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Frank Catalanotto: What Is the Proper Pre-Season hitting Prep
(Photo Credit: Spokeo Images) (Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in February 2017 by Frank Catalanotto) Baseball season is right around the corner. If you haven’t started, now is the time to transition into baseball-specific training. You should now take the focus from off-season training to preseason workouts. During the first part of the off-season, you should have taken some time to rest and let our body heal from all the wear and tear of the long baseball schedule. Then, you go on to building back some muscle that the body may have lost during the season. This muscle-building phase during the off-season is so critical. If you don’t take it seriously, your body may be more susceptible to break down. The off-season is when you focus on becoming a better athlete; ...
Where Are They Now Powered by Prime Performance: Jeff Tyler
Jeff Tyler always found a way to win. Whether it was during his storied high school career for the MacArthur Generals or in college for the Adelphi Panthers there was often a W next to his name in the box score. In fact, even long after his career ended he still found a way to be the winning pitcher. That’s right, even at Adelphi’s Alumni day many years after his final competitive pitch, he was able to hawk a win against Adelphi’s current team. Jeff Tyler owns Long Island’s record for the most wins in a varsity career with 32. He played during the height of Levittown’s special run in which he led the Generals to back-to-back Long Island Championships in 1993 and 1994. But to understand the full story, you must start from the beginning. The Early Days Tyler was...
Up Next Powered by Ken Kortright State Farm Agency: Joe Maxwell
(This is the fourth installment of the popular “Up Next” Series in which we highlight the top underclassmen across Long Island. Previously, we featured Dylan Weinstein, Jaxson Torres and Richie Roberts. Special thanks to Ken Kortright State Farm Agency for sponsoring this year’s feature.) Defense up the middle is valuable commodity in the game of baseball. While every coach wants their team to be flawless defensively, they prioritize being strong defensively at catcher, middle infield and center field. This year, Joe Maxwell provided that for Beast 2027 National. He not only provided some highlight reel plays defensively, he was outstanding offensively. That type of player profile is very rare. Over the summer, he batted .412 with a .505 OBP, 9 doubles, 1 HR, 25 RBIs and ...
Where Are They Now Powered by Prime Performance: James Bailin
(Special thanks to Prime Performance for sponsoring this year’s “Where Are They Now” You can check them out by clicking here.) Photo Credit: Newsday/Bill Davis 29-0. There’s a beauty in perfection. It is elusive in the game of baseball – a game that is designed to include failures and to humble every player. For Division Ave HS in 1996, there was no such failures. The Blue Dragons went wire-to-wire not losing one game. In fact, they only played in one game that was decided by one run. They scored 325 runs during the regular season and often were up by double digits before their starting pitcher took the mound. And their starting pitchers usually only needed one or two runs to begin with. One of their starters, James Bailin, was untouchable that season as he fi...
Up Next Powered by Ken Kortright State Farm Agency: Richie Roberts
Center Moriches is one of the true powerhouses in Suffolk County. They won back-to-back Class B Championships in 2018 and 2019 and captured the Long Island Championship in 2021. The talent pool is always deep in the school district and they have a penchant for calling up underclassmen that wind up playing impact roles at the varsity level. Last year, he featured JT Bonventre who was a 9th grader at the time, and this past year they had an 8th grader not only get called up but was a key contributor for them. His name is Richie Roberts, and he will be a big time player for the Red Devils for the next 4 seasons. Last year, he went 2-0 with a 1.65 ERA and 2 saves over 18 innings on the mound. Additionally, he committed just 1 error in 46 chances splitting time between 2B and SS. At the plate, ...
Jayden Stroman Signs NLI to Attend Duke University
17-year-old Jayden Stroman, brother of Marcus, is making 96 MPH throws from shortstop There have only been 12 throws by an infielder of 96 MPH or more in MLB this season pic.twitter.com/T881ZZisJT — Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) July 1, 2024 Jayden Stroman signed his financial agreement to attend Duke University. Baseball fans are certainly familiar with his older brother, Marcus, who also graduated from Patchogue-Medford and attended Duke University where he was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the first round of the 2012 draft. He debuted in the big leagues in 2014 and just helped lead the New York Yankees to capturing the American League pennant. Jayden attended the Stony Brook School in 2021, 2022 and 2023 before heading to Florida to attend IMG Academy in 2024. His decision t...
