Today I stopped by CatcherMTRX clinic in Ronkonkoma to check it out. The clinic has been around since Tom Downey created it in 2010 and has quite a track record of success. Consider some of the alum from the program.
Kyle Brennan – SUNY Buffalo
T.J. Riccio – New Haven
Chris Russo – Dowling
Vito Friscia – Hofstra
PJ Contreras – New Haven
Straton Podaras – Radford
Kyle Strovink – Limestone
Ryan Kuskowski – Franklin Pierce
Sean Rausch – Hofstra
Jack Ryan – Adelphi
Trevor Fagan – Sacred Heart
Dan Codispoti – Queens
Josh Lester – New Haven
Logan O’Hoppe – PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Nick Ungar – Oswego
Alec Maag – Eastern Connecticut
Matt Tempone – Rhode Island
Matt Yipp – UNC Wilmington
But the great thing about the program is that many of the alumni come back as instructors. O’Hoppe is a regular instructor, as is Kyle Brennan. It doesn’t get much more high-end than that. Brennan is currently a coach in the Houston Astros minor league system and is held in high-regard when it comes to teaching young catchers. He was on the Johnny Bench Award watch list while playing at SUNY Buffalo, so he had quite a collegiate career as well. O’Hoppe is currently in the Phillies minor league system and if you have been a reader of Axcess Baseball for any period of time, you are probably familiar with the name. In my opinion, Logan has a long future in professional baseball – even as a coach after his career is complete.
I’ve also seen Patrick Cantwell as an instructor as well as Matt Reistetter in the past – two local ballplayers that combined for close to two decades of pro baseball.
It’s a great thing for me to attend because I can get a look at players at a premium position from the time they are in middle school. Sometimes players blossom and become superstars such as O’Hoppe did. Plus defenders behind the dish are valuable so the scout in me is curious the top players are.
Lastly, in November and December content is hard to come by. It fills a gap in the calendar which is important for me. So hanging out with good baseball people and getting content for Axcess when there’s no games going on? I’ll take that any day of the week.
