Frank Valentino
The Arm Academy: The Cross Section of Innovation and Competition
I absolutely love watching pro pitchers throw bullpen sessions in the winter time. It’s such a unique aspect of the game of baseball. You can go from watching them honing their craft in silence, experimenting on different groups, arm slots, tempo while having every movement recorded and tracked on Rapsodo one minute and then things can just erupt into this testosterone-fueled excitement over hitting a new personal record. Today was a great example. I was down at The Arm Academy in Farmingdale, which is owned by Tyler Levine, as he was working with his group of pro pitchers. This particular group had Frank Valentino (NYIT 2017), John LaRossa (Hartford 2017) and Greg Weissert (Fordham 2016). Valentino is currently signed to pitch in the Frontier League but was previously with the Mets ...
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...
Frank Valentino Signs Pro Contract
Frank Valentino (NYIT ’17) has extended his baseball career for at least another season as he signed a pro contract with the Florence Freedom of the Frontier League. The 23-year-old RHP attended West Islip HS and graduated in 2013. Last season, he played with the Vallejo Admirals in the Pacific Association, going 5-8 with 5.05 ERA and striking out 92 in 98 innings in 16 starts. The 6’3″ RHP has a low-to-mid 90s fastball which helped him dominate at Suffolk CC before transferring to NYIT and leading the rotation for two seasons along with fellow RHPs Elias Martinez and Matt Diaz. During his senior year, he suffered from some extremely difficult luck. His seasons defied all logic by going winless at 0-9, despite pitching two complete games and pitching deep into every game....
Which Players From Long Island Could Get Drafted? Part 2
Back in January, we did the first part of this series. I promised there would be a Part 2, and here it is. This is based off of my observations and the opinions of the local scouts. Rob Andreoli (LIU Post) The ECC Player of the Year was spectacular from day 1. He compiled 73 hits, walked more times (24) than he struck out (22) and was successful on 22 of 26 stolen base attempts. Despite hitting leadoff, he was able to drive in 44 runs and launch five home runs. He is 6’2″and plays a terrific center field as well–leading the team in outfield assists with six. He did battle an injury towards the end of the season that compromised his speed, but he continued to play at a high level. Ben Brown (Ward Melville) As I stated yesterday, Ben returned to the mound after a serious ap...
