FEATURE STORIES
Dom Gatti: At the Forefront of Instructors Teaching New-Age Techniques
Dom Gatti pulls out an iPad and opens up a video editing program that has the swing of every prominent Major League baseball player. “Let’s look at (Jose) Altuve,” he said to me. He opens up two videos; one from his rookie season in 2011 and another from 2017. He begins drawing lines with his finger pointing out the subtle differences in the length between his feet in his batting stance, his leg kick, the angle his back leg forms at the point of contact and where Altuve’s bat is in regards to the “hitting window”. The words flow with confidence, as if Gatti has been preaching this his entire life. Gatti represents a new flock of hitting gurus that subscribe to the new theory of creating launch angle that is conducive to higher OPS and average distance. W...
Art Canestro Reflects On Professional Career, Growing Up on LI
Art Canestro was never nervous on the mound–except maybe for this time, he admitted. Pitching in the first ever game at Coors Field, there was a capacity crowd of 60,000 people despite being a Spring Training game. “I just remember looking up in the stands and being blinded by the people. It was just a wall of people. I was never nervous pitching, but that time there was definitely some butterflies,” says the current Head Coach of Calhoun HS. “I didn’t even really get to enjoy it; it was over after eight pitches. I got two pop outs and a ground out and the inning was over,” he added. That was the closest he got the big leagues, but the left-handed pitcher enjoyed a glorious high school career at Wellington C. Mepham HS. He graduated prior to the inceptio...
Up Next: Don Wille
It’s not often that you see catchers 6’3″ or taller at any level of baseball. At the Major League Level, for example, only Joe Mauer and Matt Wieters stand that tall (both 6’5″). The main reason for this is that it is difficult for them to quickly get out of the crouching position and into a throwing position as efficiently as a shorter player. Don Wille (Sachem East 2020) is not only 6’3″, but he curtails the running game as well as anyone. In fact, playing on JV last season, he threw out every runner that attempted to steal off him. I had the opportunity to watch him training with Charles Galiano this evening and it became evident pretty quickly just how much of a weapon he is behind the dish. He possesses very strong wrists for a 15-year-old tha...
Sal Agostinelli: The Story of How An Undersized Long Island Catcher Became One of the Most Influential Men in Professional Baseball
(Editor’s Note: Story was originally published on Nov. 12, 2016. We will have coverage of the Agostinelli Memorial Tournament beginning tomorrow at Baseball Heaven.) It was 1993 when Jay Hankins approached the Triple-A catcher for the Philadelphia Phillies with a question. “Hey Sal, did you ever think about being a scout?” “The only thing I know about scouting is that it’s old guys in chairs,” Sal responded. “Well, I think you would make for a good one,” he stated. As fate would have it, that catcher was Long Island native Sal Agostinelli, who went on to accept a position as the area scout for the Phillies and his area would be New York and New Jersey. As time went on and he had success in his coverage area, the front office tasked him with more and more territory. The next year was ...
Nick Schwartz Commits to St. John’s
This weekend was filled with positive experiences for many people down in the WWBA Underclass World Championship in Fort Myers. For Massapequa catcher Nick Schwartz, it was potentially life changing as he gave his verbal commitment to one of the best baseball programs in all of the nation; St. John’s University. They are coming off a 42-13 season in which they made an appearance in the NCAA Regionals. Schwartz spoke with Vinny Messana about his decision and here’s what he had to say… Talk a little about your experience with the college recruiting process and how you wound up committing to St. John’s… The college recruiting process with St. John’s started last year when I went to their mini camp for the first time. After the mini camp, the coaches became ...
Nick Herzog and Bryan Kaufman Discuss Playing in College World Series
2017 has been a year to remember for two Long Island natives, Bryan Kaufman and Nick Herzog, while playing for UMASS-Boston. They put together a great season (38-12 overall record) that culminated in an appearance in the Div-III College World Series in Appleton, WI. They were able to win one game in the CWS, but ultimately had their dreams cut short by North Central College, 5-4. Kaufman, a senior pitcher from Farmingdale HS, had a stellar season. He compiled an ERA of 1.03 over 61.1 IP with an unblemished record of 3-0 with five saves. Herzog, a junior from Riverhead HS, compiled a slash line of .291/.385/.370 over 189 AB with 40 RBI. The duo spoke to Vinny Messana and here’s what they had to say… Vinny: Can you describe the 2017 season which culminated in an appearance in the...
