Gave Myself a Quiz

First let me say "Thank You" to all who sent emails regarding Michaels injury. he's doing better and slowing working himself back into baseball.

While traveling this weekend, I was asking myself "How many D1 college coaches are from the Section 1 area"? I started running names of my contacts through my mind and was very surprised to see that there are quite a few.

Dan McDonald, Head Coach at the University of Louisville is from PortChester
Sean McNally, Head Coach at Duke University is from Rye
Kevin Leighton, Head Coach at Manhattan College is from Brewster
Mike Gambino, Head Coach at Boston College is from Garrison
Mike Cole, Head Coach at NJIT is from Arlington
Pat Carey, Head Coach at Iona College is from Rockland
Jerry DiFabia, Assistant Coach at Fordham University is from Pelham
Joe Mercurio, Assistant Coach at High Point University is from Brewster
Bob DiToma, Assistant Coach at Iona is from Yorktown
Myckie Lugbauer, Student Assistant at Maine is from Mahopac

This is a pretty good group of guys working at some solid schools. If you can think of any additional ones, drop me an email and I'll add them to the list.

Some Recent Observations

Well first off I apologize for being absent this past week. Mike Mercurio was hit in the face with a bad hop ground ball on Sunday afternoon and broke his jaw in two places. As you can imagine, there was a lot to do travel wise and patient care wise over the past week. 1 lesson learned > parents, trust your intuitions and don't let anyone change your mind.

Having seen my share of college games this year and another half dozen high school games, the change in bats has definitely had implications. At yesterdays Brewster vs Carmel game there were 3 home runs hit and all traveled over the 350 sign in right center. With the BBCOR bats that will be used next year, home runs will be few and far between unless of course you play your games at JJCR. The days of Alex Martinez and a few of the other sluggers who had hit 10 or more home runs as high school players will be long gone. I spent a good part of the morning looking at college websites and just the lack of extra base hits is interesting. I can only imagine how the bats along with the lack of pitchers velocity and hitters physical strength will impact the high school game.

Our summer program and most of the others in the area, play the season in wood bat leagues and tournaments. The results will be comparable. A player with a sweet swing like Scott Hagan will still have success just as Colin Moran has had at the college level. Just do some research and take a look at the guys from Section 1 who were the big home run guys the last 3 or 4 years and see what they are doing now. What you'll see is some of the guys still have pretty good averages (they were and are still good hitters) but the number of extra base hits and home runs are either non-existent or diminished. It will definitely be interesting.

With that being said, hopefully I can get back on track next week.

Great to See ...

Just got back from another trip down to North Carolina and had the opportunity to check up on a few of the players from the area. I'll be doing the same next weekend and with High Point playing night games I have had the opportunity to drag my wife to a few other games. You can click on the players names to see their school profiles.

This past weekend Winthrop University came to visit High Point.  Tyler Donovan (Iona Prep 09') and   TJ Olesczuk  (Hen Hud 10') are on that roster. While Tyler is injured and not playing, he'll get a medical red-shirt this year, TJ is and boy is he playing well. The coaching staff at Winthrop has moved TJ out to RF where it's obvious that his shoulder is healed because he is showing some arm strength. He also showed a serious stick. We all knew he was a solid hitter for Hen Hud, but he is doing it as a college freshman in D1 baseball. Unofficially, I'm going to say he has at least 8 hits in the 3 game series including a 4-4 on Saturday. Great to See..

High Point also has a number of Section 1 players with Sr  Kyle Mahoney (Carmel 07') and  Mike Mercurio  (Kennedy 09') seeing the line-up everyday as starters. Mahoney was hitting .333 going into the weekend while Mike Mercurio was at .355 and an on base % of almost .500. Great to See...

On Saturday I ran over to watch Elon play UNC-Greensboro. Ken Ferrer (Pleasantville 07') was on the hill for Elon and pitched very, very well. He was victimized by a few outfield miscues that were caused by gusting winds. As many may know, Ken was selected in the MLB draft last June but chose to return to Elon to finish up his schooling and re-enter this years draft.Great to See ...

While watching these games, I continued to follow the Tweets coming out of Chapel Hill where  Colin Moran (Iona Prep 10') is still on fire and got the game winning base-hit and Rbi for UNC on Sunday. He leads the ACC in Rbi's. Great to see..

