By Michael Malaszczyk
It is always a source of great pride for Long Island varsity baseball fans to see one of our own make it into the professional ranks. This week, Axcess Baseball had the privilege of sitting down and talking with someone who achieved just that; Nick Vitale of Ward Melville High School was happy to tell us his story, all the way from little league to the Monterey Amberjacks.
Nick Vitale comes from humble beginnings on Long Island, and tells a story of finding his love for baseball that we can all relate to.
“I started when I was about five years old with T ball like everyone does,” said Vitale. “My dad is my inspiration. Baseball is still his life. He played at Northport High School. He played at Dowling. He was one of the few baseball players ever selected in the Dowling Hall of Fame. So I gained a love and a passion for the game through him.”
After playing little league, Vitale quickly moved up through the ranks. He played baseball in middle school at Murphy Junior High School, and was the team captain in 7th and 8th grade. Given this experience, he skipped junior varsity and was put straight onto Ward Melville’s varsity team in his freshman year of high school.
“I was fortunate enough to get pulled up as a ninth grader,” he said. “I played shortstop in high school for all four years at Ward Melville. I got to play with current pitcher for the Blue Jays Anthony Kay. He was a senior. We won the Long Island championship that year, and we went to States. And in all four years I was there, we won the league title. I had a great experience there. We won a lot. And, you know, I was lucky to be a pretty big part of it.”
The potential for Nick Vitale to have a great baseball career was established during his time at Ward Melville. In his time at Ward Melville, Vitale was the recipient of many honors; he was team captain in 2014, 2015, and 2016, was a two-time Newsday’s Top 100 Selection, a two time All-League player, and All Long Island Honorable Mention selection. But to get where he is today, Vitale had to overcome many obstacles. He started off playing college baseball as a second baseman at New York Tech, before some injuries threatened his career.
“College was not the typical baseball experience for me,” said Vitale. “My freshman year, I got some decent time on the field. But then my sophomore year, I hurt my back and had to take time off. During that time off, I had some really bad anxiety.”
Performance anxiety is something Vitale had been dealing with for most of his time playing baseball. “I suffered from performance anxiety since I was nine,” he said. “I would make myself sick to my stomach before games. That’s when it hit me the most; before games. Once I was on the field, I was fine, but the lead up to a game was a disaster.”
As mentioned, that time off due to injury worsened Vitale’s anxiety. “I transferred away from N.Y. Tech and thought I was really done playing baseball; even showing up to the field wasn’t fun anymore.”
In this time off, however, Vitale made an amazing discovery; the thought of playing as a pitcher didn’t stir up his anxiety the way playing at second base did.
“I didn’t get as anxious and like I didn’t get sick at all when I pitched so I started just throwing bullpens during the spring of 2019,” said Vitale. “That was the year I took off. I pitched in the L.I.C.B.L. in the summer of 2019. I did really well and ended up transferring Old Westbury to pitch. Unfortunately, this was the year COVID hit, so that season was canceled.”
Despite this good turn of events, Vitale suffered another injury in the fall of 2019.
“I got cortisone shots just to get me through the year and then we ended up having the season canceled,” he said. “So that was tough. I got UCL surgery in June of 2020, and I rehabbed off of that at St. Charles Sports Medicine; they were a huge help to me.”
Nevertheless, Nick Vitale persisted through all of this. He refused to let another injury or a season being canceled derail his dream of playing baseball.
“I had UCL surgery in June of 2020, then pitched that summer in the Boys Of Summer league,” Vitale said. “Then I was finally able to pitch for Old Westbury in the 2021 season. In the fall of 2021, I played for the Long Island Black Sox, which has a mix of both ex-professionals and up-and-comers.”
After his stellar seasons with both Old Westbury and the Black Sox, Vitale tried out to play for the Monterey Amberjacks, a professional baseball team in California playing under the independent Pecos League. He made the team, and spring training begins on May 17th of this year.
As Long Islanders, we should be proud to call Nick Vitale one of us. He hasn’t forgotten where he came from; to this day, Nick thanks Coach Petrucci of Ward Melville for giving him a varsity slot his freshman year. Nick has overcome so much to get to where he is today. To endure what endured in the critical make-or-break years of playing baseball and still come out as a professional player is absolutely inspiring, and should remind everyone to never give up on their dreams.
Nick’s first game with the Monterey Amberjacks is going to be on May 26th, 2022. All of us at Axcess Baseball and all of Long Island will be rooting hard for you, Nick!
