Matt Seelinger
Local Names Capture Minor League Championships
If you’ve been following us for a while, you are familiar with the names Matt Seelinger, Dan Jagiello and Shea Spitzbarth. All three have local ties and they all wrapped up their minor league seasons with a championship. We’ll go through each individually. Dan Jagiello (LIU Post 2017) is a member of the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and they captured the California League Championship. Jagiello was drafted in the 34th round of the 2017 draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers following the Pioneers ECC Championship in which he was on the mound to record the final out. He entered the season as a high draft follow as a starting pitcher but settled into a role as the closer. He compiled an ERA of 1.93 with 12 saves and 38 strikeouts over 23.1 IP. This year he compiled an ERA of 3.14 with 4 save...
Matt Seelinger Traded to Tampa Bay for Adeiny Hechavarria
In a surprising move, the Pittsburgh Pirates acquired SS Adeiny Hechavarria from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for Long Island native Matt Seelinger. Hechavarria was designated for assignment last Wednesday, but they wound up trading him once they found a taker. He is an established Major Leaguer, although he has never been known for his bat. The defensive wizard has a career slash line of .255/./291/.344, but has been worth +24 defensive runs saved for his career. As for Seelinger, the move came as a surprise since he was a late-round draft pick that has already emerged as a potential quick-riser through the system. Last year, he was outstanding. He compiled four saves with a 1.80 ERA and 37 K over 30.0 IP. He’s followed that up with a solid but not nearly as spectacular season. Wh...
Cy Young Finalists Announced
We will be hosting our third annual Awards Banquet on Saturday, January 6 at Villa Lombardi’s. Among the several awards we will be handing out will be the Cy Young Award for college pitchers. The four finalists are: T.J. Santiago (Adelphi): 8-3 record, 1.51 ERA, 77.2 IP, 56 H, 81 K, 7 BB, 3 CG Matt Seelinger (Farmingdale): 4-1 record, 1 Save, 1.39 ERA, 51.2 IP, 28 H, 69 K, 16 BB, 1 CG Jake DeCarli (LIU Post): 9-1 record, 2.22 ERA, 101.1 IP, 91 H, 78 K, 21 BB, 6 CG Josh Outsen (St. Joseph’s): 7-0 record, 1.99 ERA, 54.1 IP, 40 H, 54 K, 11 BB, 5 CG We will announce the winner at the podium on the evening of the event. **Tickets available by clicking here **
Fall Ball Series: Farmingdale
For a span of seven years, winning a Skyline Conference championship was an annual tradition for the Farmingdale State team. I was a part of two of those titles, and there was three more after that. Something strange happened in 2015–someone else was crowned champions (Old Westbury). Then it happened again in 2016 (St. Joseph’s). And again this past year (Maritime). As the calendar approaches 2018, the Rams will be looking to return to the mountain top, a spot that was so familiar for the program. They will have to do so without two of their critical players from last season; Matt Seelinger and Dalton McCarthy, who both graduated. Seelinger was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates, becoming the first player selected in the MLB Draft since 1979. I was down at their intrasquad today...
Matt Seelinger on His First Pro Season
(Editor’s Note: Matt is a 2017 graduate of Farmingdale State College. He capped off a stellar career by getting selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 28th round of this year’s MLB Draft, becoming the first player from FSC to get drafted since 1978. He performed incredibly well in pro ball; he compiled a 1.80 ERA over 30.0 IP with 0.87 WHIP and 37 strikeouts. He allowed only 19 hits. The following words are his own.) Coming out of a “D3” school has its challenges to get drafted. Not many players get the opportunity. I certainly heard a few times that it was “near impossible” to get drafted out of a “D3” school. I was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in my senior year at Farmingdale State College. It has been a whirlwind for sure. I graduated in May. At that time, I was not ...
2017 College All-Long Island Team
We waited long enough to unveil it. Here is our 2017 college All-Long Island team video announcement. The Most Valuable Player, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and Coach of the Year Awards will be announced and given out at our third annual Awards Banquet this winter. Below are the players along with their key stats. Hofstra: Steven Foster: .317 AVG, 64 H, 17 2B, 3 HR, 20 RBI, .368 OBP, 8 SB Vito Friscia: .305 AVG, 47 H, 8 HR, 33 RBI, .532 SLG, .404 OBP Stony Brook: Toby Handley: .342 AVG, 67 H, 44 R, 17 2B, 8 3B, 5 HR, 34 RBI, 45 BB, .466 OBP Casey Baker: .302 AVG, 57 H, 35 R, 4 HR, 37 RBI, .404 OBP, 15 SB Brian Herrmann: 4-3 W-L, 3.46 ERA, 80.2 IP, .234 AVG NYIT: Louis Mele: .341 AVG, .422 OBP, .459 SLG, 46 H, 2 HR Molloy: Brian Murphy: .342 AVG, 65 H, 46 R,.385 OBP, 44 SB Angelo Navetta: ...
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...
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...
Farmingdale State Creeps Back Into the Playoff Picture
Photo Credit: Farmingdale State Athletics After winning three of four this weekend, Farmingdale State is back in the mix in the Skyline Conference playoff picture. We covered the DH on Saturday in which they split with Mount St. Vincent’s. After losing the first game 19-8, they responded by winning the next three games this weekend. On Sunday afternoon, they shutout Purchase 10-0 in the first game. They smacked 20 hits and held them to two. The game was over in the first inning after the Rams took a 6-0 lead. Incredibly, Purchase’s starting pitcher threw a complete game while allowing 20 hits. Domenic Palumbo and Matteo Gaudio were particularly cruel to him, both compiling four hits. Anthony Alvino, Mike Marino and Kenneth Johntry both had two hits. Matt Seelinger recorded t...
Six-Run Second Inning Propels Farmingdale Over Baruch
Photo Credit: Farmingdale State Athletics The Farmingdale Rams bounced back from their DH loss on Monday with a 9-5 win today over Baruch. They scored six runs in the second inning which provided all the runs they would need.Anthony McQuade got the scoring going with a sac fly that scored Richard Sullivan. Later in the inning, Anthony Alvino hit a two-run single, and Mike Marino followed with an RBI single of his own. Dalton McCarthy drove in two with a single to score both Alvino and Marino.They tacked on three insurance runs in the ninth on Marino’s sac fly and a two-run error.Matt Seelinger started and went 3.1 innings, allowing one ER. He was relieved by Matt Fick. He threw two innings, allowing one unearned run. He was awarded the victory.Four more relievers combined to finish t...
