by Mike Anderson
NINETEEN punch outs for JT Raab. We head to the bottom of the 8th tied 1-1 pic.twitter.com/aCD5Q4rTO1
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 4, 2021
Marred by injuries and the scheduling conflicts that the pandemic caused, MacArthur high school varsity baseball had every reason to struggle in 2021. Having said that, they did anything but struggle, going 13-7 and taking the eventual county champs to a Game 3 of the semifinals. Now that the team is healthy and the schedule is mostly back to normal, they have plenty of reasons for optimism in 2022.
Of course, every year brings graduation, and most graduations bring losses. MacArthur lost their ace starting pitcher and DH JT Raab, who is now playing Div-I baseball at Stony Brook. Luckily for them, they already know how to win without his pitching, as Raab suffered an elbow injury during the first game of the season. Raab struck out 19 in that performance. Despite the injury, he was still able to hit, and batted .500 with six home runs, so they will have to replace him on two fronts, something they have not figured out how to do yet. Head coach Steve Costello spoke glowingly of him in an interview with Axcess Baseball.
“Let me tell you, he’s going to pitch in professional baseball someday… He’s going to get drafted out of Stony Brook and he’s going to have a professional career. He’s that talented, he’s got that much upside. So we miss him,” Costello said.
Costello also mentioned that they are without other pitchers, too. Those guys are Jason Wall, Matt Fioretti and Nick Rodriguez, who gave them quality innings last year. Wall was an All-County selection who led the team in innings, wins, and strikeouts. Despite these losses, they are returning a solid number of players who form the MacArthur core.
They have a pair of juniors who were All-Conference players as sophomores in 2021: outfielder James Eden and shortstop Sebastian Loor. Loor is naturally a catcher, but due to the injury bug that bit their team, Loor moved to shortstop to fill that hole. Costello is uncertain what position Loor will play this year, but he is certain that Loor will hit in the middle of the lineup. Eden batted .356 while Loor batted .320. Both players posted a .453 on base percentage.
Senior shortstop Matt Sarni, who was filled in for by Loor last year, will move back to his natural position at short in 2022. As a junior, he was recovering from arm surgery, so Costello moved him to second base to make the job easier on his arm. Despite the injury, Sarni was still able to bat .321 with a .448 on base percentage.
Also in that core that Costello described is junior outfielder Joe Thatcher, who was on varsity as a sophomore last season. Another one of their core hitters is senior third baseman Chris Picarella, who is committed to play Div-II ball at Post University. Rounding out their list of core hitters is senior outfielder Finn Duffy.
As for their pitching staff, sophomore left-hander Tyler Bonsignore pitched to a 4-1 record with a 1.38 ERA as a freshman last year. Now a sophomore, one can expect him to take the next step as his role will increase for MacArthur. Also returning to the rotation is Sarni himself, who did not pitch due to his arm injury. They have other guys who will be competing for the third spot in their rotation, like senior Mike Tufo, who is committed to play Div-II ball at Adelphi. They also have Ryan Castrillon, who is a corner infielder but is expected to get more innings this year. Senior Matt Dellitalia may also get more time on the mound. The amount of arms they’ve got this year is the strength of the team, according to Costello.
“We’ve got a lot of arms. That’s going to be important because we’re starting super early this year… No one is going out day one and throwing seven innings, so that depth is definitely going to help us,” Costello said.
In order to improve upon their record from last year, Costello says they need to hit better.
“We didn’t hit well last year; we didn’t have good at-bats. That’s on me, I’m the coach; I’ve got to find a way to make that better. And we spent the winter hitting, hopefully addressing that,” Costello said. Costello mentioned that they worked on all-field hitting and having higher quality at-bats during their winter workouts.
This team is young, but experienced nonetheless. Their pitching staff is deep with talent, and they have several hitters who are primed for breakout years this year. Assuming this all comes together, MacArthur will be right in the thick of things this spring.
Their quest to win their league begins on March 28, where they will look to take their opener against Long Beach.
