Steven Matz
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 ...
Max Nielsen Announces He Will Be Transferring to Saint Anselm
Max Nielsen strikes out 18 batters to send Ward Melville to the Suffolk County AA Finals ! pic.twitter.com/RtJrqe4y4p — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 31, 2019 Max Nielsen announced on IG Live tonight that he will be undergoing Tommy John surgery on Monday by Dr. James Paci. He also said after narrowing down his choices to Maine and Saint Anselm, he has decided to transfer to Saint Anselm from UCONN. He is the reigning Carl Yastrzemski Award winner – which is given to the top player in Suffolk County. He led Ward Melville to the Suffolk Class AA Finals against Connetquot. He compiled a record of 5-1 with an ERA of 1.44 ERA with 103 strikeouts. He allowed only 19 hits over 49 innings. The high point of his season came in the semifinals against West Islip in which he set a pr...
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...
Ward Melville Remains a Championship Contender Entering 2020
by Tony Genualdo Max Nielsen strikes out 18 batters to send Ward Melville to the Suffolk County AA Finals ! pic.twitter.com/RtJrqe4y4p — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 31, 2019 Ward Melville’s run to the Suffolk County title game last year was just the latest in a string of successful seasons for the Patriots of League I. Connetquot would win the championship over Ward Melville in three games, but Coach Lou Petrucci said that he couldn’t have been prouder of his team. “Our kids learned to play in some amazingly energetic and competitive environments,” said Petrucci. “They well exceeded our expectations.” Among those kids from last year were Matty Maurer and Brady Doran, two players who were dominant at the top of the batting order for the team. They would set the tables for fello...
Where Are They Now: A.J. Nunziato
It may be hard to believe but Ward Melville wasn’t always a baseball powerhouse. In fact, before there was Max Nielsen and Ben Brown and Anthony Kay and Steven Matz there was many dormant years. From 1975 until 2004 they did not qualify for a postseason appearance and the school was most notable for their lacrosse program and famous comedian graduate Kevin James and NFL punter Todd Sauerbrun. That all changed in the mid 2000s. Between a strong core of players and the presence of Lou Petrucci in 2007, the program soon became a perennial contender. A.J. Nunziato, a shortstop who grew up idolizing Derek Jeter, wanted to change the culture of the program and get the focus back on baseball. “We didn’t necessarily get along with the lacrosse players,” said Nunziato. ̶...
List of Long Islanders to Play in the Majors in Last 15 Years
With the promotion of Anthony Kay, that gives Long Island another player in “The Show”. While we may not be southern California, Florida or Texas in terms of generating power arms, we are right in that next tier. In fact, here’s some data according to baseball-almanac.com of the birth state of players during the 2019 season. California: 207 Florida: 113 Texas: 89 Georgia: 50 Illinois: 33 Tennessee: 29 Ohio: 29 Pennsylvania: 28 North Carolina: 26 New York: 25 New Jersey: 22 This is a pretty basic statistic showing how baseball in the northeast has been overlooked but we are pretty well represented across the game. Diving in more specifically to Long Island, we have had a good streak recently with native players making into the show. Historically, there’s been 77 play...
Anthony Kay Promoted to Big Leagues
It was just four years ago the Long Island baseball community was celebrating the promotion of Ward Melville 2009 grad Steven Matz to the big leagues with the New York Mets. While it is north of the border, Ward Melville 2013 grad Anthony Kay joins the exclusive club of Long Island natives to get the promotion to The Show. Kay, 24, was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays just before the July 31 trade deadline along with Simeon Woods Richardson for Pat-Med 2009 grad Marcus Stroman. After a very difficult first start with Triple-A Buffalo (4.2 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 3ER), the southpaw has bounced back in a big way. Overall, his numbers with Buffalo are stellar. He has thrown 36 innings, allowing 10 ER (2.50 ERA), with 39 strikeouts while allowing just 33 hits. His walks, 22, are a little high but with hi...
Ward Melville Ready to Compete for a Class AA Title
Many teams would consider a 15-8 season–including a playoff win–a success. However, this is not the case for Ward Melville. As one of the most successful programs on Long Island over the past decade, any season that ends short of a championship is short of their ultimate goal. After their worst season in seven years, the Patriots are ready to compete for a title once again. The main obstacle Ward Melville faces this season is their strength of schedule. Not only is League I arguably the most talented league on the island, but all teams return a significant amount of impact players from last season. Their opponents include Longwood, Sachem East, Brentwood, Pat-Med, William Floyd and Central Islip. Evidently, Ward Melville will have their hands full. Fortunately for them, they re...
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...
How Are the Local Players Performing in Pro Ball?
Major Leagues, School, Year (Team): Marcus Stroman, Pat-Med ’09 (Toronto Blue Jays) 2-7 record, 5.86 ERA, 66.0 IP Steven Matz, Ward Melville ’09 (New York Mets) 4-7 record, 3.38 ERA, 96.0 IP Nick Tropeano, West Islip ’08 (Los Angeles Angels) 3-4 record, 4.83 ERA, 54.0 IP Kevin McCarthy, Kellenberg ’10 (Kansas City Royals) 4-3 record, 3.69 ERA, 39.0 IP Travis Jankowski, Stony Brook ’12 (San Diego Padres) 211 at bats, .261 AVG, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 14 SB, .342 OBP, .336 SLG Minors (School, Draft Year and Affiliated Team) John Rooney (Hofstra 2018, Los Angeles Dodgers) STATS: N/A Bobby Honeyman (Stony Brook 2018, Seattle Mariners) STATS: 83 at bats, 24 H, .289 AVG, .326 OBP, .361 SLG Aaron Pinto (Stony Brook 2018, Cleveland Indians) STATS: 14.1 IP, 2.51 ERA, 15 K, .214 AVG Reiss Knehr (Fordham 2018, ...
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...
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