Up Next 2020
Up Next Powered by The Yard Sports Academy: Kevin Schnupp Jr
Defense is critical behind the plate. Just about every winning team has a strong defensive catcher that can lead his pitching staff. And if they can get some offensive production from that player, then it’s a bonus. Comsewogue freshman catcher Kevin Schnupp Jr. is one of those two-way catchers. He has been lauded for his defensive abilities, his leadership of the pitching staff but he also handled the bat extremely well in 2020. Here was his stats. AVG: .413 2B: 19 3B: 3 BBs: 17 Rs: 34 OBP: .540 His father, Kevin Schnupp Sr, is the longtime head coach of Sachem East, where he helped lead the Arrows to the Suffolk County title in 2005. He has been pleased with the progress of his son: “Kevin has really progressed so much over the past year,” he said. He has grown up on the...
Up Next Powered by The Yard Sports Academy: Zach Rosenzweig
(Editor’s Note: This is the eighth installment of the popular ‘Up Next’ Series which highlights the top underclassmen on Long Island. None of them have yet to play a varsity game, but we are confident that they soon will. Previously, we have featured Andrew Koshy, Chris Batuyios, Josh Knoth, Ben Cohen, Sebastian Lippman, T.J. Bradford and Brandon O’Neill.) 6’0 190 lb freshman Zach Rosenzweig (Plainedge 2024) pic.twitter.com/ykCGQrE2rF — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) December 22, 2020 When you are watching a middle schooler or JV player take batting practice, it usually features plenty of soft contact and flawed swings. There was nothing soft about the contact that was coming off the bat of freshman Zach Rosenzweig (Plainedge 2024) yesterday. At one poin...
Up Next Powered by The Yard Sports Academy: Brandon O’Neill
(Editor’s Note: This is the sixth installment of the popular ‘Up Next’ Series Powered by The Yard Sports Academy. In this series, we feature the best players on Long Island that have yet to appear in a varsity game. Previously, we featured Andrew Koshy, Josh Knoth, Chris Batuyios, Sebastian Lippman and TJ Bradford. Thank you for your continued interest.) When you’re looking to build a team, it’s important that you have a strong presence up-the-middle. New Mets GM Jared Porter specifically mentioned that in Monday’s press conference when discussing the needs of the Mets. They addressed that need on Saturday with the signing of free agent catcher James McCann. He’s a player that really improved his pitch framing (sixth in the MLB), he throws out 46 p...
Up Next Powered By The Yard Sports Academy: T.J. Bradford
When we partnered with Hofstra University to cover the New York Baseball Academy in 2017, the idea came up to present an Axcess Player of the Week Award to the top performing individual at each of the six weeks of the camp. The motivation behind the award was simple – pick the most talented individual that performed exceptionally well over the week. When the coaches were surveyed, there was a consensus No. 1 – T.J. Bradford. At the time, T.J. was just 10-years-old, but he was clearly deserving of the award. His stats match up to the eye test. Over the past three seasons, he has amassed a nearly unfathomable 108 home runs while playing on the small fields. When he was 11, he played 115 games and batted .581 with 116 runs scored 171 RBI over 291 at bats. The Hewlett naive is now ...
Up Next Powered by The Yard Sports Academy: Chris Batuyios
This is the fifth installment of the Up Next 2020 Series which highlights the top underclassmen on Long Island. To read the previous articles, here is Josh Knoth, Ben Cohen, Andrew Koshy and Sebastian Lippman. Mount Sinai is building a powerhouse pitching staff. The Mustangs last captured the Class A County Championship in 2016 in large part to a dominant pitching staff anchored by Sam Kessler and Brandon Bonanno. They have high aspirations entering 2021 as they have numerous high-end pitchers like Miami-commit J.T. Caruso, Ithaca-commit Dan Kellachan, 6’4 Max Reichenbach and another stud 2023 RHP in Chris Batuyios. Chris Batuyios (Mount Sinai 2023) pic.twitter.com/9oqk2wWdvJ — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 26, 2020 Over the course of 26.2 IP in the 2020 season, the flam...
Up Next Powered By The Yard Sports Academy: Ben Cohen
(This is our fourth installment of the 2020-’21 “Up Next” Series Powered by The Yard Sports Academy. Previously we featured Andrew Koshy, Sebastian Lippman and Josh Knoth. Thank you for your continued interest and Happy Thanksgiving) Thanks to our partnership with East Coast Youth Baseball, we covered a lot of games involving LIB Prime 12u. When it comes to youth baseball teams, they are as good as it gets. Many games did not get past the third inning, as their offense was often putting up 15+ runs in those innings and winning via run-rule. Ben Cohen hits a walk-off grand slam to send LIB Prime into Think Pink championship pic.twitter.com/EBFXiyS37s — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 5, 2020 Much of that damage involved power-hitting Ben Cohen. The Massapequa ...
Up Next Powered by The Yard Sports Academy: Sebastian Lippman
(This is the third installment of the “Up Next” Series Powered by The Yard Sports Academy. Previously we featured Andrew Koshy and Josh Knoth.) Young stud alert 🚨 Sebastian Lippman (Plainview JFK 2024) sitting 84-86 MPH pic.twitter.com/U9tkENfQ4h — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) November 8, 2020 Often times as a scout or reporter you attend a showcase or tournament and are underwhelmed with the product on the field. As a scout, it’s easy to stay quiet and walk away if you’re bored. As a reporter, you have to try to make something out of nothing. Being that I am both, I have to walk that fine line of telling the truth as a scout but generating buzz as a reporter. Other times, it’s really easy. An example of this was on November 8 at Prospect Sports for a ...
Up Next Powered by The Yard Sports Academy: Andrew Koshy
Andrew Koshy (Kellenberg 2023) and Christian Alicea (St. John the Baptist 2024) combine on a strike-em-out, throw-em-out pic.twitter.com/OPBSG7ytF9 — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) October 27, 2020 This is the second installment of the “Up Next” Series Powered by the Yard Sports Academy. The first featured athlete was Josh Knoth. It hasn’t even been two years since there was a high-end pitcher at Kellenberg HS and they already have another. Sophomore Andrew Koshy transferred into the school from the Mineola school district and he already is generating some buzz. The hard-throwing righty had a dominating summer for Team Francisco Notorious 9. Despite often playing against older competition, his numbers were straight out of a PlayStation. Record: 9-1 ERA: 0.58 Innings...
Up Next Powered By The Yard Sports Academy: Josh Knoth
Josh Knoth (Pat-Med 2023) sitting 80-81 T83 pic.twitter.com/GLYUZPinPB — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 25, 2020 Pat-Med has been no stranger to hard-throwing right-handed pitchers in recent years. While everyone will immediately think of Mets RHP Marcus Stroman, there have been quite a few since including Matt Vogel – who was also drafted out of high school in 2013. Knoth is showing the type of potential to join that list. As we learn more about pitching, we can learn even more about a pitcher’s ability to be effective. Spin rate, perceived velocity and spin efficiency are all factors that make a pitcher more difficult to square. Sometimes, it’s more simple than that. When a pitcher is in 10th grade, only 160 lbs and already sitting in the low 80s, that’...
