It’s been over 7 years since Kellenberg’s thrilling 1-0 victory over St. John the Baptist at Hofstra University in which their sophomore stud, Jason Diaz, was electric and struck out the final batter to secure the second straight title for the Firebirds. It remains the last championship for Kellenberg.
The Catholic League Player of the Year was senior LHP Chris Cappas who went 6-1 on the mound and allowed just 1 run over 39.1 innings (0.18 ERA) with 53 strikeouts. He ended the season on a 25.1 inning scoreless streak. He was equally as impactful at the plate, he batted .434 with 3 HRs, 23 RBIs and just one strikeout.
Cappas, along with a group of seniors, formed a bond that he believes is the reason they were so successful on the field. It doesn’t hurt, however, that they had one of the most dominant pitching staffs in history.
Final: Kellenberg 1, St. John the Baptist 0
WP: Jason Diaz (4-Hit Shutout, 10 K)Kellenberg wins CHSAA Championship for consecutive year pic.twitter.com/SVUCaB11Be
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 29, 2017
Statistically speaking, they had one of the most dominant pitching staffs in Long Island history – throwing 4 straight shutouts in the playoffs. Cappas, while he no longer has a connection to the game of baseball, looks back fondly on those days.
But first, let’s take it back to the beginning.
The Early Days
Chris was born and raised in Lynbrook, NY. He has one younger sister. His parents were both raised in Brooklyn and were both athletes. His father played semipro football while his mother played volleyball.
With athleticism in his blood, he played baseball, hockey and basketball throughout his youth. In fact, he played hockey for 10 years and basketball through 9th grade. Once it was clear that his future was on the diamond, he chose to focus solely on baseball.
Chris’ earliest memories playing baseball go back to when he was 5 or 6 years old throwing against the pitch back on his driveway. That certainly helped develop his command on the mound as time went on.
During his youth, he enjoyed watching the Mets dominant young rotation of Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz – citing the fact that the latter player is a Long Island native which resonated with him.
Cappas took private lessons with a few different instructors over the years – Dave Lemanczyk, Paul Carufe, Shaun Manning and Chris Sipp. He noted that the person that made the biggest impact was Bobby DeMichael.
“He’s definitely the best coach I ever worked with at any age and any sport. Besides being super knowledgeable, he’s just a great down-to-earth guy even outside of baseball,” he said.
Cappas played for the Long Island Titans beginning in 6th grade and did so until his travel days were over.
As he got older, he had to make the decision of which Catholic high school he wanted to attend. He noted that he visited Chaminade and Kellenberg and was originally leaning towards Chaminade but after he visited Kellenberg it was an easy choice.
“They had really good academics, sports and I liked the scenery.”
Kellenberg HS
Chris Cappas (Kellenberg ’17, Pittsburgh commit). Big-time draft potential pic.twitter.com/us2j4QPh7M
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) January 28, 2017
Cappas was called up to varsity as a 10th grader. That team was not nearly the powerhouse that they eventually became in 2016 and 2017.
“We were really bad,” he said. “I think we started 0-12. We beat Chaminade, 3-0, for our first win of the season. We weren’t a good team – I think we finished 5-13,” he added.
Everything clicked the next year.
The Firebirds developed on the field, but more importantly Cappas stated that their team chemistry was their strength.
“The chemistry on that team was just very different. In my experience, the teams with the most chemistry have the most success. Even when we didn’t have scheduled practice, we would go out to the field on a Sunday and just have fun. I attribute a lot of our success to the chemistry we had. He noted Rob Weissheier, Andrew Russell, Pete Lawless and Kurt Rissland as impact players on that team.
They advanced to the CHSAA Finals against St. Anthony’s where they took care of business in two games. Cappas pitched 1-hit shutout, taking a no-hitter into the 7th inning in the clinching game. He called it one of the best performances of his life.
That summer, Cappas’ Body Armor Titans team had an incredible summer. They went to Georgia and he noted that was an incredible experience as they beat some really good teams.
“We weren’t expected to do much being a northeast team. We finished 16th out of over 100 teams. We went undefeated in pool play.” Their pitching staff featured all Division-I arms including Brian Morrissey (Stony Brook), Pete Theodorellis (FDU), Bobby Lewis (Quinnipiac), Brad Camarda (Hofstra), Joe Greco (Sacred Heart) and Harrison Cohen (George Washington and now New York Yankees farm system).
That team was one of the best travel teams ever assembled with plenty of position players that went on to have great college careers as well (Brian Morrell, EJ Cumbo, etc).
He also drew quite a bit of interest from Division-I colleges. He took visits at the University of Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, UPENN and Darmouth, Stony Brook, Fordham and Old Dominion.
While he noted his grades were okay, he said, “Things are a little different when you’re an athlete.”
He was connected with the Pittsburgh coaching staff while pitching for the Marlins Scout Team down in Jupiter. He stated that the tournament was great because “we played top notch competition.”
He mentioned that Shaun Manning and Bobby DeMichael were two individuals that really helped with his college recruiting process, but “all the Titans guys were involved especially Tom Downey.”
He committed to the University of Pittsburgh because they were allowing him the opportunity to be a two-way player, they offered a large scholarship and he really liked that that the campus was in the middle of a big city.
Going into his senior season, Kellenberg had one thing in mind and that was to repeat.
“We were confident that we would be even better – even though we lost Kurt and Rob. Everyone in our lineup wound up playing in college.”
They also got massive seasons from two pitchers that stepped into the rotation – Andrew Williams and a sophomore that came in with about as much buzz as any high school player ever has – Jason Diaz.
“I just remember how naturally things came to him. He had more natural talent than anyone I’ve ever seen. He was the youngest guy on the team, so he looked up to the older guys for advice. He was very coachable, and he worked as hard as anyone.”