Running into a few of the Iona College players who I have known for a few years throws a mention out to Coach Carey and his Gaels. While the program has fallen on tough times the last few years. It looks like the once MAAC contender is getting back on track. A few of the locals,  Joe Smith  (Kennedy 10'),   Anthony Muccio (Stepinac 09'),  Eric Capowski (Stepinac 08') and  Anthony Castellitto  have all played major roles in the Iona resurgance. Great to See..

Today I stopped over at Iona Prep to watch practice and see if there was a game. What I got was a mixed bag. The JV was playing Malloy but the varsity was practicing as was the freshman team. It's no wonder Coach Gallo is in the mix every year. The fields were loaded with players. No shortage of talent this year for Gaels and there won't be for the next few years. Each teams roster was filled to the max with guys who I thought looked like good players. Coach Gallo's assistant coaches sure bring a lot to the table. Phil Salustio (Former Fordham U pitcher) and Ryan Mahoney (Carmel/ St John's catcher/1B) provide a wealth of baseball experience, from the Section 1 area to D1 baseball careers.Guys giving back. Great to See.....

I hope to see another local game over the next few days but on the weekend I will see Guilford Tech play JC powerhouse USC-Sumpter on Saturday. On Guildford's roster you can find 3 former Mahopac HS players. Joe Mercurio and Chris Erker (Mahopac 10') and Matt Petrone (Mahopac 09'). Matt his having another solid year hitting in the .400 range with enough stolen bases to lock him up for 10 years. Erker is the #2 starter GTCC and is posting an ERA of 2.76. He has a 2-1 record and 3 no decisions. Guilford plays in Region 10 NJCAA D1, one of the top JC conferences in the country. Great to See...

If you have information on some of the guys from the area that you would like to see here, drop me an email at allbaseball247@gmail.com

Congratulations !!

I had to write this one in Carolina Blue !

On behalf of "Lets Talk Baseball" , The World Yacht Clippers Baseball Club, Our family and I'm sure all the folks in the Section One area, Congratulations go out to COLIN MORAN, named "NCAA NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK". Colin is from Rye, NY and played his high school baseball at Iona Prep and his summer ball with the Clippers. He is now a standout freshman starting at 3B for the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. 


This past week in 5 games, Colin hit 4 homeruns and had 13 Rbi's.  For the week Moran hit .529 (9-17) with eight runs, 25 total bases and slugged a remarkable 1.471. Moran also drew five walks, including two intentional free passes, and reached base at a .636 clip. To rub it in, he hit a homerun vs High Point on Wednesday in front of at least 8 former Section 1 players and over the weekend vs Duke and a few more locals he hit 2 more, the last one coming off a former Our Lady of Lourdes Pitcher. Great stuff isn't it?


Congratulations to Colin, great young man, great baseball family and he's got a great future ahead of him. Here is the link to the story:
 UNC Article; Colin Moran

Transitions !

This is kind of an interesting topic since it runs the spectrum from Little League Baseball up through college and possibly beyond although I have no experience with the beyond. By TRANSITIONS, I'm speaking of moving up from one level of baseball to the next and the problems that arise when doing so.

Go back to the start of Little League, T-Ball and how there was always that one kid who was bigger, stronger and could hit the ball further at 6 but by the time the kids were 12, he wasn't the biggest or the best. I can remember there being parents who kept track of their son's home runs through the first few years of coach pitch and minors, pretty funny stuff. Then came "Majors" with it's tryouts, practices and playing on a fenced field, complete with dugouts. All really neat stuff. The reality is, at 12 years old, playing on a field with 200' fences was the last and only time that a player can dominate a small field. Even the LL World Series has had to move the fences back in Williamsport to 225' because of the equipment and the fact that the kids are bigger and stronger. Here lies problem #1. When I played LL there was 1 All-Star team selected from the best players in the league that were 11 and 12 years old. Now we have 10U, 11U and 12U All-Stars, and then there is some All-Star "B" teams as well as the summer travel All-Stars. So just about every kid in the league who wants to play beyond the regular schedule is put on some sort of All-Star team. This is where the nightmares start for the high school coaches..

The following year is the big move to the big field, 90' bases and 60'6" mound all fit in a field with 400',370' and 330' dimensions. Those 200' home runs now land 30' out beyond second base. The hot shot SS with the rifle arm, struggles to get the ball across the diamond and the pitcher who through smoke or had the nasty curve can barely reach the plate. Tryouts come for the school teams, modified, jv and varsity. Lots of changes and of course cuts.

