The term perseverance is often thrown around by athletes. It can have a pretty ambiguous meaning. When it comes to Smithtown native Nick Trabacchi, the term is certainly apropos.
Trabacchi, a 2017 graduate of Smithtown West HS, has dealt with more injuries in the past few years than anyone should have to endure. Incredibly, not only did he bounce back from all these curveballs life threw him, but he responded with the best year of his career in 2024.
But before we get to his tremendous season, let’s first turn the clock back to the beginning.
The Early Days
Nick was born and raised in Smithtown, NY. He is the youngest of three children – and the only boy. His parents are high school sweethearts, having met at Brentwood HS.
He was always a die-hard baseball fan, finding himself gravitating towards the New York Yankees. He cited Derek Jeter as his favorite player due to him “embodying what it means to be a professional” and Mike Mussina due to his “bulldog mentality” and he “always found a way to get it done.”
During his youth, Nick also was a big fan of wrestling and MMA, but he stopped in middle school to focus on baseball.
His introduction to travel baseball began with the now-defunct Long Island Bandits. He noted that the kids were from all over. During 7th grade, Nick made the switch to the Long Island Titans.
He began taking hitting lessons with Chris Sipp – which continued through his senior year of high school. He also went to pitching lessons with Randy Rappelled from 8th grade through 11th grade.
Going to the Titans was big for Trabacchi’s development because that team would turn into one of the true powerhouse travel teams ever assembled. It also helped get him some exposure and travel to the best tournaments around.
Smithtown West HS
Trabacchi was called up to varsity as a 10th grader. This was one of the best teams that Smithtown West has ever had. They compiled an overall record of 17-6 but lost in the Suffolk County semifinals to West Islip.
Trabacchi mentioned that they were “loaded with seniors” like Nick Attardi, Brandon LaManna and Peter Torres. It was very clear their most impactful player was junior Nick Grande, who wound up playing professional baseball for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“Nick was a role model to me,” said Trabacchi. “He took me under his wing. Nick has always been incredibly mature for his age. Always handled his business well. He handled himself like a professional – never got too high or too low. Nick showed me the way and really laid that foundation for the player that I am today from a mental standpoint.”
Looking back on it now, Trabacchi said the best baseball experience he’s ever had was a tournament in Virginia that he went on in the summer between 10th and 11th grade with the Body Armor Titans that they won. In the championship game, he remembers trailing 2-0 in the 7th inning and the opposing team brought in their closer that was throwing 94 MPH. Fortunately, he did not have his command and walked the bases loaded. Hills East SS Mike Palazzolo ripped the game-tying single and Trabacchi followed with the go-ahead hit and they came away with the victory.
That Body Armor team was littered with future Division-I players including their entire pitching staff of Brian Morrisey, Chris Cappas, Bobby Lewis, Harrison Cohen and Brian Morrell.
Trabacchi also began going to pitching lessons with Bobby DeMichael who was the coach of that team.
In 2016, Smithtown West once again had a great season – winning the League III championship but lost in the Suffolk County semifinals once again, this time to Northport.
Nice curve from Nick Trabacchi pic.twitter.com/WzRott9aGe
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 18, 2016
“Going into the season I don’t think we knew how good we’d be. We knew we had a lot of talent but I think there was more talent the year before. We ended up 17-3 by the time league play was finished. The team chemistry was immaculate. Practice was fun, the guys got along. When you win, it’s always a lot more fun. As a high schooler, when you play sports and you’re that invested in it, you can’t wait until the 9 periods are over. Coach Nucci did a great job keeping practice loose and fun. Everyone worked hard. Like the saying goes, you don’t realize you’re in the good days until you’re out of it. We would go to Applebees after every game for half off apps, just always doing stuff together – it was really nice.”
That summer, Nick made his decision to attend Division-I UMBC. He noted that the decision was a pretty easy one.
