The annual Suffolk County Awards Banquet returned for the first time since 2019 at Villa Lombardi’s in Holbrook after a two-year hiatus due to covid. It was attended by roughly 700 people and featured the best players and coaches in our region.
The highest honor of the night went to Pat-Med junior Josh Knoth who was the 54th annual recipient of the Carl Yastrzemski Award. The award is given to the top player in Suffolk County and the previous winners are littered with players that enjoyed successful professional – and in some cases big league – careers.
Knoth was the runaway winner. He set a school record with 107 strikeouts and during the regular season and a ridiculous K/BB ratio of 93/4 with only 10 hits allowed and 0.86 ERA. If you watched him pitch, it’s more believable that he struck out 93 batters than allowed even a single run. He put Suffolk County on notice after a video surfaced in February of him touching 96 MPH with his fastball. Not to be overlooked, he also added three HRs and batted .380 which sealed the deal in terms of who would take home the coveted award.
Oh and he’s just a junior!
He is committed to the College of Charleston in the CAA – but at this point it would be a surprise if he wasn’t drafted in the top three rounds of the 2023 MLB Draft. The last junior to have the type of hype surrounding him entering his senior season was Marcus Stroman in 2009 – who also won the Yaz Award as a junior at Pat-Med. Stroman was drafted in the first round out of Duke University in 2012, he made his big league debut in 2014 and has been in the show ever since.
That is the type of pitcher that Knoth is. It will be fun to see what he has in store for an encore in 2023 – and the competition to repeat will be fierce with several high-end two-way 2023 players in Suffolk such as Dominick Carbone of Rocky Point, JT Caruso of Mount Sinai, Brady Clark of Bayport-Blue Point, Justin LeGuernic of Hills West and Nick Rizzo of East Islip.
Other Key Awards:
Paul Gibson Award – Billy Steele, Shoreham-Wading River
Silver Slugger Award – Luke Filippi, Port Jefferson
Coaches of the Year: Matt Salmon (Commack) and Paul Gibson (Center Moriches)
Man of the Year: Joe Murphy (Bellport)
