Frank Catalanotto
Fall Ball Series Powered by Revolution Athletics: Hofstra University
In 2022, Hofstra experienced a magical run in the Conference Tournament to capture their first CAA Championship in the program’s 86-year history. It was a remarkable Cinderella story, as the Pride not only entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed, but won all four games by one-run with 3 walk-offs. Additionally, they were in their first year under Head Coach Frank Catalanotto, and they were coming off a 17-win season. Since then, they have been unable to match that level of success in the ultra-competitive CAA. In 2023, the Pride missed the postseason but last season they qualified and won their first game against No. 3 Northeastern prior to losing their next two against No. 1 Charleston and No. 5 William & Mary. I spoke with Coach Catalanotto at last week’s Fall World Seri...
Frank Catalanotto: Which Hitting Drills Work Best?
(Frank is a 14-year MLB veteran. He is a 1992 graduate of Smithtown East HS, where he was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 10th round of the MLB Draft. He compiled a .291 AVG in over 3,800 at bats. He is the Head Coach of Hofstra University and gives lessons for Steel Sports Academy at Baseball Heaven. This article originally was published in 2017.) by Frank Catalanotto The truth is that everyone is different, so when it comes to baseball and hitting drills, you need to find out which ones work for you and which ones don’t. The repetition of the drills is so important. Part of getting better is teaching muscle memory–especially for younger kids. Here are some that worked for me. One arm drills might be my favorite because each arm gets strengthened individually. I would get a small, l...
Fall Ball Series Powered by Baseball Lifestyle: Hofstra University
Steve Harrington with a walk-off HR in a 7-6 victory for Hofstra ! pic.twitter.com/r7tJHFgMqA — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) April 2, 2022 There are not many better feelings in the world than proving people wrong. Hofstra was picked to finish ninth in the preseason CAA coaches poll. On May 29 in the CAA Championship, they defeated Northeastern, 7-6, in walk-off fashion on a hit by pitch by Ryan Morash to score Brian Morrell. It was a truly stunning finish considering they had never won a conference championship in the program’s history and they won all four games by one-run including three walk-off wins. Despite losing both games in the regionals, the program is still riding high off the momentum from that CAA Championship. Perhaps no school in the country can boast that they...
Hofstra Clinches NCAA Tournament Berth for First Time in Program History
THAT’S THE GAME!!! HOFSTRA WINS!!!! CAA CHAMPS!!!#RoarWithPride #CAAChamps pic.twitter.com/NpWKgpKYd8 — Hofstra Baseball (@HofstraBaseball) May 29, 2022 Hofstra has been playing baseball since 1938. It took Frank Catalanotto one year to do what has never been done in program history and that’s qualify for the NCAA Tournament. The Pride did so in astonishing fashion – winning all four of their CAA Championship games by one run – including three wins via walk-off. Entering the CAA tournament as the No. 2 seed, the Pride defeated Elon, UNC-Wilmington, and Northeastern twice to pull off the improbable. All three teams are regarded as top-tier opponents, and Hofstra was able run the table in the tournament amidst a hostile home crowd. The clinching game was thrilling. Th...
Frank Catalanotto: Which Hitting Drills Work Best?
(Frank is a 14-year MLB veteran. He is a 1992 graduate of Smithtown East HS, where he was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 10th round of the MLB Draft. He compiled a .291 AVG in over 3,800 at bats. He is the Head Coach of Hofstra University and gives lessons for Steel Sports Academy at Baseball Heaven. This article originally was published in 2017.) by Frank Catalanotto The truth is that everyone is different, so when it comes to baseball and hitting drills, you need to find out which ones work for you and which ones don’t. The repetition of the drills is so important. Part of getting better is teaching muscle memory–especially for younger kids. Here are some that worked for me. One arm drills might be my favorite because each arm gets strengthened individually. I would get a small, l...
Fall Ball Series Powered by East Coast S & P: Hofstra University
(This is the first installment of the Fall Ball Series powered by East Coast Strength and Performance. We will visit the local colleges and provide some video content, interviews with coaches and players. Make sure to check out East Coast by clicking here.) RHP Matt Gonzalez transferred from Division-III Barton College in North Carolina. Here’s a strikeout on a 91-MPH fastball pic.twitter.com/R3DrUKJDu1 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) September 17, 2021 Hofstra ushered in a new era in July when they hired 14-year MLB veteran and Long Island-native Frank Catalanotto. The move would’ve been exciting regardless of the context but when you consider that the Smithtown native is just two years removed from executing an even more difficult task of reviving New York Tech’s...