As a high school assistant coach for 12 years I heard plenty of times about the kid who didn't make the school team and "how was that possible? He was an All-Star!" Sorry but the field outgrew him. He did not make the TRANSITION from small field to big field or he was a big kid at 12 and just hasn't grown as much as the others. Rarely will you find the big homerun hitter at 12 to be the same slugger at 17. Parents however, they don't see this. They still have little Larry going to the HS tryouts with his town All-Star shirt on.

It doesn't stop there.

A player who has really enjoyed success in his baseball career, has worked hard and made those first few transitions. He's now a HS senior who has played varsity 2 or 3 years and gone from the timid underclassmen to the kid who's name is in the paper all the time and in fact he has a baseball scholarship to a nice school. It's only a partial as most college baseball scholarships are but the numbers are exaggerated by mom and dad. We hear "full rides" and other such percentages that most times are false. Here in this situation, Larry is fortunate, he's had a great high school career, All League, All County, All State etc etc, school Wall of Fame, Prom King and the accolades go on and on. Off to college we go.

Larry steps on campus and fall ball starts. Larry is now playing and competing with MEN 4 years older then he is. It's the first time that he has had to do this. In LL it was 11 and 12's. In HS it was Jr's and Sr's. Now it's 4 years worth of players between the ages of 18 and 23 years old. Men who can go out at night, go to bars, buy a beer and some may even be married with kids all playing with Larry. Mom and Dad however just remember all the letters and accomplishments from just a few months ago and they expect their son to jump right into the starting line-up or pitch the Friday night opener. Guess again..... TRANSITION.... New school, new coach, new classes, new teammates who were all the best players on their respective, LL, HS and Summer teams, New system, new signs, new schedule (50+ games), study hall, women and of course mom and dad and their expectations.

Most freshman do not play much the first year in college and even fewer start any games at all regardless of what the college coach said during the recruiting process. Remember these words, "If he told you that you would not play until you were a junior, would you chose his school". The answer is "NO" and the coach knows that. He tells you what you need to hear to chose his school and he will continue to, so that you stay. Is he a coach, politician or counselor? All of the above.

This to me is the toughest year and believe me I have heard from my share of parents on this one and I have heard all the BS from the coaches. It's ego, history and the lack of knowledge that really hurt the situation. I wrote last week about going out and watching games and pre-game. See for yourself. Can your son play at a top 25 program when he wasn't the best player on his HS team? Should he be starting for 4 years in college when he only started for 1 in high school? His high school only had 15 players, now his college team has 35, where does he fit? The college coach is giving him scholarship money, he likes him and wants him to succeed, it's just going to take time. I'm not sure of the percentages but the number of players who transfer within the first 2 years do so because of the failure to make this TRANSITION. It's around 30%

Enjoy the ride! Your son has made the team now let him make the TRANSITION. Don't make it harder or make it worse. Help him to understand that at each new level there is a new beginning and a clean slate. Once you're there, no coach cares what you did last year or for the last coach. He only cares what you are going to do to help his program. It's going to take time. Understand this and help your son do the same.

TAKE YOUR SON OUT TO A BALLGAME. PLEASE!

I have just returned from another weekend of watching college baseball games. This is my 7th year of doing so, which is 2 or 3 years before my son/sons would  play in college. It's great now because I have a son playing and the other who has just finished his playing career is now a college coach. The point today is, I talk to many, many parents, who all have the idea that their son's can and will be playing baseball in college and most think it's going to be big time D1 too. All of this generalization comes without ever having seen what the caliber of player is, at this or for that fact, any collegiate level. GO SEE A COLLEGE GAME. Can be D1, D2, D3, go see a game.

By this time in mid to late March, the high school tryouts are over, the team is selected and practice has begun. For the D1 college's  most, if not all have played between 15 - 25 games already and still have another 35 to go. The schools here in the Northeast are just coming back home and will be having their Northern openers this weekend or next. Check the college website for their schedules (http://www.d1baseball.com/) and go see a game. Look for some of the local talent that you may be familiar with and see how they are fairing. Look at how they may have changed physically from that kid you knew a year or two ago. See if their skills have changed, better hitter, stronger arm. This is what a college player looks like.

