by Mike Anderson
A .500 finish may not have been what Miller Place varsity baseball was looking for, but given everything they were going through last year, it was perfectly respectable. The team fought an unprecedented schedule and lacked varsity experience, as they only had three seniors on the team. Not only that, but Miller Place played in one of the most competitive leagues in Suffolk County last year. Conference IV had four 11-win teams and seven of the teams finished at least .500 or better. That number was the highest of any league in Section XI. Mix the lack of experience, the strange schedule, and the tough league together, and it spells a perfect recipe for disaster. However, Miller Place did a great job avoiding disaster and finished at an even 9-9 and made the playoffs, showing their competitiveness despite all of the unfavorable circumstances.
“We were very young last year. We were lacking the leadership. The only reason why I think we were able to even pull off .500 was due to the skill of the underclassmen who are now coming back and have all of that experience,” said head coach Ricky Caputo in an interview with Axcess Baseball.
The tables have turned for Miller Place coming into 2022, as they boast a very experienced roster now. Having only graduated three seniors, an overwhelming majority of the roster is returning. This helps them mostly in the pitching staff, which Caputo believes is a great strength.
“Our pitching staff is just stacked. And our catchers, to go along with the battery, are experienced and solid. I think that’s what separates us big time,” Caputo said. He named two catchers who will play prominent roles for them behind the dish: senior Thomas Pranzo and junior Mike Schleider. Pranzo is committed to play Div-III baseball at Muhlenberg College next year.
“Behind the dish, they’re really good back there, and I think they’re going to handle our really solid pitching staff very well,” Caputo said.
Tyler Hodella (Miller Place 2022). Batted .415 this season pic.twitter.com/P22OhI5S3g
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 29, 2021
One big departure from that aforementioned senior class was pitcher Kai Lofton, who Caputo described as the “ace of their staff.” However, in that staff, they have several guys ready to fill in for Lofton. Seniors Trevor Diamond, Jason Strickland, and Tyler Hodella are all college-committed pitchers who will be ready to pitch significant innings for them. Diamond is committed to Div-III Farmingdale, Strickland is committed to Div-III Bridgewater State, and Hodella is committed to Div-II Bridgeport. They also have several underclassmen, such as Tyler Lopez, Mike Monaco, and Alex Strickland. Lopez is a junior who will be making his varsity debut this season, and he had a terrific summer season while pitching in travel ball. Monaco and Strickland are both sophomores who will be seeing their pitching roles expanded this year, after being mostly position players last year (Strickland a shortstop, Monaco a center fielder).
Despite having an assortment of talented pitchers, Caputo has still not assigned roles to his pitchers, so one will have to wait to see who is in the Miller Place rotation and who is coming out of the bullpen.
“We don’t have set roles. Those are still to come out… There’s going to be a lot of competition,” Caputo said.
As for the lineup, the names are more-or-less the same, as Miller Place has several talented two-way players. Hodella batted .415 last year and will be a fixture in their lineup, as will Alex Strickland, Monaco, and Lopez. Schleider and Pranzo will fill important offensive roles for the team as well. Other players to look out for are middle infielder Gio Cassino and utility player Bradley Riegel. The two are seniors, and Cassino is committed to play Div-III ball at Farmingdale alongside Diamond.
A strong, young core that holds a lot of experience is something that will make other teams envy Miller Place. Caputo now believes that the 2021 team’s weakness is the 2022 team’s strength.
“I think [our biggest strength] is our experience. Experience and depth. Only graduating three seniors and returning 12, and returning three-to-five experienced underclassmen, it seems like our entire team has experience on varsity. Most of them have playoff experience, too… This year, it’s a team full of leaders, not just one or two guys that we’re looking for. A team full of experienced varsity players is going to be nice to have to coach,” Caputo said.
In order to improve upon their record from a year ago, Caputo thinks the offense has to improve.
“We don’t need home run hitters, we just need more guys on base scoring more runs. We didn’t do that enough last year… It’s just going to be: can we put runs across or not? And I’m confident we can,” Caputo said.
Miller Place has as deep a pitching staff as anyone in their league, and a very talented, now-experienced core to help guide them to the top. They will certainly be contending this year, and should be a team to look out for once the season begins.
Their season will begin on March 29, when they take on Islip High School at home for the first of a three-game series.
