2021 has basically been the year of the retail investor. We’re all familiar with AMC and $dogecoin but you’re not going to find stock advice in this article. But similar to stocks, some players experienced a meteoric rise during the high school season.
This isn’t about which players simply performed the best – this is about who performed the best relative to what the expectations were this year. Here’s a breakdown from my vantage point – and I’ve seen (almost) all these players in person.
2021s
Coltrane Calloway, Bay Shore
The Seton Hall-commit was outstanding all season in leading Bay Shore to the Suffolk II title game against Huntington. He was named Conference II MVP and had a strong case for the Carl Yastrzemski Award. At the plate, he batted a robust .522 with 5 HR, 22 RBI, 28 runs scored, 11 walks and on the mound he went 6-1 with a 1.40 ERA and 32 strikeouts. His signature moment was to defeat Connetquot on the road with a CG shutout to send the Marauders into the finals. He was a team leader and his impact goes beyond the baseball field, showing a ton of courage to come out publicly as gay. Needless to say, the game of baseball has not been nearly welcoming enough to some people and that’s something that needs to change.
Hayden Leiderman, Roslyn
40 innings and 0 ER during the regular season. I don’t care what level of baseball or competition it is – that’s wildly impressive. Leiderman threw three one-hitters and that was against Nassau III which features some very good teams like South Side – who made it to the Long Island Championship, Manhasset (lost to South Side in finals) , Carey and Bellmore JFK. He’s headed to the University of Chicago.
Vin Mallon, Massapequa
The UNC-Pembroke commit was on fire all season as he batted over .600 with 11 HR. Coach Sheedy stated that they don’t keep record books but I have to guess that those are both school records. He had three multi-home run games which is just insane in a 16-game regular season. He helped lead Massapequa to their fourth straight Nassau County championship. He’s just the latest in a long line of incredible individual seasons for the Chiefs.
Nick Roselli, Division
Roselli was an absolute monster for Division and nearly single handedly carried their offense to the finals. He batted over .600 with an OPS north of 1.400. Sacred Heart hit the lottery with him, I think if he had this season in 2019 or ’20 he’s going to St. John’s. In any event, Roselli was the best player on the field in just about every game he played and you can see as the season went on, nobody wanted to pitch to him.
John Rizzo, East Islip
I think Rizzo had a very strong case to win the Gibson Award. I understand that level of competition factors in but we’ve seen small school players win awards over the years – a good comp would be Ryan Foran just three years ago and Rizzo led his team to winning the Long Island Championship. His numbers were similar Jacob deGrom’s season so usually those get recognized with an award. More importantly, he led the Redmen to their first Long Island Championship since 1991. Adelphi got a steal with him. I don’t know why he was largely under recruited. He struck out 17 in a no-hitter against Titans-Parso in October – that was a clear sign of what was to come. He struck out 20 against Hills West on Opening Day.
Patrick Sanchez, Calhoun
I always get people telling me that I need to pay attention to so-and-so player or watch out for X player. Sometimes I treat it like white noise, but enough people were telling me about Sanchez that it was no coincidence. And the high school coach is usually a good independent arbiter because they have no incentive to lie to me. When Art Canestro spoke about Sanchez he used a few buzz words that got my attention. Here’s what he said before the season: “From his sophomore to junior year – he made tremendous strides. It’s probably the biggest improvements I’ve witnessed. He really worked on his weakness which was his speed and power. It’s noticeable how much better he got. I’ll put it this way; not too many kids I move back for when I’m coaching at third. That doesn’t happen very often. His hitting really has increased and he hardly strikes out and always hits the ball hard. Defensively, he does a really nice job at short,” he added. Sanchez had a ridiculous season and was the most feared player in that league. Defensively, he made every play. He was just exciting to watch.
Ryan Ferremi, East Islip
Ferremi flew under the radar for much of the season because there was a lot of SS having great seasons. Turns out, he was the one that won the Long Island Championship and batted .414 with 6 HR, 23 RBI, 30 runs scored, 21 stolen bases and only one strikeout. East Islip entered the season knowing they had the pitching, but they needed to find enough offense. Between him, the Rizzo brothers and Ryan Thompson, they peaked at the right time. Just a tremendous all-around season. He’s headed to Albany where he should have an immediate impact.
2022s
Nic Benhardt, Rocky Point
Benhardt is kind of a victim of his team’s success in that he didn’t get nearly enough credit for a player that entered the playoffs undefeated at 5-0 with 0.80 ERA. He hides the ball well and it doesn’t hurt to sit in the mid 80s. His breaking ball command was a big key for him. It’s sharp and generates swings and misses. Just very clean and effective mechanics.
Mikey Brunetti, Manhasset
Brunetti gets rave reviews from every pitcher and opposing manager because they see the little things he does that aren’t in the box score. He blocks all the difficult curveballs, he throws the back picks to first, he calms down the struggling pitcher and he wins games. He was the everyday catcher as a freshman and helped Manhasset reach the Conference III Finals against South Side. At the plate, he hit .400 and hit 5 HR. He was incredibly clutch as seen by the go-ahead hit against Division in Game 2 of the semis. He was unanimous All-County and should be in the mix for All-Long Island next year. With Stang transferring to a private school, he will enter 2022 as the top catcher in Nassau.
John Downing, Chaminade
To me, Downing is a very easy player to evaluate because he checks off a lot of the boxes I look for. I don’t know why any Division-I school from the area wouldn’t be thrilled with what he brings to the table. He is a lefty, he has great size, he commands all quadrants of the strike zone, he has pitched in plenty of big games and he generates a ton of swings and misses. He was a huge reason Chaminade was able to repeat as champs despite having zero returning players from 2019. He’s just a prototypical ace pitcher.
