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Photo Credit: James Escher Baseball can be a humbling game as we all know. The feeling of invincibility can quickly turn on you. Just one year ago, Adam Heidenfelder was on the mountain top. He was coming off his second straight Diamond Award, given to the top player in Nassau County. He compiled all the gaudy numbers–6-1 record, 0.42 ERA and 95 strikeouts. That followed up his junior campaign in which he also went 6-1, with a 0.91 ERA and 85 strikeouts. For his achievements, he was named All-County, All-Long Island, All-State and even honorable mention All-American by Perfect Game. “Winning the Diamond Award back-to-back years was my best memory,” said the 6’5″ right hander. “There was a bit of cockiness but sometimes you need that for your confidence a...

Monday June 22 will be the Blue Chip Prospects Grand Slam Challenge which is a match up between the best high school seniors from Nassau verse Suffolk. It will be held at Farmingdale State College and will begin at 7 p.m. This is an event you will not want to miss, it’s the only time to truly see the best talent around on one field. We will have scouting reports of several players after the game. Here is a list of the rosters…

Photo Credit: Vinny Messana Our old friend Tyler Badamo, Dowling‘s All-American ace in 2014 when he compiled a 0.83 ERA over 108.1 IP, has been named the Opening Day starter for the Brooklyn Cyclones against the rival Staten Island Yankees. The 22-year-old right-hander, who dominated the Gulf Coast League last year in Florida to the tune of a 1.74 ERA over 31 innings with 26 K’s and a 1.00 WHIP has been flat out dominant over the past year-and-a-half. The only caveat to being in that league is the unbearable heat and the fact that there’s only four teams in the league so it tends to get monotonous. Players like Badamo don’t allow that to deter their development and all they can do is outperform the league and get promoted. As fate would have it, he was promoted to t...

It’s always a compelling arms race to see which school can land the best talent around. The great thing about the class of 2015 is that many of them chose to stay on Long Island. According to the top prospect list compiled by Blue Chip Prospects, numbers three, four, five, seven, eight, nine and 11 are all staying on Long Island. Several of the remaining players on the list will be as well. That is great news for baseball fans on Long Island. Here is a quick comparison of the four best classes. Stony Brook-Key Recruits: Aaron Glickstein, Hills WestRich Ciufo, Pat-MedTim Kranz, West BabylonGreg Marino, CentereachNick Moreno, Sachem North Dan McEvoy, WestthamptonAnalysis: This is a very strong class. The most impactful player of the group is Glickstein, who is recovering from Tommy Joh...

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Photo Credit: Baseball Player Magazine The Minnesota Twins selected Maryland closer and Holy Trinity graduate, Alex Robinson, with their fifth round pick on Tuesday. Robinson had a decorated career at Maryland, highlighted by this season in which he compiled a 1.63 ERA and saved three games with 32 K’s in 27.2 IP. I had a chance to speak with him about the draft process and leading Maryland to the Super Regionals and here’s what he had to say. What have the past few days been like leading up to the draft and not knowing if you’d be drafted? The past few days have been exciting. I was not nervous if I was going to be drafted–more anxious to have my name called and find out what team would be taking me. I tried to focus on all my teammates that have the same opportuni...

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzZJnCuejRM] There used to be a saying around the Philadelphia Phillies clubhouse when Steve Carlton would start a game. They called it ‘win day’. Doesn’t matter the opponent or what happened the day before, the ace is on the mound now. It was very much like that for the Hauppauge Eagles this season when their ace, Nick Fanti, was on the hill–who was named the 48th winner of the Carl Yastrzemski Award tonight, given to the best player in Suffolk County. “When Nick Fanti is throwing for you, you just know you have a chance to win every baseball game that you play,” said his coach Josh Gutes. “He’s such a competitor, he gives you a chance every time he steps on the mound,” he added. Fanti’s st...

Round 5 Pick 140 Alex Robinson…Holy Trinity HS, Maryland University (Minnesota) Round 15 Pick 449 Thomas Hackimer…Floral Park native, St. John’s University (NY Mets) Round 16 Pick 467 Ryan McCormick…Massapequa HS, St. John’s University  (Colorado) Round 16 Pick 491 Max Almonte…Holy Trinity HS, Villanova University (St. Louis)Round 22 Pick 651 Max Watt…Babylon HS, Lynn University (Boston)Round 25 Pick 763 Steve Laurino…Carle Place HS, Marist College (Baltimore) Round 27 Pick 802 Alex Katz…Herricks HS, St. John’s University  (Chicago White Sox) Round 27 Pick 812 Jake Thomas…Calhoun HS, Binghamton University (Toronto) Round 30 Pick 908 Brendan Butler…Sayville HS, Dowling College (Oakland) Round 31 Pick 924 Nick Fanti̷...

Photo Credit: Vinny Messana Most people love New York for their pizza and bagels but the Tampa Bay Rays love New York for their amateur baseball stars. They drafted Rob Finneran, in 2012, Jaime Schultz and Stephen Woods in 2013, then Alec Sole, Steve Ascher and Ryan Pennell in 2014. This time it was Old Westbury‘s ace Tim Ingram with their 31st round pick. Ingram had a spectacular senior season for the Panthers. He led them to the Skyline Conference title over rival Farmingdale State.  The 6’0″ right handed pitcher put himself on the map with an undefeated summer last year in the Hamptons League. He followed that up with a 1.82 ERA and eight wins with 92 strikeouts over 69.1 IP during the 2015 season. Here’s a video of him pitching in the Skyline Conference playoffs...

Photo Credit: Dowling Athletics For the second consecutive year, Dowling has had a senior right handed pitcher selected in the MLB Draft. Last year was Tyler Badamo. For the second consecutive year the Oakland Athletics have selected a hard throwing right handed pitcher from Long Island. Last year was James Lomangino. This time it was Brendan Butler in the 30th round. “This has been a stressful week but I couldn’t be happier,” said Brendan Butler. “Seeing my name come up on the board in the 30th round by Oakland left me speechless,” he added. Butler is a 6’4″ pitcher that transferred from Farleigh Dickinson University after the 2014 season. After struggling in Division-I, he found his home at Dowling where he had a tremendous season for the Golden ...

Photo Credit: Maryland Athletics In a bit of a surprise, it was Maryland closer and Holy Trinity class of ’12 graduate, Alex Robinson, that was the first Long Island player to get drafted. He was selected in the fifth round, No. 140 overall, by the Minnesota Twins. The junior southpaw put up a tremendous season as the closer for the Terps. In 27.2 IP, he compiled a 1.63 ERA with 32 strikeouts. He allowed only 12 hits–an incredible .136 opposing AVG. He did struggle with his command and walked 20 batters. His fastball has been clocked as high as 96 MPH. He will most likely be groomed as a reliever in college, as his slider makes for a potent 1-2 combination. Robinson had an absurdly good high school career. He led the Titans to the CHSAA championship in 2012 and threw four no-hi...

We have concluded another high school season, it happened to be the first year that we provided game coverage for high school. Last week, the All-Long Island College team was released. It received positive feedback so we decided to compile a high school version of the list. This will be done a little different. Rather than a position-by-position list, we will hand out two coveted awards. Neal Heaton Award- The recipient demonstrated the ability to shut down the opposition, pitch deep into every game and the willingness to take the mound on short rest. Travis Bruinsma, ConnetquotHonorable Mention: Mike Demarest, East Islip; P.J Weeks, Bayport-Blue Point; Jack Wall, MacArthur; James Varela, Division Keith Osik Award The recipient possesses the ability to hit home runs in any yard, was the mo...