While nobody enjoys time away from the diamond, it is necessary in order for players to rest their arms and prepare for the next season. Now that the calendar has turned to January, all eyes are on the 2023 season.
From a personal standpoint, I will be watching from a distance for at least some of the season as my daughter was born last week and I would like to spend some time at home. Our reporter, Nick Cipolla, will be stepping up in the interim to be our go-to guy in terms of game coverage. I will be back, though, this is my passion after all.
Here’s some of the top storylines heading into the season.
What can Frank Catalanotto do for an encore?
The 2022 Axcess Baseball College Coach of the Year took over the Hofstra program in July 2021 and in short order turned them into a championship team. They had never won a Conference Championship in the 83 year history of the program and just like that, they are the reigning champs.They won all four games in the conference tournament by 1 run and three were on walk-offs! Just a remarkable accomplishment. Their program is riding that wave of momentum but now they have the targets on their backs. Additionally, Stony Brook is coming over from the America East and they will want to show that they are the class of Long Island. So I will have that March 31-April 2 series circled on the calendar! (All 3 games will be at Hofstra)
Can anyone end Chaminade’s stretch of dominance?
This has been the evergreen question. There was no season in 2020 but the Flyers won in 2019, 2021 and 2022. This past season they flew a little close to the sun, losing the first game of the CHSAA Championship series against Kellenberg, before capturing the next two games in the 95 degree heat at University Field. Truth be told, they were far too talented for any team to have a realistic shot at beating them twice. They had 15 seniors and they were al committed to college. They had 10 Division-I players including the Player of the Year (Nick Ungania), Axcess Cy Young Award Winner (John Downing) and the Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament (Nolan Nawrocki). This season, they will be counting on some younger players to step up but fortunately for them, they have no shortage of talent. The 2025 class alone has 3 players we’ve highlighted in our Up Next series (TJ Bradford, Michael Gardner and Kenny Meliere). As is always the case, the CHSAA is loaded and if you’re looking for a team headlined by Division-I arms look at St. Anthony’s who is headlined by UNC-commit Jason DeCaro, the only pitcher to beat Chaminade during the regular season (Torin Kassebaum) and Kevin Baez, who was outstanding in the Axcess Invitational. St. Dominic was headlined by their power bats last season, but they will also potentially be lights-out on the mound with the likes of Victor Frederick, Matt Cruz, Danny Onorato and Jack Puvogel (transfer from Chaminade). You can throw everything out when it comes to playoff time, but I think there’s no denying the talent of those pitching staffs.
Who might get drafted?
Every year there’s players that have an outside shot to get drafted from Long Island. Last year it was EJ Exposito, Josh Loeschorn, Brian Fitzpatrick, and Matt Alifano (undrafted free agent) that had their dreams fulfilled. This year the obvious one is Josh Knoth, who has a shot to be a top 3 round pick. He will have a ton of eyes on him between the Long Island baseball community wanting to witnessing history anytime he takes the mound, he will also have the eyes of national crosscheckers flying in to see him face League I hitters. This crop of pitchers is not quite on the level of 2021 but close. Aside from Knoth, there is Justin LeGuernic, Chris Batuyious, JT Caruso, Dominick Carbone, Erik Paulsen Jr, Brady Clark, Andrew Koshy and Jason Decaro (unclear if he’s 2024 or 2023). The best offensive players are Rocky Point’s Dominick Carbone, Commack’s Chris McHugh, Division’s Joe Yovino, Massapequa’s Erik Paulsen, Sachem North’s Brandon O’Neill and Hills West’s Ryan Muskopf. From the college players, the player with the best shot to get drafted of the local players is Travis Honeyman, the Massapequa grad, who is at Boston College. He lit up the Cape Cod league last summer and has been mocked to go in the first round. Don’t forget about Johnny Castagnozzi.
Who might make the Major Leagues?
The long drought was finally ended as Logan O’Hoppe was called up in September to become the first Long Island position player to reach the majors since 2009. O’Hoppe was not simply getting a cup of coffee, and he will enter the season as the starter behind the dish for the Angels. He should get plenty of nationally televised games too with the presence of Trout and Ohtani. Greg Weissert (Bay Shore) also got the call for the Yankees in September. As for this year, we are hopeful that Vito Friscia gets a shot with the Philadelphia Phillies, and possibly Matt Seelinger as well. The player with the highest upside is Ben Brown, who was traded at the deadline for David Robertson and is now one of the top pitching prospects in the Chicago Cubs system. The 6’7 RHP with a hammer curve is right on the cusp as well.
What events are we hosting?
Thanks for asking ! We have our annual Martin Luther King Day showcase on January 16 at Max Effort Baseball. That event is great because uncommitted seniors have a great chance of getting a college offer following that event. The ratio is outstanding with about 20 colleges expected to attend and 40-50 players.
We also will have the Prospect ID Camp at Lasorda Legacy Park for a second straight year. That will be on March 11 and it is for both uncommitted and committed players.
The Kings Point Classic will be a 14u tournament at the United States Merchant Marine Academy from June 9-11. It is fully booked.
The Axcess Invitational is our annual tournament at the Town of Brookhaven fields. It will take place from July 20-23 and we already have 35 teams in. That is 13u-17u.
The Axcess World Series will be hosted at St. Dominic HS although we do not have a date set. That will be in September.
And of course the Axcess Awards Banquet will be the first Saturday in November at the Hilton Long Island.
