Ben Brown
Ward Melville Excited to Start the Season and Debut New Field
On Monday, Steven Matz will start for the Toronto Blue Jays and on Tuesday, Anthony Kay will start for them. While they are four years apart and never actually pitched on the same team, the two southpaws graduating from Ward Melville HS and winding up on the same pitching staff is an incredible story. Additionally, Ben Brown – four years younger than Kay – has been steadily rising up the minor league ranks in the Phillies minor league system and has a shot to be the third Patriots to be in the big leagues at once. While he will tell you otherwise, Ward Melville HC Lou Petrucci is a big reason for that success. The Patriots head coach is as passionate and knowledgeable about the game as there is and the players gravitate towards it. And with a third former player on the cusp 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...
Lou Petrucci Wins Steve Lembo Award
(Photo Credit: Ray Nelson) Ward Melville Head Coach Lou Petrucci received the Steve Lembo Memorial Award last week at the annual N.Y. Pro Baseball Hot Stove League dinner in Great Neck. Petrucci has not only been one of the most successful Head Coaches in Long Island since taking over 12 seasons ago (6 League I titles, 1 Long Island Championship) but he has sent dozens of players to Divison-I programs and an unprecedented three pitchers drafted in the past decade (Steven Matz, Anthony Kay, Ben Brown). Additionally, seven of his former players are now Division-I coaches. The Patriots have compiled a .673 winning percentage during his tenure, which trails only Tom Migliozzi, Jim Moccio and Ken Klee among active coaches with 9 or more years of experience in Suffolk County. “I wish to th...
Ben Brown Fans 16 in Gulf Coast League Outing
For Ward Melville product Ben Brown, it’s been an outstanding start to his professional baseball career. The 18-year-old, opted to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies as opposed to attending Siena College after getting selected in the 33rd round, has an unblemished 3-0 record in the 2018 season after yesterday’s masterpiece against the GCL Tigers. The 6’6″ RHP struck out 16 batters over 6 shutout innings, yielding just one walk and two hits. He lowered his ERA to 1.80 through 30.0 IP with 45 strikeouts and a 1.10 WHIP. Brown’s story is truly remarkable, as he went from missing virtually his entire junior season after enduring an emergency appendectomy and seeing his velocity dip to 82 MPH to getting drafted in one calendar year. Everyone that is close with him...
How Are the Local Players Performing in Pro Ball?
It’s no secret that Long Island has proven its mettle in Major League Baseball by generating some legitimate talent in recent years. But what gets lost in the shuffle, however, is the dozens of players that are grinding it out in the minor leagues (and have been for years) for the chance to have their name on a big league scoreboard. Here are the current stats of the players currently active across affiliated professional baseball that have connections to Long Island. If I forgot anyone, please drop a comment to let me know. Several players were active until this season, for purposes of brevity we will limit this list to players currently active. Major Leagues, School, Year (Team): Marcus Stroman, Pat-Med ’09 (Toronto Blue Jays) 0-5 record, 7.71 ERA, 37.1 IP Steven Matz, Ward M...
What Research Says About Weighted Baseballs
WEIGHTED BASEBALLS: DO’s and DON’T’s BASED ON THE RESEARCH Jarad Vollkommer, CSCS Assistant Director of Training, Infiniti Sports Performance Oh boy, here we go again with all the weighted baseball stuff… But, seriously, are you educated yet? Probably not. There is so much more research needed to fully understand everything there is about weighted baseballs. So far, here is some of what we do know in a quick summary: Throwing Velocity Using an array of weighted baseballs (4-12oz.) can lead to an increase in throwing velocity, we know that. One study [1] found that using over-weighted baseballs as a warm up greatly improved both throwing velocity and accuracy. These results are great, but they lack ecological validity (carry-over effect). Will a pitcher ever warm-up with a non-regula...
