Four games per week. Seven innings each game. Many teams all over Long Island are struggling with piecing together that many innings from their pitching staffs that are young and/or inexperienced.
Manhasset is one of the few teams that enter 2021 with the opposite problem.
Head Coach Mark Giardino stated they have seven pitchers that have great stuff and that they’re confident in to get outs.
“To be honest, with the staff we have, we will determine our pitching rotation game-to-game,” said Giardino. “The first week we are going to try to get as many guys on the mound as possible,” he added. They will open up against Glen Cove, before a bye week leads them into a showdown against Division.
Jake Moss (Manhasset 2022) up to 90 MPH with an average FB velocity of 86.9 at PG pic.twitter.com/399VSSjBt8
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 18, 2020
The rotation is likely anchored by UPENN-commit Jake Moss. The hard-throwing RHP was outstanding as a freshman on varsity in 2019. Since then he has only improved and now touches 90 with his heater.
“As a freshman, he was about as complete as you can be as a freshman. He threw strikes, he defends his position. He’s put on muscle and has added velocity since then. He is dedicated to the sport and dedicated to his studies. He should be stepping into a leadership role this season – I don’t see why he wouldn’t flourish as a leader. He’s confident and he has great character. He’s also a switch hitter at the plate, he’ll be playing a corner spot, mainly first and also DH,” he added.
While they are in good shape with Moss, Giardino feels good with the rest of his staff as well.
“We have about 7 pitchers that have big arms – it’s silly,” he added.
RHP Patrick Jarvis is a senior committed to Princeton. His fastball is up to 89 MPH. Senior southpaw Teddy Mouhlas is committed to NYU and was sitting in the mid 80s at our showcase last year. RHP Andrew Flood is in the mid 80s as well and is committed to Washington & Lee. Another senior RHP is Andrew Moy who is committed to Swarthmore. Two uncommitted hard-throwing juniors are Christian Antonopoulos and Brendan Trotta. Giardino said they have “huge upside on the mound’, and without a question they are well-suited for the condensed format of this season – even after graduating some excellent players in 2020 such as Cole Zaffiro, Colin Hanlon and Michael McGoey.
Uncommitted Teddy Mouhlas (Manhasset 2021) sat 80-82 with a peak velocity of 85 pic.twitter.com/DlaIW28Y6X
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) February 1, 2020
One quick note on McGoey, Giardino stated he was “as good as it gets in CF” and they’ve “been blessed with center fielders with him and Jay Schlaefer before him.”
Back to this year’s team.
It will take a quality catcher to handle a pitching staff with that type of pedigree. Fortunately, they have just the right guy.
Giardino said he’s been coaching for many years and the only catcher he’s had that was advanced as a freshman as Mikey Brunetti was Matt Reistetter when he was coaching at Hauppauge. For those unfamiliar, Reistetter was a five-year varsity starter, went on to have a great career at Hofstra and reached Triple-A in the Washington Nationals system. Brunetti started for Manhasset as a freshman on a playoff team and drew rave reviews.
“I’ve known Mikey since fourth grade and I’ve never met a kid more dedicated than him. He loves blocking baseballs. The energy he has and the enthusiasm he has is second to none. He’s workmanlike, he’s businesslike and he excelled as a defensive catcher as a freshman. He’s worked tremendously hard and he’s a middle of the order bat. Every at bat he had he made the pitchers work in order to get him out.” So needless to say, they feel that their pitching staff is in good hands.
Uncommitted catcher Mike Brunetti (Manhasset 2022) 4-for-4 yesterday pic.twitter.com/IlcvlCYZsf
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 11, 2021
Offensively, Mouhlas, Moss and Jarvis will also contribute in the lineup.
One other player that Giardino is also excited about is junior Devin Sheridan. He noted that the junior batted .400 on JV two years ago and “I think he’ll make the jump after not playing last year. He’s really impressed. He’s came a long way both physically and as a baseball player. He was hitting off a tee before our soccer game and halfway through the game I looked up and he was still hitting – it’s ridiculous.”
Giardino added that level of commitment is the norm for his team. He stated that they’ve “been working hard both individually and as group.” They work out as a team on Sundays and one day during the week. He added that “all the right guys have been making the workouts” and that “they’re pushing each other to work harder”. They also have been working on bunt defenses, hitting the cut off man and holding runners on and “that’s not really a part of the baseball culture anymore” but that it’s a part of coming together as a team.
Manhasset really has the makings of a special team when you combine their level of commitment, their time spent together on preparation, their talent level and also their intellect. When you look through their college commitments, all those schools are top notch (UPENN, Princeton, NYU, Washington & Lee, Swarthmore and Brunetti will be joining that list as well).
They will face some strong competition this season so it won’t be a cake walk – Division, Carey, Bellmore JFK, Jericho, South Side, Hewlett and Glen Cove. But they are a team that could make some serious noise in the postseason.
