Vito Friscia
Familiar Faces Prepare to Represent their Nation on the World Stage
by Andy Smith Long Islanders will certainly recognize many of the players in the World Baseball Classic next month. These are the MLB superstars or international sensations. However, a few names may be locally familiar. Jacob Steinmetz, currently in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization, is a member of the Israel pitching staff. The Woodmere native started seven games in the Arizona Complex League in 2022 after being drafted in the third round (pick 77) of the 2021 MLB Draft. He will play alongside outfielder Joc Pederson (San Francisco Giants) and pitcher Dean Kremer (Baltimore Orioles) under manager Ian Kinsler. Amazing moment as Long Island native Jacob Steinmetz becomes the first Orthodox Jewish athlete to get selected in the MLB Draft pic.twitter.com/giZgs8GELh — Axcess Baseba...
College Recruiting 101: Asking the Dads That Have Experienced It
The college recruiting process can be very overwhelming. To make matters more difficult, it’s constantly changing over the years. So if you played baseball and you think it’ll be easier for you to help navigate through your son’s process – think again, since the recruiting calendar and the entire landscape has likely completely changed since you went through it 25 years earlier. To make it easier, I reached out to some dads that I know would have great insight and advice on the process. They are: Brian Schlesinger, Christian Eiring, Eladio Exposito, Vito Friscia and Bob Johnson. All of these gentlemen have sons that recently played Division-I baseball and they know exactly what the process entails. I asked a series of questions and here’s what they had to say&...
How Did the Local Minor Leaguers Fare in 2019?
We spend a lot of time focusing on who the next big thing is that it sometimes comes at the expense of those that are currently one step away from The Show. With the book closed on the 2019 season, now is a great time to check in on the local players that played 2019 in affiliated baseball. For purposes of brevity, we will limit this list to those who are Long Island natives, not those that played college baseball on Long Island which eliminates several players that have played at schools like Stony Brook, Hofstra, St. John’s, etc. We used Baseball Reference to compile the data on players. Please note that players frequently walk away from the game after a few minor league seasons so this list does not include anyone that called it a career prior to the season. We will organize it by...
Recapping the 2019 MLB Draft
The 2019 MLB Draft is now complete. Although it took until the 15th round, a number of players with Long Island connections were drafted. Let’s go down the list: 15th round (Baltimore Orioles) – Kyle Martin, RHP, Oceanside 16th round (Milwaukee Brewers) – Michael Wilson, RF, Stony Brook 17th round (Arizona Diamondbacks) – Nick Grande, SS, Stony Brook 18th round (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) – Ryan Smith, LHP, Princeton (Garden City) 25th round (Washington Nationals) – Parker Quinn, 1B, Hofstra 27th round (Chicago White Sox) – Tyler Osik (, 3B, Central Florida (Shoreham-Wading River) 28th round (Colorado Rockies) – Keven Pimentel, RHP, Tampa (Huntington Station) 30th round (Atlanta Braves) – Mitch Calandra, C, Eckerd College (Floral P...
MLB Draft 2019: Who’s Going to Get Picked from Long Island?
Day 1 of the 2019 MLB Draft came and went with no local players getting selected, although Elon RHP George Kirby was selected in the the first round (20th overall) by the Seattle Mariners and he is a Rye, NY native. As is the case every season, dozens of players have a shot to get drafted but that list dwindles as the season progresses and ultimately only a select few Long Island players will hear their name called. Here’s my best guess at the local players that will have their dreams fulfilled and will play professional baseball. High School: Jaison Andujar, OF, Bay Shore Andujar quickly put himself on the radar after moving back to Bay Shore from the Dominican Republic. He is a pro-caliber bat with a tremendous arm in center field. I was surprised he only had three home runs consid...
PODCAST: Live From the Turning Point With Vito Friscia & Steve Corrado
Below is the transcript from our August 16 podcast live from The Turning Point with Vito Friscia and Steve Corrado. [00:00] Hello, and welcome to the Axcess Baseball podcast. We are here at The Turning Point bar and grill in Farmingdale, New York joined by our special guests Vito Friscia. He just won the, Axcess Baseball home run derby at baseball heaven. 15 home runs in the first round and he hit four in the championship to beat Thomas Colombo from Adelphi. So Vito, you were in a rhythm in that first round, what did that feel like? [00:23] First off, thank you for having me, Vin. I appreciate it. I don’t know, I mean I was just having fun out there, trusting my swearing that trying to do too much. Um, you know, I like to take a lot of pitchers, keep my muscles relaxed. We’re a...