Nicholas Trabacchi, Smithtown West ’17, signing his NLI to UMBC pic.twitter.com/Lkv454bXWW
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) November 11, 2016
His next door neighbor growing up was Anthony Gatto, a 2011 graduate of Smithtown West who also attended UMBC. Nick stated he went to a lot of the games and he was familiar with the coaching staff. Additionally, they were the only team that offered him a chance to be a two-way player, noting that other schools like JMU recruited him as a middle infielder, while Marist, Stony Brook and Sacred Heart recruited him as a pitcher.
Just before his senior season, he was hit with the first bout of bad injury luck – which would be an ongoing theme over the next several years. Trabacchi suffered an injury in the weight room, dropping a weight on his foot in December of 2016. It required surgery, which he had on December 20. The rehab was supposed to take 6 months, which would’ve ruled him out for his senior season.
He was ready in time for the first scrimmage, and he credits his strength & conditioning coach, Russ Taveras, for making that possible.
Trabacchi getting loose pic.twitter.com/Mr8crYsuy3
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 2, 2017
The 2017 season was not as exciting for Smithtown West as they lost both of their playoff games – Bellport and Hills East. Trabacchi did perform exceptionally well, being named All-County, All-Long Island and All-State for the second straight season. With that, his three-year varsity career was over .
UMBC
Nick headed down to Baltimore, MD to begin his college career. He recalls going into the fall as a two-way player and performing well both on the mound and at the plate. Despite this, he went into the coaches’ office for the exit meeting in the fall and was told that he would just be asked to pitch this season.
When the season started, he pitched out of the bullpen. He made his collegiate debut on February 24 against St. John’s University, going 4.1 innings and yielding six ER with 4 Ks. He fired a scoreless inning of relief at Mizzo – which he stated was one of the coolest trips of his career.
Trabacchi wound up making 4 starts on the season, with his best outing coming on March 6 against George Washington in which he fired 7 innings, allowing just four hits, 2 ER with 4 Ks. He finished his freshman season with 18.1 innings and 11 strikeouts.
His second bout with the injury bug occurred during his freshman season when he fractured his L4-L5 vertebraes – a significant injury that put him out of commission for the rest of the season and the summer.
“I wasn’t able to travel with the team because sitting down made the pain worse.”
The silver lining was that he finished just shy of the cutoff for the medical redshirt, which allowed him to preserve his 4 seasons of eligibility.
The rehab was tough. He required two epidural injections and he was unable to do any physical activity for 3-4 months. Between the inactivity and the ramp up time, the full recovery was about 8 months long.
Trabacchi was able to prepare himself and make the rotation as a sophomore. He played the season with a back brace, but he noted there was still a residual effect from the injury. Despite this, he was able to make all 12 starts and compile 50.2 innings on the season. He won 2 games and struck out 31 batters.
“That year taught me a lot about myself,” he said. “I made every start from Game 1 to the end of the season. I started feeling some shoulder pain so I would start on Friday, and throw two bullpens between starts so I was throwing 3 days a week to keep my arm ready.”
After the season, he was hit with yet another bad break.
This time, he got an MRI on his hip and it revealed a torn labrum and a benign tumor that needed to be removed. That required another surgery, and it meant another summer without playing baseball.
At that point, Nick began thinking about life after baseball.
He realized that his major (Finance & Econ) was no longer his passion.
“I was struggling in class. I knew baseball would end at some point and I wanted to be doing something I enjoyed. I was doing office hours with my professors, but I wanted to change majors,” he said.
One of his best friends at UMBC had transferred to Shepherd University, a Division-II school in Shepherdstown, WV.
“I went into my coaches office and told him that I wanted a degree in something I wanted to do. Coach actually helped me transfer. My friend told the Shephard coaching staff about me and they were all in.”
Shepherd University
Trabacchi made the decision to transfer which was in the fall of 2019. He noted that the school and the coaching staff was very different from UMBC. While the facilities weren’t the same caliber, it had that “grinder feel” that he gravitated towards.
Additionally, the coaching staff was giving him the opportunity to be a two-way player once again. Just as everything was aligning, the COVID pandemic threw a massive wrench into his plans. To make matters worse, Trabacchi suffered yet another injury. This time it was the big one. He had felt pain in his elbow in one of his outings prior to the shutdown and an MRI revealed a torn UCL which required Tommy John surgery.
