The high school season might be more than two months away but the preparation is in full swing. Last night, I went to Prospect Sports in Farmingdale to watch two of the brightest young stars on Long Island get a bullpen in, as well as one college arm that has worked extremely hard to reclaim his status as a phenom.
Prospect is the home of many of the top players in the region. On any given day, you can see players that will likely compete for the Diamond Award and Carl Yastrzemski Award as well as college players that will compete for All-Conference selections.
Rafe Schlesinger (Sachem East 2021) has been a recognizable name for the past two years. Since that time, he has only continued to progress and since then, committed to Miami, appeared in the Area Code Games, East Coast Pro and has put himself on the radar for virtually every team. The fastball, which was in the mid-to-upper 80s as a sophomore, is now substantially higher.
He was sitting 90-92 in the February bullpen session with no catcher, no batter, no pressure. Last week, he touched 95 on Rapsodo. That alone will turn heads. But he’s more exciting than that. He’s shot up to 6’4, which I had a feeling he would be close to when he had a size 15 in middle school. The armside tail is scary. Frankly, I don’t see how any lefty batter is comfortable in the box. The arm action is smooth and fast. As he gets stronger, either in college or pro ball, that will jump up even more. The biggest difference will probably just be in where the velocity settles. It’s one thing to rear back and touch 97 but will he be able to work in that range for multiple innings? Most lefties do not. So my guess is he winds up being a 92-94 MPH in 2 years which is elite for a lefty. His command has usually never been an issue – but it wasn’t on point yesterday. That’s fine in February, but something to monitor during the season. Fastball command is the most important thing a pitcher can have. Sachem East dropped down to League 2 this year, but he will still need to face Ward Melville and Commack in league play. Those could be some exciting match ups. I don’t expect him to get beat up in any game, but all it takes is one run that could be the difference in some of those match ups. In my opinion, Schlesinger is the best southpaw to come from Long Island since Steven Matz in 2009, but you can make a case for Jack Piekos and Franklin Parra as well.
Jacob Steinmetz (HAFTR 2021) has become impossible to ignore. The acronym stands for Hebrew Academy Five Towns Rockaway High, and I only learned about it last year myself so I understand if other people aren’t familiar. Playing for a small schools, he will face the never ending question about the competition. His parents are smart and will send him to Florida to get at bats against better competition but will be back for the school season. The bottom line is there’s not many amateur hitters that will hit him. Standing 6’5, he’s an intimidating presence on the mound. His fastball was mainly 91-92, topped at 93. His best weapon is certainly his 79 MPH hammer curve that registered a high of 2800 RPM – which is close to Major League ready. His command was there. The only strange thing is his front foot lands pigeon-toed, but Bobby DeMichael stated that’s something he’s always done and it doesn’t effect him thanks to his elite hip mobility. The Fordham-commit is an interesting prospect because will a pro team bet on his exciting combination of size and his ability to spin it? There will surely be other players that face better combination and have more of a track record, but the flip side is that he has no mileage on his arm and his best days are to come.
Jason Diaz (Kellenberg 2019) was about as hyped as you can be entering a senior year of HS. Newsday sent a videographer to follow him during a day of school, interviewed his teammates and stated he would have to make a decision about whether to attend Miami or begin his pro career. Unfortunately, that’s an example of the dangers of creating an impossible amount of pressure on a kid. Diaz is a genuinely nice kid from a great family. It wasn’t his fault, but he just didn’t perform in his senior year. That was clear from Opening Day of that year and it just continued to spiral. It happens. Once that happens, you can’t really be expected to perform at your previous level. It didn’t work out at Miami, he went to Hillsborough CC and the command issues persisted. Bobby DeMichael told me he worked with him last April, and had to basically start from scratch. No catcher, nobody watching, just throwing against a wall for 2 weeks. He completed the Driveline command program and he built back his confidence and his feel for the baseball. Yesterday was proof that it worked. He’s not back to his old, old self of 2017 but he was close. The velocity crept up gradually from 86 to 91 to 94.5 during his pen. The command was spotty but not awful. You can see he made it his point to go through his progression and breathe before every pitch. I’m rooting for the kid because he deserves it. And what a comeback it would be. He’s now at Monroe College and we will have him on an IG Live on Tuesday to talk about his experiences.
