NEWS
Dillon McNamara on the Relentless Grind Of Minor League Baseball
Photo Credit: Mark LoMoglio/Yankees (Editor’s Note: Dillon McNamara was drafted out of Adelphi University in 2013 by the New York Yankees. In ’13, he was named All-American when he set a program record with 13 saves and he allowed just one ER in 32.0 IP with 43 Ks (0.28 ERA). He just completed his fourth minor league season and has a 2.77 career ERA over 204.1 IP. by Dillon McNamara I once had a teammate describe minor league baseball to me as follows: Imagine you are in a dark room with your hand on the wall and all you can see is a speck of light in the distance. The wall is comfortable, it’s familiar, and while you can’t see anything around you, somehow you know you are safe. You might start to crawl towards that bright light, but each time you do you get scared and sc...
Prospect Sports and Performance Factory Merge: What It Means for Long Island Baseball
Over the past 12 years, Joe Francisco has owned and operated Performance Factory in Farmingdale. He has taught several of the top players in the area and has been successful. Still he felt something was missing in his academy. “For years, I’ve been trying to add a pitching coach,” said Francisco. “I haven’t found anyone that could rival our hitting program, to be honest.” That changed when Jim Clark introduced him to Bobby DeMichael. DeMichael and his father, Artie, purchased Prospect Sports in May and immediately turned it into a high-octane academy for both baseball and softball teams. One of their priorities was to revolutionize pitching lessons by incorporating a year-round classroom atmosphere with the data-driven technology introduced by Drive Line...
More Than A Dream Come True
(Editor’s Note: Logan is a 2018 graduate of St. John the Baptist. He recently committed to East Carolina University. It was his childhood dream to attend there) by Logan O’Hoppe In all honesty, I never really thought that being a Pirate was a possibility. I have been around it since I was a toddler and always loved the atmosphere. I went down to ECU for my first camp last November. In my mind, I was just going down there to play at my dream school for the mere experience. I didn’t think anything would come out of it. I had never really been in serious contact with any other schools at this point since I was only a sophomore. Fortunately, I played very well at camp and I suppose I left a good impression with Coach Palumbo. Winter came and went and the school season progresse...
Cam Maron Discusses Life in the Minors
(Editor’s Note: Cam is a 2009 graduate of Hicksville HS, where he was selected by the New York Mets in the 34th round. He just finished his eighth season in the minor leagues. He is a member of the Miami Marlins organization. He has a career .383 OBP in over 1500 at bats) by Cam Maron Baseball is a game of constant adjustments. Balancing workouts, batting practice, games, down time, family time, and personal time is a constant battle during the season. For those that have not been fortunate enough to play professional baseball, you may not understand how much really goes into it. Of course you have heard stories of players taking 1200+ swings in the batting cages, or lifting four to five times a week during the offseason. Yes, what we do as ballplayers during the game is a special...
Jack Ryan Discusses His College Recruiting Process and Why He Chose to Stay on the Island
by Jack Ryan Trust the process, trust the process, trust the process. This three word phrase is constantly echoed from people far and wide. This process was by far one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my entire life and at times I most certainly did not trust it. When my family and I first started talking about playing in college my goal was initially to get off the island. We started searching around and by my junior year I was drawing some solid interest from a couple schools throughout the Northeast. I visited a few schools that I thought would challenge me academically and I could play baseball at. Between talking to many coaches and friends all arrows looked like there would be some sort of offer. This is where I began to not trust the process. It’s not uncomm...
Matt Vogel Looking to Live Up to Lofty Expectations
From the time he was a freshman in high school, great expectations have been bestowed on him. When you are selected to represent Team USA and you’re named to the All-Tournament team as a 15-year old, you raise the bar for expectations. The 2013 graduate of Patchogue-Medford raised those expectations more when he was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2013 MLB Draft. He went on to honor his commitment to the University of South Carolina to play for the Game Cocks after they had won consecutive National Championships. Despite throwing only 38 innings in three years, Vogel showed enough to warrant the Tampa Bay Rays drafting him in the 25th round and assigning him to their Gulf Coast League affiliate. Now 21-years-old and on the path that was seemingly destined for him from a y...