I had written previously about visiting schools, do it and try to do it while games are being played on campus. Many families take vacation over February or Easter breaks, check the area you are traveling to and GO SEE A GAME. Parents and players alike will be very surprised to see how a college team prepares for the game, BP, Infield/Outfield, pitchers all getting their work in etc. If the game starts at 7pm get their at 5:30, if it starts at 1:00, get their at 11:30. Make a day or evening of it and really watch whats going on. You may be very, very surprised at the talent and skill level on the field and how the players and coaches interact. It's no longer high school or summer ball where kids have to be coddled or mom and dad make a call. This is big time, grow up, play hard and if you fail or stumble, pick yourself up and make the next play or get a hit the next at bat. This is the educational part of college baseball.

If you have an opportunity, Take your son to a college game. Great atmosphere, good baseball and hard working ball players who by the way, still have to get it done in the classroom, weight room and the ball field. These guys are good... Good luck

Questions can be emailed to allbaseball247@gmail.com 

From a Players Perspective

The following post is from Josh Herzenberg LHP from Oneonta State U and before that White Plains HS. Josh talks about the knowledge gained from spending time on the High School Baseball Web and what it was like going through the recruiting process. Well written and well thought out. Thanks Josh

I found this wonderful website in 2005, as a high school freshman. I was the only freshman on the varsity team, a LHP with a big curveball and a big ego. I posted here trying to garner some more information about colleges, and to try to get my name out there to the people who I deemed "mattered".

It's now been nearly six years since I began posting here. I've been through my fair share of mishaps and lumps in the baseball world, and I've been through my fair share of successes. Everything comes with the territory of playing amateur baseball. I've played in four games in one day, pitched both ends of a double header. I've been in so much pain I couldn't lift my arm above my head. I've cried over baseball more times than any self-respecting college aged male should admit to. I've spent countless hours online researching schools, professional teams, techniques, mechanics, weightlifting. I've spent even more time throwing, running, charting pitches, sitting in buses, airplanes, hotels.

I am now a junior in college. My team has made it to the NCAA tournament. I've pitched in some very important games. I have a career ERA under 2. I've given up game winning home runs. I've been screamed at by coaches to the point where I feel smaller than an ant. I've been at the bottom of the dogpile, and stood in the dugout gazing at opponent's dogpiles.

There are many, many people here who have sons who dream of playing ball at the next level. Many of those players are very talented and will be able to live that dream. Over my six years as a member of this site, I can't count how many posts I've read about "finding the right fit" for a player. People are genuinely curious and stressed about the shortcomings of the collegiate baseball recruiting process. They seek out knowledge from those who have been there, and those who they feel can guide them through the difficult process.

Never pick a school for its name. I played on a high profile summer team while I was in high school and many of my teammates were the absolute best players in our area. During the summer between junior and senior year, college coaches began to gravitate to the fields we played at because of the level of talent we had. My teammates acted like kids on Christmas morning...REAL college coaches were there to watch them play baseball. There was grumbling about full scholarship offers, Perfect Game rankings and draft stock in the dugout. It was like sitting at an 8th grade lunch table with a bunch of girls talking about the boys that were sitting at the table across from them. "He said this to that guy, he doesn't like this guy." By November of my senior year, many of my teammates committed to college. Some had various levels of scholarship offers, some were recruited walk-ons. Many of them took the first offer they got...some never even went on a visit to the school that had offered them. They simply saw the name of the school, their name on the paper, and signed it.

Never pick a school for a specific coach. This is true for two reasons. #1- Coaches change. Many coaches leave schools for other job opportunities that interest them. #2- Coaches aren't always the person you make them out to be when they are recruiting. Coaches have different personalities, and many times their true colors aren't fully on display when recruiting. Good coaches do a great job painting an appealing picture of their school, and many of the things they display aren't always completely true. I am not saying coaches are liars, but they want to show you the 100% best aspects of their program and will do so in any way they can. Do your proper research on the institution and the coaching staff. There are countless resources where you can do this (this site being one of them), and formulate a strong opinion based on ALL aspects of a school, not just the appealing ones that you see at the surface.