He had the surgery on March 20, 2020, just as the world was in the midst of the shutdown. During his rehab process, he had his shoulder checked out and that revealed another injury. This one required nerve decompression surgery which he had in June. Two major surgeries in three months.
“That was the hardest. That made me really question what I was doing. If it was just TJ, I would’ve been about 4 weeks out from beginning my throwing program, instead it was back in a sling for 8 weeks.”
Trabacchi began his throwing program in September. If you think that’s not enough time to get ready for the 2021 season, think again. Trabacchi was able to make it back in time for Opening Day – just 11 months and 1 week after his surgery which was projected to require 14 months of recovery.
Shepherd University had a good season in 2021, qualifying for the postseason.
“I definitely had some lumps and growing pains being so far removed from the game. I was trying to figure out who I was as a pitcher. From a black and white standpoint, it was an average season at best.” But he was able to defy some pretty bleak odds to return to the field and play a full season. He won 3 games, pitched 43 innings and struck out 52 batters.
For the first time since high school, he was able to play summer ball. He played in the Valley League which is in Virginia and North Carolina.
“I was one of the older guys there. It was a bunch of younger guys from Power 5 conferences. There was a lot of talented players, for sure. That summer I really hit my stride. My fastball was up to 94 MPH. I was striking out a lot of batters. I was limiting the walks. The coaches told me I was drawing some attention from the scouts. I got invited to the PSAC Pro Day for the fall and I threw really well there. Same deal, they told me the scouts were interested but I didn’t talk to any of them so I don’t know the validity of that.”
Trabacchi went back for his 5th year in 2022 and he said “it was definitely a win. I stayed healthy, had some good starts but we did not make the playoffs.”
Following the season, Trabacchi was told by his coaches that he would have a decent shot to get signed as a free agent. Nothing became of it.
The Next Chapter
“I made the decision to go out west and go to the Pecos League and start from the very bottom.”
He pitched 29 innings and notched a 2.79 ERA with 26 strikeouts. His time there was short. He noted that he was there for just 4 weeks and was the fastest player in the league to get signed. He was picked up by the Idaho Falls Chuckers of the Pioneer League – the former minor league affiliate of the Kansas City Royals.
“That was a challenge for sure. The experience level and the talent of the hitters was far superior from what I saw before. As a younger guy, I thought I would excel. Aside from the elevation of the ballparks in that area, the experience was a shock. I wasn’t ready for it,” he said.
He also noted that he was trying to compensate by increasing his strength training and putting in more work. “I was doing more and it turned I was getting less.”
He was released, but was picked up by the Long Island Ducks for a month and a half. That turned out to be a challenge as well.
“Quite honestly, I did not enjoy my time there just because it was hard to pitch in that league. I was in the bullpen as a mop up guy and I couldn’t even mop up. For the first time in my life, I did not want my name to be called. It was a huge wake up call. I never experienced what would be perceived as failure that badly. The last game of the year, I was out of the clubhouse in about 5 minutes. I had some good outings. I made 7 outings, 2 were good, the rest were bad. Hitters had the approach of big league hitters. They would just wait for there pitch to do damage.”
That was a serious inflection point for Trabacchi.
“I was questioning whether I wanted to keeping pursuing professional baseball. I’m grateful for Anthony Kay and Joe Palumbo and Russ Taveras. I told them I wanted to step away and they discouraged me from that. They said ‘don’t let a tough draw make you call it a career. With everything you’ve been through, you have no business being here. You basically got a second life.’
Trabacchi had met former big leaguer Frank Viola and he took a genuine liking to him. “He loved the way I pitched and he saw potential in me, that honestly I didn’t even see in myself. He told me you’re going to have a crazy story someday.”
Trabacchi was supposed to go to Spring Training with High Point of the Atlantic League leading up to the 2023 season. After his talk with Viola, about 2 weeks passed before he heard back from him, and when he did his suggestion was very surprising to him.