Vinny Giambona, Island Trees
Giambona would not be denied. He fired off five straight complete games entering the postseason – including a big one at Clarke. But after he pitched poorly in the first round playoff loss in their rematch, Island Trees had their backs against the wall. That’s when he turned it up a dozen notches and pitched twice in relief before throwing a complete game in a 3-2 win to beat Clarke once again. Just an amazing amount of moxie to face that lineup on the road after losing to them and then switching up the game plan to completely stymy them. He earned Conference V Pitcher of the Year with a 1.60 ERA and he should be on every Division-II team’s radar. He’s the type of arm that will be a high-leverage reliever as a freshman and competing for weekend starter as a sophomore. But first I’m sure they have their sights set on winning the LIC next year after losing to Mount Sinai last week.
Billy Steele, Shoreham-Wading River
Steele is sort of a scout’s dream in that he has virtually no mileage on his arm as he just started pitching last year. He’s already polished on the mound. He pitched 33.1 innings with a 1.05 ERA and struck out 45 batters. He held opposing batters to a .132 AVG. At the plate, he was just as god notching a .473/.609/.745 slash line with 3 HR and 23 RBI. I think the 89-91 MPH heater is his ticket and that’s a D-I arm already.
Jack Vallario, St. Anthony’s
Vallario was a big reason St. Anthony’s made their great playoff run in 2019 when he came up as a freshman and helped turn their season around. This season he was their best player. He was named CHSAA Player of the Year – he batted .405 with a .577 OBP, .676 SLG and was 7-for-7 on stolen base attempts. He committed no errors at SS during the regular season. They had a first round exit at St. Dominic’s, but they will be leaning on him next year to make a deep postseason run. He’s certainly a northeast Division-I caliber player
2023s
Chris Batuyios, Mount Sinai
Batuyios is a big reason why Mount Sinai arrived a year ahead of schedule and captured the Conference V Long Island Championship in 2021. He is a Division-I arm that was already garnering some interest before the season which is why I featured him on the Up Next series. He has a laid-back demeanor on the mound and sits in the mid-80s. The bad news for the rest of the league is he’ll be there for two more years.
Dominick Carbone, Rocky Point
Carbone won Conference IV MVP this season as a sophomore which is no easy task. Voters typically give seniors the edge if all things are equal, which goes to show you things were not equal. He batted a ridiculous .463 with .513 OBP and 1.274 OPS. He crushed 3 HR and drove in 25 runs and scored 20. On the mound, he went 4-0 with a 2.68 ERA. Rocky Point will have him, Cody Miller and Sean Hamilton all back next year to defend their league title.
Josh Knoth, Pat-Med
Knoth is cut from the same cloth of several great Pat-Med pitchers before him in that he is intense, attacks hitters and throws hard. In League I, there always seems to be a pitcher that becomes the villain and I get the sense teams will be circling the day that he pitches since he will likely enter next season as the most notable pitcher in the league – apologies to all the other impact guys. Knoth is committed to the College of Charleston. I watched him twice this season, one was a regular season win over Sachem North and the other was the playoff start at Ward Melville in which he was one out away from a no-hitter. The Sachem North game was impressive because he gave up a 2-R shot early on an settled down. That’s important because these League I hitters are no push overs, so there will be times they barrel one up and put it over the fence. I was impressed to see how unfazed he was and he went back to work and shut it down. I think with his velocity and slider, he will get a lot of pro interest in two years.
Nick Rizzo, East Islip
Nick may have taken a back seat to his brother in terms of attention early on in the season, but by season’s end he was firmly in the mix for team MVP. Just a sophomore, he was outstanding as a two-way player for East Islip helping lead the Redmen to their first Long Island Championship since 1991. In the LIC against Bethpage, he drove in five runs in their 14-2 win. On the mound, he defeated Harborfields in the Suffolk IV Championship to improve his record to 5-1 with a microscopic 0.67 ERA. As a lefty pitcher with two-way potential, the sky is the limit.
Andrew Koshy, Kellenberg
Kellenberg is very particular with who they allow to get called up to varsity as an underclassmen. Koshy was simply too good to stay on JV. He was dominant all season. The thing that stands out isn’t just the velocity but he’s just so poised. You don’t see it much for a sophomore to step in and be an effective starting pitcher in the CHSAA. He never looked overwhelmed. I watched him pitch the clinching game against Chaminade and he was as good as advertised. He’s a Division-I arm and with his low arm slot, he’s going to win a lot of games for them the next two years.
2024s
Gabe Beschloss, Garden City
I had no idea who he was until the playoffs when he came in and shutdown MacArthur for 4 innings in an elimination game. I don’t care what grade you’re in, that is impressive. He went on to pitch in the Long Island Championship and lock down the win against Huntington. He’s tall, he’s got a great delivery, he repeats his mechanics and he sits in the low to mid 80s. I think he’ll be a D-I arm.
Sebastian Velazquez, Holy Trinity
All you really need to know about Velazquez is that he started Holy Trinity’s playoff game against St. John the Baptist and went toe-to-toe with Kyle Chase and it took a walk-off hit for SJB to win against the No. 6 seed. Velazquez tops out at 85 MPH and is 6’1 – well above his peers. He’s going to help bring Holy Trinity back in the mix for a title
Jordan Meirowitz, Wheatley
I did not see him much but he had the go-ahead grand slam in the Long Island Championship and seemed to save his best for the biggest moments. He led Wheatley to their third Long Island Championship in program history.