Jared & Derek Yalon Commit to Stony Brook
It is rare that a set of twins would both be as athletic and talented as the Yalon twins. What’s even more rare is that they both would be interested in playing college ball at the same school and the interest would be reciprocated by the school. Jared & Derek Yalon, both Connetquot 2019, announced yesterday that they verbally committed to Stony Brook University. Jared, a lefty that plays first base, was named All-County as a sophomore. Derek plays left field and bats righty. They both stated that they originally became interested in attending Stony Brook in 2012 when the Sea Wolves made an appearance on ESPN playing LSU in the Super Regionals. If there was any question how important qualifying for the College World Series is for a program, look no further than that statement as ...
Who is Ryan Baumann?
By Andres Rivas Going into the 2017 season there was a clear-cut favorite, West Islip, that looked to runaway with the League IV title once again. What we didn’t know is there was an infield in Bellport full of seniors like Adam Colon, Joseph Greco, Matthew Mulligan and Michael Sangiamo. There’s an additional name to the success that the Clippers had this past 2017 season where they were league champions, this was junior -now senior- Ryan Baumann. A 6’2 230 lb. player sounds like a football linebacker, but he was a key part in the lineup and on the mound for the first banner that the Clippers raised in 51 years. In his third year of Varsity baseball, he posted a 3-0 record, compiling 34 innings and allowing eight ER (1.65 ERA) and 37 strikeouts. At the plate, he had a slash of .485/.530/.5...
Who Is Justin Aviles?
Justin Aviles (Brentwood 2018) has struck out 6 of the first 7 batters of the game. Uncommitted. Very intriguing prospect pic.twitter.com/nagNXcHOyA Axcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) September 16, 2017 Brentwood turned plenty of heads in 2017 when they won 11 games and qualified for their first postseason berth in 12 years. First year Head Coach Rich Gonzalez had a team led by 12 seniors that meshed well and gave the perennial League I powerhouses all they could handle. Possibly the biggest reason for their success was of their unheralded junior ace–now senior–Justin Aviles. The 5’7″ RHP won four games and defeated some of their biggest adversaries (Floyd twice, Longwood and Connetquot in the postseason). The uncommitted senior is coming off a lights-out star...
Q & A With Mike O’Reilly
(Photo Credit: Allison Rhoades/Peoria Chiefs) Before Brian Morrell was dominating Suffolk County Class A, there was Mike O’Reilly. The 2012 graduate of Shoreham-Wading River won the Carl Yastrzemski Award in his senior year, when he performed like a superhero and smacked two walk-off HRs in the playoffs and struck out 19 batters in the Long Island Championship game. It’s easy to forget as the years go by, but O’Reilly compiled a career record of 17-3 before going on to attend Flagler College. In 2015, he was named Peach Belt Pitcher of the Conference. He compiled a record of 7-3, with a 2.89 ERA and 94 strikeouts over 93.1 IP. He was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 27th round of the 2016 MLB Draft. Over his first two seasons, he’s actually taken his perfo...
Who Is Jack Gonzalez?
Sachem North made a surprise playoff run in a difficult League 2 this season thanks to a strong pitching staff led by Chris Lollo, Kevin Kochen and Jack Gonzalez. Lollo is at Washington College, Kochen is at Queens College and Gonzalez announced yesterday that he has committed to St. Thomas Aquinas. They are coming off an appearance in the Div-II College World Series, where they won the first two games before falling just short of the ultimate goal. Gonzalez is a crafty left-handed pitcher that works in the 78-79 MPH range, but has tremendous command of his pitches. He had a very good summer with Motus Academy, where he was named to the All-Tournament team of the WWBA in Georgia. He will be leading the Arrows’ rotation in 2018 as they look to build on this year’s 11-win season....
Hermes Abreu Speaks Softly and Lets His Play Do the Talking
With Commack garnering much of the attention in League 2 in 2017, it was easy to let some of the other outstanding performances go underappreciated. Bay Shore, one year after recording the most victories in Suffolk County, compiled a record of 14-8 and won a playoff game over Kings Park before getting eliminated by Hauppauge. Their biggest impact player was League 2 MVP Hermes Abreu, who was also named first-team All State. He is one of the rare two-way players that plays primarily behind the plate. He had numbers that jumped right off the stat sheet; he hit over .500 with 4 HR, 35 RBI and went 7-0 with 3 saves on the mound. You could argue he would’ve won the Yaz Award had Brian Morrell not dominated as well. He is currently at Concordia College, where he will begin his collegiate c...
