Axcess Baseball
Axcess Baseball Year In Review
It was another fun year for us at Axcess Baseball, but with fun comes responsibility. What began as a hobby is now a duty to report objectively on Long Island baseball, have an active presence at all conference playoff games at the college level, high school playoff coverage, at all the important showcases while also being up-to-the-minute on college commitments. It’s not a complaint, it’s a thank you for the continued interest. Although we got away from hosting the Awards Banquet, All-Star Game and Home Run Derby, we did host two showcases and coverage a bevy of others. The numbers are in and we generated 16.9 million social media impressions–a huge number for any local niche website. Here’s a quick rundown on what we did in 2019. January: We kicked the calendar of...
How Did the Local Minor Leaguers Fare in 2019?
We spend a lot of time focusing on who the next big thing is that it sometimes comes at the expense of those that are currently one step away from The Show. With the book closed on the 2019 season, now is a great time to check in on the local players that played 2019 in affiliated baseball. For purposes of brevity, we will limit this list to those who are Long Island natives, not those that played college baseball on Long Island which eliminates several players that have played at schools like Stony Brook, Hofstra, St. John’s, etc. We used Baseball Reference to compile the data on players. Please note that players frequently walk away from the game after a few minor league seasons so this list does not include anyone that called it a career prior to the season. We will organize it by...
Axcess Invitational
After four days of wall-to-wall baseball at Moriches Sports Complex, we were able to crown championships at the 14, 15, 16 and 17/18 age group. The winners were: 14U- KA Elite Junior Ducks 15U- Diamond Spikes 16U- Black Diamonds 17/18U- Junior Ducks It took several months of planning, but it was almost all derailed by the pandemic that delayed the start of the 2020 season until July 6. It was almost derailed again with a huge storm that swept through Long Island on Wednesday night and parts of Friday morning. For those that have followed Axcess Baseball for a few years, you know how a dark cloud hangs over at out events. It started in 2016 with Dowling College closing the day before the Battle of the Border. Later that year, had to cancel a Home Run Derby. Once again, the first Awards Ban...
What is the Best Field on Long Island?
Up until the construction of Baseball Heaven in 2004, it was extremely rare to find a turf field on Long Island. Additionally, there was less places with lights and multiple fields that could accommodate hosting a tournament the way that BBH can. With that said, as time has gone on in the past 15 years, many more school districts have funded turf facilities but lights are still hard to come by. With baseball being a passion of mine, I still enjoy the nuances of the game like a perfectly manicured natural grass field with lights. Over the past several years, as I have made this my livelihood, I have been to just about every high school, college and town field on Long Island. I would love to hear people’s feedback on the best fields on Long Island. We will include facilities, but I don...
PODCAST: Frank Valentino
Frank had a lot of great insight in this podcast so I want to break down some of the best quotes: -He enjoyed playing for former Met great Edgardo Alfonzo. He grew up a Met fan and it was really cool but tried his best to not be star struck and do his job. -He rehabbed with current Met pitchers Jeurys Familia and Justin Wilson. He learned a lot from their preparation but tried to let them go about their business without interfering. -In his debut with the Cyclones he lost count how many friends & family were in attendance. There was some initial nerves but he was able to lock in after the first inning. -He is still unsure how the Mets became familiar with him; he believes they were simply watching him from afar as he strung together 7 or 8 consecutive quality starts in the Frontier Lea...
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) 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 big...
Updated College Commitments
It’s been a very busy end of the summer for college commitments. Below is the updated commitments as they have been reported to us by the player or coach. If you do not see your commitment listed, please contact us. Class of 2020 Marco Ali (St. Anthony’s) – Farleigh Dickinson Kyle Allen (Longwood) – New Haven Nick Baldassare (West Babylon) – John Jay Nick Barreiros (Seaford) – New York Tech Jackson Baris (East Hampton) – NYU Brad Battaglini (West Islip) – Cortland Kevin Bowrosen (Miller Place)-James Madison Matt Brown-Eiring (Connetquot)-Stony Brook Peter Carreca (Herricks) – Delaware State Idris Carter (Roosevelt) – Stony Brook Greg Carullo (Commack) – Oswego State Johnny Castagnozzi (Massapequa)-North Carolina Larry Citrola (Northport) – Charleston Frankie Collora (Ward Melville) –...
Recap of the Axcess Baseball Showcase
Every time we have hosted some sort of an event whether it be the Awards Banquet, Home Run Derby or All-Star Game we’ve dealt with some unique circumstance that nearly undermined it. We’ve had Dowling College unexpectedly closing, 105 degree temperatures, monsoons, Polar Vortex’s and grumpy school officials. So it’s no surprise we would be handed another curveball yesterday. Of course, a massive storm rolls through western Suffolk County that nearly forced us to cancel our inaugural Showcase at Ducks Stadium. Nevertheless, we were able to continue the event and for that I’m certainly fortunate. We had 78 players and 17 college coaches in attendance at the preeminent ballfield on Long Island. Here is the list of schools that were in attendance: Franklin Pierce ...