PODCAST: Special Guests Gregg Sarra and Lou Petrucci
In this week’s podcast we have a great show with special guests Gregg Sarra of Newsday and Ward Melville HC Lou Petrucci as we discussed the best teams in Class AA history. The re-classification in 2003 introduced Class AA, but prior to that all large schools were in Class A. Gregg shares the stories of the 2006 Massapequa State champs (29-0), 2010 Lindenhurst that nearly went undefeated and 1998 Longwood team that qualified for a playoff berth on an unprecedented rule and wound up winning a title. Lou goes in depth about his 2013 Long Island Championship team at Ward Melville. We also made our predictions for the 2018 winner. Enjoy!
Creatine: Important for Baseball Players?
The Effects of Creatine Supplementation on Muscle Growth and Why It’s Important for Baseball Players Jarad Vollkommer, CSCS Has anyone ever told you to be careful with your Creatine supplementation because it “damages your kidneys”? Or, that it really has no effect on muscle growth and is clinically unsafe? These are some of the common misconceptions in the field of exercise science. Fortunately for you, this article is giving you the real science behind Creatine. Creatine has been the most widely studied supplement. It’s importance to muscle growth is well known, and has been backed by numerous scientific studies. In this article, we will review how Creatine is used by your cells, why it is important for baseball, and how it feeds your muscles to grow! So…What is ...
Insider Notes: September 4th
Today Newfield hosted Ward Melville in a scrimmage. The game featured several high-end players which is why I was in attendance. Below are my takeaways from the game: Rhode Island-commit Bobby Vath started the game for Newfield and he went four innings. He was very impressive. I first watched him at a showcase two years ago. He’s improved his velocity substantially since that time. He now works in the 87-88 MPH range with his fastball. He is a Div-I pitcher in every sense. He has terrific command of his fastball and throws a sweeping 11-5 breaking ball that he commands as well. Aside from hitting the first batter of the game on his curve, he displayed very good command. His coach was very pleased with his performance, he fanned the second batter on a high fastball. It really showed h...
Developing the Entire Throwing Motion
Jarad Vollkommer, CSCS Last week’s article discussed the Do’s and Don’ts of weighted baseballs. In case you missed it, I made a small comment that speaks huge volumes: “If you want to increase the longevity of your throwing arm, DO NOT have a microscopic view of the throwing motion. There are other ways that you can increase throwing velocity without the expense of adding volume to your arm.” If you want to throw hard, you have to train hard often, and train SMART often. Training smart includes knowing that the pitching motion requires full body activity, therefore it is important to train your entire body and not only focus on your throwing shoulder. Don’t get me wrong, to be successful in the game of baseball, you do no need a few things as a pitcher: a lot of external rotation in your t...
Chris Buehler Commits to LIU Brooklyn
Stop me if you’ve heard this before–a Ward Melville pitcher has announced his verbal commitment to a Div-I school. Chris Buehler, 2018 LHP, became the latest pitcher from the Patriots to vindicate his potential as a high-ceiling pitcher. He is coming off a very strong 2017 campaign in which he was part of the vaunted rotation of Ben Brown (MLB Draft pick) and Max Nielsen (UCONN). He compiled a record of 5-2 with a 0.66 ERA and 45 Ks over 42 IP during the school season and has continued that strong season into the summer where he has compiled a 2.23 ERA wwwith a 4-1 record over 37.2 IP. I had the chance to speak to him and here’s what he had to say… Talk a little about the recruiting process and why you decided to verbally commit to LIU Brooklyn The recruiting proces...
Seelinger Headlines Day 3 of MLB Draft
It took longer than anticipated but a handful of Long Island natives were selected on Day 3 of the 2017 MLB Draft. Here’s a rundown of the selections: Matt Seelinger, FSC (Pittsburgh Pirates, 28th round) The 2013 graduate of Clarke HS became the first player to get drafted out of Farmingdale State College since Tadeusz Nowakowski in 1978. He had a brilliant stretch of two seasons for the Rams, being named Skyline Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2016 and followed that up with a 4-1 season in ’17, in which he compiled a 1.39 ERA with 69 strikeouts over 51.2 IP. He finishes his career just ahead of me in the program-record book for highest strikeouts per nine (10.6). Their early postseason exit prevented him from compiling some of the numbers that other elite pitchers did. Still...
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