MLB Draft
Fordham Ace Matt Mikulski Not Fazed by the Hype
On Thursday, May 16, 2019 Fordham began a crucial three-game series against A-10 rival Dayton needing to win two of the three games in order to qualify for the conference tournament. They sent their Friday starter to the mound hoping to get the first win under their belt and only needing to win one of the next two after that. Dayton had other plans, though. They wound up scoring 7 runs (6 earned) on their way to an easy 17-4 win. It turns out that loss lit a fire under the Rams who wound up winning the next two games to lock up the No. 4 seed in the Atlantic-10 tournament – which they hosted. Now as the host team, Fordham turned their game up another notch. They captured the first game against Richmond, 7-6, in 10 innings. They kept that momentum going into the next game against VCU,...
Transcript of IG Live With Danny Wirchansky
Vinny Messana (VM): We cover Long Island usually so our audience may not be familiar with you. But I thought you were a perfect guest for this because of your story and pedigree. You got drafted out of Pace last year in the 25th round by the Milwaukee Brewers. Two-time All American. Most impressively, from a scouting perspective, you had a 63:5 K to BB ratio. That’s pretty mind boggling. How did you refine your command to the point where it was basically nation-leading? Dan Wirchansky (DW): My sophomore year, I had a 70:35 K to BB ratio which was pretty bad. That summer, I went to the NECBL and basically worked on throwing a lot more strikes and getting ahead of guys and not trying to be perfect with everything. I started getting between with my command. VM: You pitched three seasons at Pa...
Key Points From Today’s Q & A at The Cage
This afternoon, I was a guest speaker at The Cage in Riverhead, NY to discuss a bevy of topics regarding to amateur baseball, how Axcess Baseball was started and the particulars of being an MLB scout. For those that couldn’t make it, here’s some of the key points I made: If you’re good, you will be found. This seems overly simplistic but it seems to get lost on people. The prevailing thought seems to be if you are not on an elite travel team, you have no chance to get a scholarship. I can attest to the fact that several players have received scholarships and even gotten drafted without attending every showcase. Our job as a scout, and also for college colleges, is to unearth the hidden gems. Those ones are much more satisfying anyway. Your results on the field does not im...
David Leiderman Signs Contract With Miami Marlins
David Leiderman (Bellmore JFK ’12) has signed a professional contract with the Miami Marlins today, the Hofstra grad announced on his Instagram. He was selected to participate in our Battle of the Border this past year but opted to not play due to attending pre-draft workouts. The power-hitting third baseman had a bit of down season in 2017 by his standards, coming off an All-CAA season in 2016. In that season, he batted .271 with a team-best 56 hits, 21 extra-base hits, 7 HR and 35 RBI. Following his junior season, there was legitimate talks that he would be selected in the 2017 MLB Draft. His most significant accomplishment was his tremendous season at Bellmore JFK in 2012 in which he batted .609 and was named the Diamond Award winner. He was named All-State as well as All-Long Isl...
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...
Tyler Badamo: My Message to MLB Draft Hopefuls
(Tyler Badamo is a 2014 graduate of Dowling College. He was selected by the New York Mets in the 24th round of the MLB Draft. He was named All-American for his tremendous season in which he compiled a stretch of 72.1 consecutive innings in which he did not allow an earned run. The following words are his own.) The biggest thing I think everyone needs to realize before I go into what I tried to focus on personally, is that the MLB draft is one of the biggest crap shoots in the world. There are thousands of potential prospects eligible for the draft each year and now only 40 rounds. You can do everything right 99% of the time and still not get drafted. There are plenty of outstanding college seniors every single year that don’t get the call to postpone the real world for a little while...