Neal Heaton: Importance of Throwing a Changeup
by Neal Heaton When you look at the strikeout numbers for top pitchers, how many of them are at the top of the lineup? When you go to a big-time Division-I they are all legit hitters that batted in the middle of the order in high school. If you don’t develop your change up early in high school, you will get shellshocked. Many of the top pitchers on Long Island blow kids away, but it won’t be the same when you get to the next level. Coaches should be forcing their pitchers to throw changeups multiples times per game so they develop it. For me, it didn’t click until I got to Miami when they started to turn around my fastball and I said to myself I need to make an adjustment or I won’t make it. Then I had to make another adjustment in pro ball where I had to actually locate it and not just th...
Prime Performance Opens in Port Jefferson Station
Prime Performance, an indoor training facility, is now open in Port Jefferson Station, NY. The facility is opened in September and is 3,500 square feet. It features artificial turf and is tailored to accommodate baseball, softball, lacrosse and speed & agility training. They are fully operational for this off-season team winter workouts as well as private lessons, group training and clinics. Co-owner Scott Audia had the following to say: “Our mission is to be able to provide a clean training facility to young athletes at a reasonable price.” He went on to add that he has kids that have played sports for years and the facilities they trained at weren’t always as affordable. They have built out a pretty impressive list of trainers already: Andrew Aschettino Brian Forbes...
Up Next Powered by Ken Kortright State Farm Agency: Jaxson Torres
Jaxson Torres (‘27 NY) absolutely dominant for Body Armor Titans in the chip, went the distance and picked up 7 Ks w/ only 1 H allowed. FB in mid-upper 8s w/ good drive created down slope, still has plenty of upside in frame for future #NEWS@PG_Scouting pic.twitter.com/0FeJeCqSw1 — PG Mid Atlantic (NY, NJ, PA, MD,DE,DC) (@PGMidAtlantic) July 30, 2024 If you look at a pie chart of amateur baseball players, a very small sliver (2%) of that has a shot at playing at a Division-I program. A fraction of those have a chance to play two Division-I sports. Plainedge sophomore Jaxson Torres has a shot to be one of those. As a freshman, he was dynamite for the Red Devils – compiling a 2.26 ERA over 34 innings with 3 wins, 48 strikeouts and only 25 hits allowed. He started two playoff games and ...
GAME RECAP: Giac Squad Captures 14u Boys of Summer Fall Championship
by Joe Bello Dan Santopietro following his dominant preformance on the mound to help his team capture the championship. pic.twitter.com/KCM9cm9RN8 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) November 9, 2024 Giac Squad was crowned champions of the LI Boys of Summer 14u National Division on Saturday night. They took on Merrick Mayhem Kalkau on what was a very cold night at Eisenhower Park. They captured the trophy with an 11-3 victory, backed by a complete game effort by their starting pitcher Dan Santopietro. Santopietro went 6 innings while allowing 5 hits, 3 walks, 3 runs and notching 4 strikeouts. Giac Squad’s Richie Oakley drove in 2 of his team’s 11 going 2 for 4 while scoring 2 times also. The action started in the top of the 2nd inning, where Giac Squad scored on an error by the third ba...
GAME RECAP: Long Island Huskies Win 16u Boys of Summer Fall Championship
by Trevor Dugan The Huskies spoke to Axcess after their championship victory at Diamond in the Pines @liboysofsummer pic.twitter.com/bf7d9N9jWH — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) November 10, 2024 The South Shore Elite and Long Island Huskies met at Diamond in the Pines Saturday evening to decide the champion of the 16u Boys of Summer Fall Division. Both teams comfortably won their respective playoff games Saturday morning at Brentwood State Park to set up this championship matchup. After a layoff of several hours between games as well as a location change, the championship began at 5:00 P.M. Both teams entered the championship with just one loss on the season, but the Elite were the road team and batted first. The Huskies sent out Chase McQuade (Farmingdale 2027) to start on the mou...
Fall Ball Series Powered by Revolution Athletics: Hofstra University
In 2022, Hofstra experienced a magical run in the Conference Tournament to capture their first CAA Championship in the program’s 86-year history. It was a remarkable Cinderella story, as the Pride not only entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed, but won all four games by one-run with 3 walk-offs. Additionally, they were in their first year under Head Coach Frank Catalanotto, and they were coming off a 17-win season. Since then, they have been unable to match that level of success in the ultra-competitive CAA. In 2023, the Pride missed the postseason but last season they qualified and won their first game against No. 3 Northeastern prior to losing their next two against No. 1 Charleston and No. 5 William & Mary. I spoke with Coach Catalanotto at last week’s Fall World Seri...