“He told me I have something I want you to do and I’m not really giving you a choice it’s what I think is best for you. He said you need consistent innings. I’m going to send you to the Empire State Grays, which is a travel team. When I got off the phone with him, I said there’s no chance in hell I’m playing on a travel team. I sat with it a little longer and then I said, ‘if this is my only opportunity, I’ll do it. And I’m grateful I did. It taught me a lot about myself. I met some really good guys and my best friend to this day. I was out of the bullpen to start the season, and by the end I was a spot starter. It was a tough environment to play. There was no home field, long travel, staying at Red Roof Inns in the middle of nowhere.”
By the end of 2023, Trabacchi was signed to pitch for the Charleston Dirty Birds of the Atlantic League. He made two starts, pitching 12 innings, allowing 5 ER and striking out 15 batters.
“I think the Atlantic League is the best of the best. The organizations really care about winning,” he said.
Following 2023, Trabacchi was willing to give pro ball another season. At that time, he had built a strong relationship with former big leaguer, Matt Carasiti, from the Long Island Ducks. He owned a facility up in Connecticut and Trabacchi spent much of the offseason going back-and-forth and working on “developing my pitches and understanding my plan of attack.” He went all in and didn’t second guess himself. Carasiti held a pro day for Trabacchi and Joe Palumbo and he signed with Hagerstown of the Atlantic League.
Trabacchi said he started the season in the bullpen as “kinda the bridge guy”, before moving into the starting rotation. His first two outings were 2.1 innings and 1.2 innings before he said “my shoulder started barking.” The most pitches he had thrown in a Spring Training game was 14 and now they had asked him to be stretched out into a starter.
This wound up being yet another injury. Although this one did turn into a blessing in disguise.
“Ended up having posterior shoulder impingement. I was shut down for 8 days and they released me when I was hurt. I ended up coming home and rehabbing for about 4 weeks. Once I was back off the mound, I started making phone calls to literally everyone I had connections with. Every team in the Atlantic League and the Frontier League. I knew a false move at this point would hurt my career. I decided to go to Quebec for the second half of the season and had the best season of my life.”
It’s often not what you know or who you know. That was the case as Trabacchi was signing because of a connection through their closer, Long Island native Frankie Moscatiello. He went up there with the agreement to be the 7th & 8th inning guy, setting up Moscatiello.
“I was pitching out of my mind for 3 months straight. I had finally hit my stride and was doing what I was capable of. I threw really well – through the first 16 innings I didn’t give up a run. I finished the regular season with 30 appearances over a 96 game season.
Once August rolled round, Trabacchi wound up in the closer’s role due to his exceptional performance. The Championship Series was straight out of a movie, as the Capitales lost the first game, before winning game 2 to force and winner-take-all. They fell behind 6-2 before storming back to take an 8-6 lead in the 8th inning. He came on to close it out and secure the championship. He wound up striking out the last batter, stranding the tying run on base to put a cap on his dream season.
Nick Trabacchi (Smithtown West 2017) closing out the Championship for the Quebec Capitales of the Frontier League. Nick finished the season with a 1.21 ERA and 50 Ks over 38.2 innings pic.twitter.com/AnEZYyFXkU
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) December 31, 2024
He finished his time in Quebec with a 1.21 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 50 Ks over 38.2 innings.
“It was a really cool experience. The place was sold out. Everyone came out to the mound. It’s just something you dream of as a little kid in the backyard. Just because it’s not the big leagues doesn’t make it any less special. There were 6,000 people in the stands, there was fireworks after the game. Baseball is no joke over there. We clinched the No. 1 seed with 2 weeks left in the season and every game after that was sold out.”
It was the third straight championship for the Quebec Capitales.
“Without a doubt, it was the best year of my career. Everything fell into place. I found my niche as a pitcher. I was throwing 95-97 and topping at 99 MPH.”
If 2024 was a movie, what does Trabacchi have in mind for the sequel?
“Truthfully, I don’t know what my next step is. I’m working with an agent for the first time in my career. I plan on going down to train at Cressey Sports Performance in Florida after the New Year.
If all this seems too good to be true, that’s because these redemption stories don’t often happen. Not to this degree. But through sheer resilience and a relentless work ethic, Nick Trabacchi’s career went from the outhouse to the penthouse.