Sal Agostinelli: The Story of How An Undersized Long Island Catcher Became One of the Most Influential Men in Professional Baseball
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 Delaware, then they added New England. By 1997, his territory was Canada through Delaware when they had bigger plans for him. R...
Banquet Date Announced
We will be hosting our second annual Awards Banquet on Thursday, December 29 at the Long Island Hilton in Melville. The 2016 All-Long Island team will be announced along with several individual awards such as MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Steven Matz Award and Courage Award. The night will include a cocktail hour, three-course dinner, dessert and soft beverages. A cash bar will be available for those 21 and older. There will be a raffle that will feature several great prizes as well. The athletes/coaches will not be charged, but there will be a $50 fee at the entrance for guests. We look forward to a night of celebrating a terrific year of Long Island baseball! Please RSVP to vinny@baseballontheisland.com by Dec 1st. Seats are limited.
In 2015, John Galanoudis was the second leading hitter on Molloy. He smacked the baseball to the tune of a .318 AVG/.386/.403 triple slash line, drove in 29 runs, scored 30 runs and belted two HR. He also belted out a bunch of hits on his country album titled “Fire Still Burning“. Since that time, he has been busy furthering his career as a coach at St. Thomas Aquinas, but he was able to release a new single titled “Summer Ball”. I had a chance to speak with him and here’s what he had to say… Has music taken a back seat to your coaching or have you still found a balance between the two? Music definitely took a backseat once I began coaching. I felt as if I found that balance as a player, but I also believe that it took me a little while to find that bala...
Infiniti Performance Unveils New Training Program for Pitchers
Since opening its doors in November 2004, Infiniti Performance has grown not only in size and volume, but in program development. Like any long-running, quality organization in the athlete-service industry, they have evolved with consideration to factors impacting amateur athletes. When that athlete is a pitcher, the task becomes greater. Factors such as arm health research, performance related data accumulation, technological usage, and the increased prevalence of showcase events are a few of the factors that shape their progressive approach to performance, and injury pre-habilitation. Fueled by the desire to serve their clients individual needs, and not become complacent in terms of program development, ISP elects not to rest on their laurels. Co-founder Ray Babinsky uses the phrase “you...
Long Island Baseball Tops Team Steel 2-1
When the weather dips below 50 degrees and there’s high-end pitchers on the mound pitching to batters with wood bats, you can expect offense to be at a premium. That’s exactly what happened in the first game of the Antonia Agostinelli Memorial tournament tonight at Baseball Heaven, in which Long Island Baseball topped Team Steele 2-1. With Team Steel clinging to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth and runners on second & third with two outs, the third-place batter lofted a fly ball to right field which was dropped and allowed the tying run to score. The next batter smacked a single to right field to score the go-ahead run which proved to be the winning run. Both starting pitchers battled through command issues but allowed zero runs through four innings. Each team stranded...
Dowling Baseball: Where Are They Now?
by Vinny Messana When Dowling closed its doors on June 3rd–two days prior to the Battle of the Border, we were not the only one to get a raw deal. A total of 22 of the 28 players were still in the midst of continuing their education, which means they were forced to transfer to a new school. Here’s their 2016 ECC Championship roster with their new schools they are currently attending: Chris Cepeda-St. Tomas Aquinas Tim Going-Franklin Pierce Rob Costanzo-Farmingdale State Jack Laudani- Chris Tessitore-Molloy Anthony Raucci-St. Joseph’s Chris Russo- Kenneth Fils-Aime-St. Rose Dwayne Page- Dylan Piscitelli- Vinny Orlando-St. Joseph’s Chris Mott- Jonathan Tenaglia- Robert Morse- Dennis Buckstein-Queens Dominic Danetti-Molloy John Parisi-Marist Cody McPartland-Franklin Pi...