You or your son are entitled to absolutely nothing. A college coach is recruiting you to become part of his team. This means that he will provide you to get out on the field and have an opportunity to be successful and earn playing time. Just because he recruited you doesn't mean you are guaranteed to play where/when/how much you want to. Just because you feel that you had a better BP session or a better bullpen than another kid doesn't mean you are guaranteed to play. Just because you ran a faster 60, or the gun read a higher velocity doesn't mean you'll see innings over a teammate. You are entitled to nothing more than an opportunity. It is your responsibility to give it your all on the field and to show the coach that you belong out there. Coaches have a lot of other players on their depth chart and are not there to worry about your emotional state or your attitude towards the game. Coaches are there to put a winning team on the field. Bust your **s, show you care, and accept your role in stride.

Never underestimate the importance of body language. I have witnesses firsthand a player being crossed off a list because he walked to his position, or pouted after a call didn't go his way. As an extension of the previous point, coaches need to put together a winning team. If a player has attitude and could be detrimental to the team's overall success, then a coach won't want that player on his team. A quick story: My freshman year I was pitching in a conference game, tied 3-3, in the 8th inning. The leadoff hitter hit a hanging curveball to the right centerfield fence and sprinted into 3b with a triple. I was backing up the back and after the player slid in safely, I let out an F bomb. Was it loud? No. But it was loud enough for my coach, who was sitting in the dugout right behind me, to hear it. My coach usually posts the day's lineup on his hotel door in the morning and when I went to look at it the next day, I wasn't even listed as a player to potentially throw in relief that day. I looked at it sort of quizzically and he saw me and said "Son, you're lucky I didn't rip that uniform off you and send you home after what you did yesterday." Coaches take integrity very seriously and will not stand to witness anything that could jeopardize the mental success of a potentially player. (FWIW: I stood in front of the team the next day and apologized to everyone for what I did. I had to do a campus run when we arrived back to campus and was on laundry duty the next two weekends straight as a punishment).

Don't frown upon DII, DIII, NAIA or JuCo. I've seen it all. "Division I"...like it's in bright lights in Times Square. Why? Why is it so important to play DI? Is it because you want to attempt to play the best competition available to you, and the perceived challenge is appealing? Then by all means, sign the NLI...that's an excellent reason. But from what I've seen, most players want to play DI baseball because they want to be able to say they play DI baseball. That, frankly, is stupid. The decision of what college you are going to attend is a decision that will have an effect on your entire life in the future. It is very obvious that you love playing the game of baseball, or you wouldn't be attempting to play college baseball (I'll delve into that in the next bullet point). So why hinder the potentially institutions you can attend to this small number? Discrediting DII, DIII, NAIA and JuCo athletics is foolish, ignorant and stupid. Just because a school doesn't classify itself as a Division I institution doesn't mean that school can't allow your son to be happy in his collegiate endeavors. Pick a school for the academic, social and athletic appeals it portrays to you, not the organizational name it comes with.

Don't play college baseball unless you absolutely LOVE the game. Being a collegiate student-athlete is like having two full-time jobs. I'll lay it out for you: Let's say that you take 15 credit hours, which is the average at my school. That means that you spend 15 hours per week in class. Professors suggest that you spend 2-3 hours studying for every one hour spent in class. Let's round that to a comfortable average of 2.5 hours per hour...or 37.5 hours. Add that to the previous total of 15 credit hours and that gives you 52.5 hours per week spent on academics. Well, that's a full-time job right there. On average, I'd estimate that I spend 4 hours a day, 6 days a week at practice or in the weight room (probably a bit less during the off season, a bit more in-season). That's 24 hours a week. On top of that, athletics require you to attend meetings, lectures, study halls. Athletics require you to spend time worrying about the nutritional aspect of your life, worry about having proper training techniques in order to remain healthy. All these things combined translate to, let's say, another 15 hours a week. So that gives you a total of 39 hours. Add that to the previous academic total we found, and that's over 90 hours a week dedicated to your schoolwork and your baseball team. Everyday, every week, all year. If you feel that you aren't interested in putting in the required time to be a successful student and a successful athlete, then don't do it, because that's what it takes.


In conclusion, no one will really know what is best for you or your son except you or your son. It is very important to discuss these possibilities with a clear head, and a foreseeable future in mind. Making this decision is a stressful, time consuming and exhilarating time in a person's life, and one that could ultimately be very gratifying. I encourage each and every person that reads these message boards to continue to engulf a wealth of knowledge that can be beneficial to them in the long run. HSBBWeb is just one of many high quality resources available out there, and exercising all of them cannot hurt you. Good luck to all those high school players who are beginning to start their seasons now, or will be soon.