Recap of Week 4 of the New York Baseball Academy
This week was an especially exciting one for the New York Baseball Academy (NYBA) at Hofstra University. New Head Coach Frank Catalanotto – longtime Major League veteran who was named Head Coach of the Pride last month was the special guest at the morning clinic, I can’t imagine a better way for a young baseball player to learn than from someone of Catalanotto’s pedigree. Additionally, the recipient of the Axcess Player of the Week was Louis Gounaris. Here he is pictured with NYBA Director Mike McCabe (left) and Bob O’Brien (right). Each week players from each group are awarded the coveted Super Hustler Award – which is given to the players that best exemplify the values of the New York Baseball Academy. Here are the winners. Group 2: Zaidin Trombetta Christia...
OTD: NYIT Advances to Division-II College World Series
The NYIT Bears defeated reigning East Region Champion Southern New Hampshire, 6-3, to advance to the program’s first Division-II College World Series next week in Cary, NY. On May 10, the Bears were shutout, 4-0, by the University of Bridgeport to get eliminated from the ECC Tournament. Now, 15 days later, those Bears are hoisting the trophy that proves they are one of the top-8 teams in the nation. This game did not feature the high drama of Friday night, as E.J. Cumbo got the Bears’ offense going with a three-run shot to open up a 3-0 lead. It was Cumbo’s seventh HR of the season and his 44th RBI of the season. His team totals are unbelievable (.453 AVG, .525 OBP/..692 SLG, 7 HR, 44 RBI, 43 R, 19 BB, 19 K, 22-25 SB). He’s been able to do that in only 159 at bats, which is 50 fewer than S...
OTD: NYIT Captures NCAA East Regional
Head Coach Frank Catalanotto on NYIT’s rapid ascension in his first season pic.twitter.com/le2EN2ND3e — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 18, 2019 One year ago, NYIT closed out their regular season with a loss to Queens College to finish their campaign at 13-25-1. On June 7th, they made waves by hiring 14-year MLB veteran and Smithtown native Frank Catalanotto. The move was a positive step forward for a program that had suffered through 13 straight sub .500 seasons. In less than one year, the program has rapidly ascended into becoming a 35-win team that will now participate in the NCAA Division-II Super Regional next weekend either at Southern New Hampshire or neighborhood-rival LIU Post. The 35 wins is a program record, previously set in 1987. Today they continued their fairy...
Transcript of IG Live With Frank Catalanotto
(Photo Credit: NYIT Athletics) Vinny Messana (VM): For those that don’t know, Frank Catalanotto– Long Island native. Graduated from Smithtown East. Played 14 years in the MLB. .291 batting average and took over the head coaching duties from NYIT. Had a meteoric rise, 37 wins and led them to their first College World Series appearance in program history. You guys were off to a good start this year, did it feel like you guys were on the verge of getting on a roll? Frank Catalanotto (FC): We were excited for conference play to get started. We felt like there were a few things that had to be cleaned up and we were cleaning them up. We ran into a tough Southern New Hampshire team that beat us three games in a row. But we learned a lot from that. They were the better team but we knew there...
Top Major League Players To Come From Long Island
While Long Island may not be the most fertile ground for developing big league talent, I think this list is pretty clear that we do have some high quality players. Two Hall of Famers is nothing to scoff at, but we will delve a little deeper to take a look at some of the other ones that don’t have the same national recognition. This is a subjective list but I will base it off their career MLB numbers via Baseball Reference – not high school or college accolades – so at least there’s at least a standard criteria. Here it goes. 15. Tony Graffanino (East Islip) Tony was really the perfect utility player at the Major League level and it allowed him to stick around for 15 years in a big league uniform with the Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Chicago White Sox, Kansa...
NY Tech Ranked No. 10 Division-II Team In Nation Entering 2020
Following a magical ride to the Division-II College World Series, NY Tech enters 2020 as the No. 10 ranked Division-II team in the nation, according to Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. There’s been an aura around them this since May when they knocked off perennial powerhouses Franklin Pierce and Wilmington to capture the East Regional and Southern New Hampshire in the Super Regional. It has catapulted their recruiting to another level. This offseason, they added Andrew Imperatore (Rider University), Bobby Vath (University of Rhode Island) and Tyler Schmid (Suffolk CC) on the mound and David Franchi (LIU Post) at second base. All of these players are expected to contribute immediately. They also received a boost from players returning from injury such as Brandon Alberto, Matt Bartnik an...
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