here’s a few things that are directly impacted by the decision not to have a high school season.
The Draft-Caliber Players
There was roughly 10 high school players that had a legitimate shot to get selected in the 2020 MLB Draft. Maybe only one of them would have been selected, but they all were in the mix. With the announcement that the draft will be shortened possibly to as few as five rounds, that is awful news to local players. The reality is that none of the players will get selected if it’s five round, and probably not if it’s less than 15 rounds. Long Island players just haven’t historically received that type of attention to warrant a day 1 or 2 selection.
It’s not good news for me as a Padres scout. It’s not good news for Long Island Baseball and it’s not good news for the brand of Axcess Baseball. There has always been those handful of players that generate huge page views and impressions as the draft nears and in the immediate aftermath of it. Players like Nick Grande, Kyle Young, Ben Brown, Franklin Parra, Logan O’Hoppe, Logan Koester and Brock Murtha move the needle on social media.
For baseball players, it means going to college and hoping for a better fate in the 2023 draft, unfortunately. Or there’s one exception to that.
Post-Grad/College Prep Year
The loophole in the system – albeit an expensive one – is enrolling at a school like The Stony Brook School or Phillips Andover Academy that allows high school grads to attend and play what would usually be their freshman year of college. They are getting at bats against good competition and are eligible for the draft after one season.
I’ve heard of at least two prominent players that have considered that route.
The Uncommitted Players
The biggest impact is on the players that entered their senior seasons looking to perform well to showcase themselves to colleges. A vast majority of players on Long Island fit into the description of secondary or tertiary talent. They are the ones looking for a roster spot when March comes around and not receiving athletic scholarship money. They are hurt by this immensely. I feel awful because they had no way to see this coming and there’s also nothing they can do about it. There’s no redshirt in high school.
I tried to focus on posting videos to social media of the uncommitted seniors. And I can say it’s worked. Bobby Molinaro committed to Adelphi University today – he was one of those players. He also was at our showcast at Ducks Stadium in August. Jack Layton was another one. He committed to SUNY Maritime right after we posted a video of him throwing a bullpen. Alex Zavala is another player. He committed to SUNY Ulster after a video of his batting practice was posted on our Instagram account. But for every case like that, there’s dozens of kids that are still looking for something.
While everyone wants to know who’s the “next best thing”, the freshman stud that commits to a highly-touted Division-I school after the East Cobb trip, there’s just not many players like that. And most of them wind up changing their mind before they even step foot on campus.
College Roster Logjam
This will be especially interesting to follow through out the summer as players begin to make their decisions whether to return next year. It’s really a tough conundrum for seniors. I’m sure they were all thrilled to have the option to come back, but the financial aspect doesn’t just go away. Come back or graduate and enter the job market? Every coach would like to know what they will be going to battle with in 2021 sooner rather than later. Every high school senior would like to know if they have a chance to see the field in 2021. Some schools have 10 seniors, so their decisions will directly impact the incoming freshman.
Content
May is usually absolutely nuts for us. There’s an endless amount of games to cover, there’s dozens of videos being submitted per day, there’s scores from coaches coming in when I’m trying to drive. But I loved it. Fortunately, I have three years worth of videos and pictures to rely on until we get live games back. And I’ll try to figure out some more creative things to stay entertained.
But I believe that adversity is necessary to deal with and this will be everyone’s toughest test yet. When we make it past this, there’s absolutely nothing we can’t beat.
Sandra DiPalma Layton
It is hard to find a way to thank you for what you have done for my son. The passion and drive for this sport has sustained my son through his educational years. The culmination was to play his senior year as a leader celebrating his teammates and parents and coaches that have supported him throughout. You have given him a light an opportunity to continue playing the sport he is so passionate about. Now he will play in college for himself but also for all his coaches and teammates. A genuine thank you from the Layton family to you sir you are another golden ticket in the journey of parenthood and youth.