BB: General New England Discussion

Started by Paul Heering, February 14, 2007, 06:14:24 PM

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YagsUMB

That was my point when I pointed out Castillo's age. I don't think he'll ever get drafted based on how old he is. Jeff Francoeur is 24.

I never realized that you could be drafted after you turn 21 regardless of your class in college. Good call.

dgilblair

#571
Quote from: YagsUMB on May 23, 2008, 01:12:58 AM
I don't believe Melvin Castillo is even draft eligible. He's only a sophomore. He is also going to be 24 years old in June. 2 months older than BJ Upton.

If scouts had a chance to look at Joe Esposito at his very best, there is no doubt in my mind that someone would take a chance on him. After his freshman year, we all thought he would be the next Joey Serfass and would automatically get drafted or signed by a big league team. Unfortunately, Coach Holowaty self-admittingly overused him while he had shoulder soreness his sophomore year. That seemed to ruin his JR year a little bit and he finally came back around this year to be the pitcher everyone expected him to be. I faced Joe when he was a freshman in the 1st game of a doubleheader. He was lights out. Serfass threw the next game, and wasn't as impressive although he still shut us down.  Serfass was a SR that year. Joe Esposito was done wrong by his coaching staff, in my opinion. It happens sometimes. That being said, when he is at full health he's as good as anyone in NE. He deserves a shot but health concerns might spoil it for him.

I don't think I threw anyone's name out there lightly. MLB teams have definitely inquired about Nick Conway if that is your argument. DiBenedetto will get drafted or signed by the Red Sox, TRUST ME!

Anderson is a work in progress and scouts who were there to see Kiely in Harwich were extremely impressed with his size and presence. D'Alfonso would be a reach this year but I stated that. Have you seen Nate Nelson? He can mash and has the size (6'5" 290lbs...with some agility) that is intriguing to teams. We'll have to wait and see.

Yags, you might be mis-remembering that 05 season.  My guess is you were with part of that harem you had there in Boston the night before.

Serfass was done in 04.  It must have been DiPietro with Espo in 05.  DiPietro did go on to get drafted after his Jr year in 05 by the Royals....I think in the sixth round.  Boy I wish he was there with us in 06, might have been able to spend an extra day or two in Appleton.

You must have a good in with Coach H.  You might be mis-remembering again though or maybe Coach is.  Espo threw 36 innings in 06.  He work out of the pen a lot (16 APP) and had six starts.  Don't remember him having any shoulder problems ever.  His only problem the last three years  has been a wierd back thing that comes and go's.  Actually it flared up once this year for about a week and that was it.  In 06 and early 07 it was a continuing on and off problem.  SO I don't think you should be throwing the ECSU coaching staff under the bus as far as Espo is concerned.  I actually thought he had a chance for a huge 08 season and shot at big post season awards.  I hope he gets a shot at the next level.  Great kid.   

YagsUMB

Talked to Holowaty in Arizona last year, during a UMB game and after ECSU had just played. He told me that he shouldn't have used Espo as much the prior year. He said he would always ask him if he was completely healthy and, being a competitor, the kid would always say he was fine. Athletes do that. Holowaty told me he knew something was wrong and wished he had put him on the shelf. HOLOWATY, himself, told me he kicked himself in the ass after the season. Its not a big deal. It probably wasn't the first and won't be the last.

I have a decent repoire with Coach Holowaty, having been recruited by him and having played against him. I talk to him casually when I see him, but he never came to visit me in Boston for a night of debachery, if thats what you're implying.

I thought it was a shoulder but the back sounds right. Nevertheless, he overused him considering the injury. It happens man. Sometimes a coaching staff listens to a kid when they should go on the information given to them by other sources (Trainers, catchers, pitching coaches, etc.). Every long time coach has done it. I know you realize that.

Rick Vaughn

I really appreciate the fact that I can hear these games online, but if you are gonna send someone all the way to Wisconsin I would assume they would be slightly better than what Trin sent out there. 

dgilblair

Quote from: YagsUMB on May 23, 2008, 07:25:30 PM

Sometimes a coaching staff listens to a kid when they should go on the information given to them by other sources (Trainers, catchers, pitching coaches, etc.). Every long time coach has done it. I know you realize that.

Your right on with that Yags.  Happens all to often I'm sure.  Coach probably would have enjoyed a visit to your harem up there in bean town.  That is if he didn't have the lovely wife Jan.  The women is a Saint.

Paul Heering

Quote from: Jcon8958 on May 22, 2008, 02:47:06 PM
Does anybody see any players coming out of New England that are going to be drafted come next week?

