Josh Rovner is anchoring the rotation. The senior did not allow an earned run over 3 starts (18.2 IP) this past season and is on the radar of MLB scouts pic.twitter.com/8kI7e2nAB1
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 6, 2020
Dom Scala has seen plenty of baseball over the years as a minor league player, bullpen catcher for the New York Yankees, advanced scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates and now head coach of Adelphi entering his 17th season, but no amount of baseball could prepare him for what 2020 has brought us.
Baseball amidst a global pandemic is unlike anything we’ve seen but the Adelphi skipper has been fortunate that the team is on track to begin the upcoming season close to full strength thanks to the protocols that were put in place by the school.
“We had to submit a plan to begin workouts,” said Scala. “We have 46 guys on the roster so we had to break up into two groups of 23,” he added. The phased re-opening is currently in Phase 4 – with the next phase allowing intersquad workouts with the team utilizing both dugouts. They began on the week of September 14 with strength and conditioning and have since moved into baseball-related activities. During a typical practice such as today, the position players and pitchers split up each going into their own workouts. Two pitchers threw bullpens at a time with the next two pitchers getting lose along the outfield. The position players stretched out before getting into infield drills and then into batting practice groups of five during which time the pitchers that completed their bullpens would shag flyballs in the outfield.
“We are lucky that baseball allows us to socially distance ourselves unlike other sports like soccer or lacrosse,” said Scala. The team is preparing as if the 2021 season will be normal – although the situation remains fluid, clearly. Scala said, “Thank God we have a little bit of time before that.”
Going back to 2020, the team finished with a record of 4-5 before the season was cut short due to COVID-19 while they were in Boca Raton, FL. It came at an especially cruel time considering the team was coming off a 34-9-1 season in 2019 and had the makings of a championship contender. Fortunately, they are returning five of their seven seniors that opted to utilize the redshirt season granted by the NCAA. Those players include Tom Ambrosino, Nicholas Palmerini and Tyler Becker.
The 46 man roster is obviously unusually large for the program. Every NCAA program is in the same situation as a majority of seniors opted to return while also bringing in a whole crop of incoming freshman. It is a peculiar situation that will likely have a residual effect on the next couple years as well. The other issue was making sure that the returning players were able to get placed on summer collegiate teams given most of the high-end leagues such as the NECBL and HCBL were cancelled.
“Most of – if not all of – the guys chose to play in the summer. The NCAA made a rule that anyone could choose to play – without losing eligibility or scholarship – and we could not force them to play,” said Scala. As for the summer, “we just wanted them to get their reps in – it doesn’t matter who you face. Luckily with the Blue Chip League and Boys of Summer they had some options here and the leagues were stronger than usual. I was worried that they’d have no games from March until September which would post a big injury risk once they start back up. We’ve been fortunate that we haven’t lost anyone – just one injury that happened with a guy trying to jump over a batted ball where he hurt his heel, but he will be back,” Scala added.
As for the product on the field, the Panthers are strong as usual. The strength of the team is their pitching and defense. Around the diamond, they have Kyle Olson at first, Anthony Cipri and Joe Pellegrino at second, Tyler Becker at short and Matt Alifano at third. Behind the dish, seniors Brandon Warick and Jack Ryan will be splitting time.
In the outfield, Tim Feliz will likely man right field with the defensive wizard Cooper Johnson in center while left field is a battle but transfer Jason Romero has been impressive early on. Feliz was off to a fast start last season – with 11 hits in 30 at bats, while leading the team with 12 RBI. Johnson is the type of player that can benefit the entire outfield defense with his ability to track down fly balls. That is especially important in the Panthers’ vast ballpark.
The Panthers have long been built around their pitching staff. That is likely to remain the case even with the NE-10 switching to aluminum bats in 2020. They were the last hold outs in the country to use wood bats. Scala, a self-proclaimed “old-school” manager that has the ability to adapt to the new-school of thoughts, noted that he voted for the switch because it was hurting his player’s offensive production.
“When you look at the top batting averages in the country, the top 50 guys all played aluminum. We had a player Brett Malm in 2019 who easily would’ve easily put up double digit HRs,” he said. The sentiment is accurate when you break down the numbers just about every player’s offense is suppressed when they play with wood bat. Adelphi has had some All-American position players such as Rich Mejia in 2014 and Cliff Brantley in 2015 that could’ve been in the conversation for Player of the Year in the country if they played with aluminum. Additionally, Thomas Colombo is another graduate that would’ve been aided tremendously given his power.
The pitching staff will be led by senior Josh Rovner. The 6’4 RHP put on roughly 40 lbs of muscle in the off-season. He went from 190 to 230 and turned himself into an absolute beast. Last season he allowed 0 ER in 18.2 IP and was well on his way to becoming an All-Region or possibly All-American pitcher, following in the footsteps of previous Panthers aces like Ed Baram, T.J. Santiago, Jonathon Mulford, Dillon McNamara, Rob Nixon, Keith Couch and Bobby Lanigan. Those are all pitchers that dominated for Adelphi over the past decade and all of them went on to play professionally. Baram is the only one currently on a minor league roster, although McNamara was a Triple-A All-Star.
Rovner threw gas today and appears to have a perfectionist mentality as he was frustrated with any pitch that didn’t land where he intended. As great pitchers do, he made the adjustment each time. He also showcased some impressive velocity. All of his fastballs were above 90 MPH and his last three were all above 95 with a high of 95.8. That puts him in the discussion for the MLB Draft, regardless of the number of rounds they select. If he can stay healthy, Rovner gives Adelphi the upper-hand every time he takes the mound.
The staff is filled with plenty of hard-throwers such as Nic Luc, Max Steele and Nicholas Palmerini.
The bullpen is anchored by Thomas Ambrosino, who already owned the program’s single-season record for saves with 14 – set in 2019. He was off to another great start in 2020. The 5th year senior is a weapon in the backend of the bullpen and Scala has shown the willingness to deploy him in any spot – which makes him more valuable than simply getting the final three outs in a clean 9th inning. Ambrosino will likely get the ball handed to him by Matt Alifano, who will come from third base. Alifano is the rare two-way player at the Division-II level. Most players gravitate towards one or the other, but his bat and his arm simply make the decision impossible to make. The two-time NYS Champ is the type of winner that programs can count on.
The fall season will end on November 12 at which time the country will hopefully be in a better situation regarding COVID-19. I’s impossible to predict how it will play out but for now the local schools are preparing as if there will be a normal season. For the sake of the players and baseball fans alike, let’s hope it is played in its entirety.
