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The shortstop is often the most athletic player on the field Baseball is a unique sport in many ways. Among those reasons is that it takes a specific skill set to excel at each position. Sure, some players like Pete Rose and Craig Biggio have become All Stars at multiple positions, but they are very much in the minority on that. Most players develop skills throughout their amateur careers that limit them to a particular position. It is often a source of pride for a player to say they excel at a difficult position such as shortstop or catcher. I wanted to get their take on it, so I asked  former college players about their experiences playing the position and they gave some great insight. Here is Part 2 of the series…Seth Pileggi, SS St. Joseph’sWhen did you realize shortstop wa...

Photo Credit: Vinny MessanaBeing a catcher is no walk in the park. Baseball is a unique sport in many ways. Among those reasons is that it takes a specific skill set to excel at each position. Sure, some players like Pete Rose and Craig Biggio have become All Stars at multiple positions, but they are very much in the minority on that. Most players develop skills throughout their amateur careers that limit them to a particular position. It is often a source of pride for a player to say they excel at a difficult position such as shortstop or catcher. I wanted to get their take on it, so I asked  former college players about their experiences playing the position and they gave some great insight. Here is Part 1 of the series…  Catcher-Kevin Hutzel, Adelphi University:  When did you real...

Photo Credit: SUNY Oneonta Athletic Department Some players spend their entire lives in the spotlight. Others make a rapid ascension in one year to get into that exact same spot. Steven Ascher, left handed pitcher in the Tampa Bay Rays organization, fits into the latter.  Often times players will say that they always knew their future was playing professional baseball. Ascher is the rare player that waited until the last possible moment to seize his opportunity.  “I never thought playing professional baseball would be an opportunity until a year or so ago,” said the Long Island native. “The reality of being drafted never hit me until I began throwing in front of a local Mets scout at All Pro Baseball Academy last winter (December 2013),” he said.  For most people, t...

Photo Credit: Vinny Messana I look back at 2014 as the most important year of my career to this point. I had a season that, honestly if someone told me before everything I did was going to happen, I would have laughed and said that’s next to impossible. My college stats speak for themselves and what I learned in my first year in pro ball will be with me throughout my life. The jump from Division-II baseball to professional baseball was something that you think about the second you realize there is a chance to play professional, but you never realize all the differences until it happens. When I arrived in Port St. Lucie I began to realize how different college players are compared to high school and Latin players. I got to really see how much a person grows up and develops in college and on...

There are very few stories to report in January and early February. But, baseball fans can read some stories if you choose to. Here is a list of my top five favorite baseball books that I have read… 5. Ball Four: Jim Bouton Autobiography Not many fans are familiar with Jim Bouton–he was a rather non-descript pitcher in the 1960s. His biggest contribution may have been a negative, actually. In his autobiography, he sort of was the first to let the cat out of the bag about the behavior of baseball players. Remember, pre-social media, fans only knew what they saw on the field about baseball players. They were all assumed to be 100% committed to their on-field responsibilities. Bouton exposed how players enjoyed to stay out late chasing women, gambling and boozing. It was a black e...

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/RwY8IlOvfY0&source=uds

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/fHLkfw2CYHs&source=uds Here is a Youtube video made by my old teammate Ryan Rubenstein. He did a terrific job with the shooting and editing. It is one of the most dramatic games I’ve ever witnessed–Farmingdale erased a huge 9th inning deficit to defeat Old Westbury and win their fifth consecutive Skyline Conference title. Enjoy.

Last year was another terrific season for Long Island baseball in many regards. From a theatrics standpoint, Dowling was one win away from being crowned regional champions and heading to Carey, NC for the College World Series. From an individual standpoint, 11 players were selected in the Rule IV draft in June. That was up from seven the previous season.  Here are the top story lines heading into 2015… How will Dowling respond to losing their 2014 rotation?  The Golden Lions had a tremendous season. A huge reason for that was their 2.40 team ERA. Unfortunately, they graduated Tyler Badamo, JJ Bessell and Tom Bammann. They combined for 24 of the team’s 36 wins. It will certainly be a tall order for them to repeat that type of dominance because a quartet of that level does not co...

When I started this blog in 2013, I did so on a whim. I thought to myself, why should all the college players–that sacrifice so much–be relegated to waiting for May to get some publicity? Newsday ignores them completely until the College World Series and it is not fair for the players and teams that have successful years but do not reach the ultimate goal of making it to Omaha (or Carey, NC in the case of Division-II or Appleton, WI in the case of Division-III), At first the traffic for this site was very limited. An average article was receiving maybe 25-75 views. That’s basically the players on the team that was the subject of the article and their friends. Obviously, that’s to be expected in the infant stages of a website.  The turning point was making a Twitter ...

Photo Credit: Kelly O’Connor It’s tough to make a bigger impact in a Triple-A debut then Keith Couch did. On September 12, he pitched the Pawtucket Red Sox to the league championship by throwing 6.2 innings, allowing only one single hit, in what was his first start in three weeks.                 “That game was the most fun I’ve had playing baseball even though it was at a high stage,” said the 24-year-old. He continued, “because of the loose clubhouse and the fact that my dad was able to attend the game. After pitching in that game against current and former big league talent I know I am ready for the next level,” he said.                 Making it to the next level would be a tremendous accomplishment for Couch, a graduate of Adelphi University and native of Mineola. After getting ...

Photo Credit: Allen Greene Two of the rarest commodities in baseball are power pitchers with command and catchers with two-way ability. The Mets farm system–after years of being barren–possesses some of the best talent in both of those areas. Many people are familiar with prospects like Noah Syndergaard and Kevin Plawecki, but one player who has flown most under-the-radar is Hicksville native Cam Maron. The 23-year-old was a 34th round pick in 2009 out of high school, but has raised his stock with each passing season, highlighted by being named the organization’s Sterling Award recipient in 2011 for his performance with the Kingsport Mets. In 2014, he compiled a .282/.387/.362 slash line to go along with three home runs and 50 RBI with the (High-A) St. Lucie Mets before b...

Having worked with Baseball Info Solutions, I have become very familiar with the new-age statistics that  front offices in Major League Baseball are relying upon. I will say–for the most part–it has really helped teams grasp the significance that each player has more effectively. Every player that is on a roster was signed for a reason. It’s the job of the organization and, ultimately, the manager to put him in the best position to succeed. The Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays are the best in terms of getting the most out of every player on the field. They are able to “think outside the box”, something that few managers do now and zero managers did before this statistical revolution. While I do understand fan’s frustration with teams being a slave to...