Special thanks to Metamorphosis Landscape Design for sponsoring this year’s series
by George Caratzas
The Westbury Dragons are coming off consecutive winning seasons and their first time topping the Nassau county-wide league since 1972. Without a little league in town, much of head coach Ryan Mulholland’s team is new to the sport when entering high school, making the task of winning that much more challenging.
After a 9-8 year in 2023, the Dragons went 11-6 overall and claimed the league title for the first time in over 50 years.
“No matter what league you play in, you want to finish first in,” Mulholland said in an interview with Axcess Baseball. “It was really exciting for our program to have some success in baseball. We look up at the banners in the gym that say ‘1968’ and ‘1972,’ it’s really special for us and the community to have ‘2024’ up there with them.”
This year, Westbury is set to combine with another league to create a much tougher, 11 team playing field.
“We’re definitely excited because this will be a much bigger challenge,” Mulholland said. “If we do certain things well such as pitching and defense, we will be able to compete with any of those other teams.”
This year’s group will look a bit different for the Dragons, as they are without Alex Munguia and Omar Ahmad Ventura, who both graduated.
Munguia, who bounced between first and second base, was selected as an all-league player after hitting .484 his senior year.
“Alex was our senior captain and our only captain last year,” Mulholland said. “He is an incredibly respected young man. He’s such a hard worker and so knowledgeable in the game. We will definitely miss that leadership on and off the field.”
With Ventura gone, Westbury will have to replace their starting center fielder. Ventura also held the third spot in the Dragons’ rotation and hit .472 as the leadoff hitter.
“He picked up baseball in eleventh grade after being a cricket player,” Mulholland said. “He picked it up so fast that he became our leadoff hitter in one year. We’ll miss him a lot.”
Despite the losses, Mulholland does have a few major pieces returning.
First off, last season’s league most valuable player — shortstop and pitcher Jonathan Cruz — is back for his junior year. In his MVP campaign, Cruz hit .565 with a team-high three home runs and 23 runs batted in. On the mound, he was 5-1 while pitching to an ERA of 0.68 and striking out 82 batters in 31 innings. Along the way, Cruz picked up a pair of no-hitters.
“It’s safe to say that Cruz is our ace,” Mulholland said. “It’s a luxury to have a guy that can go out and give you quality innings every third game. We project him as the third hitter in the lineup and being our best RBI man.”
Cruz’s magnitude on the team extends off the field as well.
“Jonathan is a special player and a special person, no doubt about it,” Mulholland said.
Another key piece that Westbury is getting back is Abhay Patel, who can fill multiple roles on the field. He profiles as Mulholland’s second name in the rotation, as well as an option at first base, third base and shortstop, when Cruz is on the mound.
Last year, Patel hit .395 and drove in 12 runs while also winning three games on the mound and striking out 39 batters in 22 innings.
“He is such a good leader for us,” Mulholland said. “Abhay has done so much for us and developed a lot since his freshman year. He was actually our catcher in the past and it took away from his ability to pitch so we had to move him from behind the plate. You talk about versatility, Patel is as good as it gets.”
With Patel no longer catching, the Dragons will likely utilize a tandem of backstops with junior Benjamin Raskin and senior Kevin Solorzano.
Raskin should handle more of the load behind the plate, as he hit .429 last season. Raskin also drove in 16 runs for the Dragons while in a similar playing time split with Solorzano.
“Raskin is one of our bigger power hitters,” Mulholland said. “He might not hit the home runs, but extra base hits and gap-to-gap power is his thing. Without a doubt, he will be a big piece in the middle of our order.”
As for Solorzano, he may not play as much behind the plate because of his simple ability to succeed elsewhere on the diamond.
“Kevin is a true utility guy,” Mulholland said. “Yes, he catches, but he can also play all nine positions including pitcher. He may even get some looks in center field.”
Maybe the strongest candidate to take over for Ventura in center field though, is senior Nabeel Jafar.
“He was a varsity player last year as a junior and also played a bit with us as a sophomore,” Mulholland said. “It’s definitely an open battle but he got some time in the outfield last year and did well in center field. He also was in our two-hole last year and has a good contact bat.”
As for another slugger, Mulholland has senior Josue Monegro coming back as the favorite to be the starting first baseman. Monegro — who is from the Dominican Republic — hit .474 last season while driving in 10 runs.
“I would never make my starting lineup a month before the season, but I’d imagine that Josue would be at first for us on most days,” Mulholland said. “He’s a big power bat. Very strong kid with extra base power.”
While on paper, the Dragons are still trying to recover from the losses of their two seniors, Mulholland is confident in his team’s ability to overcome and is happy with their current spot.
“These guys have come in and they’re doing stuff to get better on their own time,” Mulholland said. “It’s very obvious to us as a coaching staff that guys are hungry and that they saw the conference championship last year and want to taste more of that.”
Westbury’s season will start on March 28, as it hits the road to take on Roosevelt.