Chris Cappas named CHSAA Player of the Year. The Pittsburgh-commit finished the year with 25.2 inning scoreless stretch pic.twitter.com/e2gGSEtXrX
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 29, 2017
In regards to Coach Chris Alfalla he said, “a big part of our success was attributed to him. He pushed us hard but he also gave us space. He knew the type of guys we had. We were more responsible than the typical group. He gave us more freedom. I think everyone enjoyed playing for him.”
Kellenberg was the team to beat from day 1 and they certainly played like it.
In the playoffs, they won all 4 games and they allowed 0 runs in 28 innings. Jason Diaz pitched two games, Andrew Williams pitched one and Cappas pitched the other. In fact, their starters got all but 1 out – Cappas went 6.2 in his outing.
They defeated St. John the Baptist in an epic championship game at Hofstra by the score of 1-0 with Diaz throwing a gem. Cappas capped off his outstanding season by being named CHSAA Player of the Year to go along with his 2 championships. He allowed 1 run all year.
Congratulations to Chris Cappas- @axcessbaseball Pitcher of the Year! pic.twitter.com/SNDnhePxkx
— Kellenberg Baseball (@KBergBaseball) January 7, 2018
Leading up to the draft, Cappas noted that there was plenty of interest from teams. He cited the Mets, Red Sox and Phillies as the teams he recalled seeing at games.
“On draft day, I was told I would get drafted – it just didn’t happen. It ended up working out for the best, I think. I was able to shake it off pretty quick because I would’ve went to college even if I was drafted, so it didn’t bother me.
It was a very short summer, as the University of Pittsburgh requires the freshman athletes to take a summer class so he was off to campus on June 24.
University of Pittsburgh
Chris noted that he didn’t know anyone when he got the college, but the transition was much easier due to the fact that he got to campus so early.
“I took a class during the summer which was good. Going to college is a big transition so that was super helpful. We got to use the weight room, the locker room and the field. By the time school started, I felt like I knew the freshman really well.”
While Cappas was slated to be a 2-way player for Pitt, he sustained a back injury that prevented him from pitching his freshman year.
He noted that the injury – which was later revealed to be a stress fracture – impacted his ability to pitch because it hurt to bend over. Fortunately, it didn’t impact his ability to swing the bat so he was able to play left field during his true freshman season.
It turned out to be the best season of his college career. Forced into regular playing time after there was an injury, he batted .298 for the season with 28 hits, 16 runs scored, 15 RBIs, 10 walks and 7 stolen bases.
Cappas saved his best performance for the ACC Tournament which is held at the beautiful Truist Field. He went 2-for-4 with a double, triple and RBI in their victory against Georgia Tech. Against No. 5 North Carolina, he went 2-for-3 with a double and RBI.
They had their season end by Louisville by the score of 5-2. Cappas went 2-for-4 in that game and 6-for-11 with a HBP in the tournament. Pittsburgh finished with a record of 29-26.
“It was my best stretch of games,” he said.
In a cruel twist of fate, Cappas was the only player named to the All-Tournament team that did not play professionally. There was plenty of future big leaguers, such as Cal Raleigh, Joey Bart, Xzvion Curry, Cooper Criswell, Reid Detmers and Michael Bush.
Cappas did not play any summer ball in hopes of rehabbing his back.
He came home and worked with TJ Lopez at Athletic Movement Protocol.
“He helped me out a lot,” said Cappas.
While Cappas knew his back was hurting, he found out that it was a stress fracture during an MRI just before the season began. It was able to heal enough to allow him to resume pitching his sophomore season.
He was a two-way player in the ACC which is exceptionally rare. He had more success on the mound, compiling 3 wins on the season over 32.0 innings. At the plate, it was a season long struggle.
He called it a transition year for Pittsburgh who had fired their HC. They went 8-22 in conference play and didn’t qualify for the tournament.
Following the season, he did his rehab with Eric Cressey up in Boston after getting referred to him by Jason Roth of Evolve Physical Therapy.
“He was insanely impressive. He noticed things in my evaluation that were wrong right away,” Cappas said in regards to Cressey.
Unfortunately, the next two seasons didn’t bring better fortunes for Cappas, or the world for that matter. The 2020 season was wiped out due to COVID. They had played just 16 games to that point, including two Florida trips on back-to-back weekends in February.
Cappas recalls being on the field when they found out that the season was cancelled. There were no collegiate summer leagues for him to play in which meant 2020 was a wash.
He went back to campus for his season season, preparing to finish his career strong. Unfortunately, something wasn’t right. During his bullpen sessions, his velocity had dropped from 92-93 MPH to 78-80 MPH.
“Clearly there was something wrong. When I was long tossing, it just didn’t feel right. It wasn’t really a sharp pain, just fatigue.” Cappas was shut down from throwing and he focused on rehabbing everyday for a couple months.
When he did get an MRI, it turned out to be a torn labrum. Cappas did not want to get surgery, opting to graduate on time knowing that professional baseball was not likely to be an option at that point.
With the ability to just concentrate on school, Cappas was able to be named to the Academic Honor Roll during his senior season. He graduated in 2021 with a degree in finance.
The Next Chapter
Cappas was hired at Northwestern Mutual in Garden City, NY where he has been for the last 3+ years. He noted that he got the job offer while he was still in college. He moved in with his fiancé in Mineola.
He has not been involved in baseball since graduating college in 2021. He did say, however, that he would consider getting into coaching eventually but his job is simply too time consuming at the moment.
It’s been 7 years since Cappas’ remarkable season at Kellenberg HS. While the years go on, he stays in touch with his high school teammates whom he will forever share the bond of being back-to-back CHSAA Champs.