John Rooney Stays Undefeated, Hofstra Rolls Past Delaware
Behind junior John Rooney’s complete-game shutout, the Hofstra Pride defeated the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens 9-0 in Hofstra’s CAA home opener. The win snapped a three-game losing streak and a seven-game losing streak against Delaware. “I thought it was literally a complete game played by us,” said Hofstra head coach John Russo. “I don’t know if we’ve played a better game.” Rooney needed just 102 pitches, allowing two hits and one walk on the day striking out 11. With that, Rooney lowered his season ERA to 1.29, and improved his record to 5-0. Junior catcher Matt Siedem went 3-4 with a double, a solo home run, three RBI and a stolen base. Siedem’s stolen base and home run were both his first of the season and fell a triple shy of ...
Rooney Outduels Royalty
Final: Hofstra 5, UNCW 3 WP: John Rooney S: Chris Weiss pic.twitter.com/UkrMPnd1OU — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 23, 2018 Friday night baseball under the lights in the south. That is college baseball at its finest. Tonight it was an up-and-coming teams from the northeast, though, that stole the spotlight. The red-hot Hofstra Pride (10-4) defeated UNC-Wilmington (14-7) by the score of 5-3, with the go-ahead hit coming in the eighth inning by sophomore Rob Weissheier to score Teddy Cillis. In front of dozens of MLB scouts, Hofstra’s ace LHP John Rooney out dueled the reigning CAA Pitcher of the Year, Alex Royalty. Rooney went seven innings, allowing 3 ER on four hits, two walks with seven strikeouts to improve his program-record of career strikeouts to 206. Hofstra ...
Vito Friscia’s Dramatic Walk-Off HR Extends Hofstra Win Streak to 9
Vito Friscia on his walk-off HR to give Hofstra the dramatic 9-8 victory over Albany pic.twitter.com/4uJpcLxSBV — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 17, 2018 When you’re hot, you’re hot! Junior designated hitter Vito Friscia smacked an opposite field, walk-off HR in the tenth inning to give Hofstra a dramatic 9-8 victory over Albany in 10 innings. Trailing 7-1 in the seventh inning, things were looking bleak for Hofstra if they had any hopes of extending their eight-game win streak. That was until a four-run seventh inning and two in the eighth tied the game up and made it a new ball game. Albany re-gained the lead in the top of the ninth, but once again Hofstra answered back in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI single by Justin Smith to score Daniel Page. “I...
Hofstra Prioritizing Playing Without Fear
After finishing eighth in the CAA in 2017, the Hofstra Pride baseball team looks to put last season behind. The Pride finished with a 14-37 (7-17 CAA) record in 2017. Hofstra has not been to the CAA tournament since 2012. “We lost so many close games that we almost figured out how to lose,” said head coach John Russo. “And more importantly, we’d almost feel like we were going to lose in the dugout.” The Pride lost five players to graduation. One of those seniors is David Leiderman, the former Pride starting third baseman, who signed with the Miami Marlins organization and report to minor league camp in March. Leiderman finished his Hofstra career with a .266 average with 11 home runs and 88 RBI. Leiderman is the 16th Hofstra player to join the professional baseball ranks. The other seniors...
CATCHERMTRX Set To Begin November 11
Since 2010, CATCHERMTRX has been working with many of the top catchers in the region. Their staff of former and current professional catchers pride themselves on bringing the very best and up-to-date methods to the catching position. The staff features current Blue Jays Triple-A catcher Patrick Cantwell (West Islip ’08), Washington Nationals High-A catcher Matt Reistetter (Hauppauge ’10), Miami Marlins Double-A catcher Cam Maron (Hicksville ’09) as well as several well-respected coaches from the area. Additionally, Sal Agostinelli has confirmed that he will make an appearance as a guest instructor during the program. Below is a list of catchers who have gone through the 18-week program, which concludes on March 3. “We’ve created an environment that allows the ...
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