Baseball America rates Kiely as the 14th ranked prospect from lower New England (Connecticut & Rhode Island)
Even though me is from Mass, he is listed by where he attended college.  See below.  Some players had write ups about them (even some rated lower than Kiely) but he did not

NATIONAL TOP 200 PROSPECTS

1. Anthony Hewitt, ss/of, Salisbury (Conn.) School (National Rank: 41)
2. Ryan Westmoreland, of, Portsmouth (R.I.) HS (National Rank: 113)
3. Ryan Lavarnway, c/of, Yale (National Rank: 186)

OTHER PROSPECTS OF NOTE

4. Chris Dwyer, lhp, Salisbury (Conn.) School
5. Jason Esposito, 3b, Amity HS, Woodbridge, Conn.
6. Chris Gloor, lhp, Quinnipiac
7. Jim Fuller, lhp, Southern Connecticut State
8. Will Jolin, rhp, Guilford (Conn.) HS
9. George Springer, of, Avon (Conn.) Old Farms School
10. Brian Irving, rhp, Yale
11. David Erickson, rhp, Connecticut
13. Steve Gilman, rhp, Yale
14. Tim Kiely, rhp, Trinity (Conn.)
15. Brett Anderson, ss, Eastern HS, Bristol, Conn.
16. Erik Turgeon, rhp, Connecticut
17. Liam Ohlmann, rhp, Manchester (Conn.) JC
18. Anthony Meo, rhp, Cranston (R.I.) West HS
19. Matt Barnes, rhp, Bethel (Conn.) HS
20. Josh Cox, of, Yale
21. Mike Diaz, ss, Southern Connecticut State
22. Taylor Lewis, of, Montville (Conn.) HS
23. Zach Zaneski, c, Rhode Island
24. Matt Nuzzo, ss, Brown
25. Bill Perry, 3b, Hartford
26. Rob Hallberg, rhp, Brown
27. Pat Mahoney, c, Connecticut

soxfan42585

How about Enman from Saint Joes?

Anyone going to take a flyer on the kid in the late rounds?

Paul Heering

I am sure there will be more to come and I can't promise I didn't skip over one or two but here is a list of players listed on NECBL rosters for the summer of 2008.

Overall
15 of 22 are pitchers, not surprising
Eastern Connecticut (4) & Trinity (5) are well represented
More players than I expected from non New England Schools (5)

Danbury Westerners
Melvin Castillo--Shortstop--Sophomore--Eastern Connecticut
Vinny Ganz--Infield--Sophomore--William Patterson
Travis Ratliff--Pitcher--Freshman--Cortland State
Christopher Wojick--Pitcher--Freshman--Eastern Connecticut

Holyoke Blue Sox
Sean Kileen--Catcher/Infield--Junior--Trinity
James Wood--Outfield--Sophomore--Trinity
Andrew Zgrablich--Pitcher--Sophomore--Gordon

Keene Swamp Bats
David Colvin--Pitcher--Freshman--Pomona-Pitzer

Lowell All Americans   
Nicholas Pecora--SS/OF/1B--Junior--Wheaton
Conor Fahey--Pitcher--Junior--WPI
Matt Fontaine--Pitcher--Sophomore--Eastern Connecticut
Cory Moore--Pitcher--Sophomore--Curry

Manchester Silkworms
Ryan Piacentini--Infield--Junior--Trinity
Jeremiah Bayer--Pitcher--Junior--Trinity
James Kukucka--Pitcher--Junior--Eastern Connecticut
John Potrikus--Pitcher--Junior--Cortland State

Newport Gulls
None

North Adams SteepleCats
Daniel Benz--Pitcher--Junior--Williams

North Shore Navigators
Kent Graham--Infield/Outfield--Sophomore--Trinity
Wayde Kitchens--Pitcher--Junior--Chapman
Jimmy Lisowski--Pitcher--Junior--Springfield

Pittsfield Dukes
Louie Bernardini--Pitcher--Junior--Wheaton

Sanford Mariners
Mark Schmidt--Pitcher--Sophomore--Southern Maine

Torrington Twisters
None

Vermont Mountaineers
None

NEbaseball06

I was looking for some information from this past season and came across this site:  2008TrinityBaseball.com  which has an excellent YouTube video on it recapping the Bantams' season.  As a New Englander myself, it is great to see a NE team win the title again.

Great site & great slideshow on the homepage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJvcAFS_25w

KSCfan

Well teams are starting to pratice this past week, and i know its way early, but anyone want to weigh in on thier own preseason New England Poll.  Mine would look something like this
1. Trinity
2. Eastern CT
3. Southern Maine
4. Wheaton
5. KSC
6. WNEC
7. Williams
8. Roger Williams

My thoughts being that Trinity is defending National Champions, and are still #1 until someone proves otherwise, thier pitching is still very good. Eastern has the pitching and offense to be very good as does Southern Maine.  Wheaton is ranked nationally as well as Keene State.  After that, WNEC and Roger, and Williams are all teams that can get hot and rattle of a very good stretch of wins

ECSUalum

KSCFan,

My only input would be that ECSU and USM will be flipped, as Sullen Maine were ranked higher in two national polls, and that they are returning most of last years starters.  All others seem reasonable.

However, IMO, the preseason polls, (mostly National ) are meaningless, other than as an ego booster for the ranked teams and thier fans.

My philosophy is pre/early season polls are nice, but year-end /final polls really tell the story. It is the W/L results/statistics, that separarate the good, the bad, and the ugly.


KSCfan

ECSU alum i agree with your opinion on preseaon polls.  I am not a huge fan of them, but as work gets boring i try to find something to distract me. 

ECSUalum

Quote from: KSCfan on February 06, 2009, 08:01:09 AM
ECSU alum i agree with your opinion on preseaon polls.  I am not a huge fan of them, but as work gets boring i try to find something to distract me. 

KSCFan,

Just a 3 or so more weeks to go and we will be in full swing!!!!!!!

Keep us updated on the KSC Baseball field revamp.  That would be great for the team

Can't wait  ;D

TheGNAC

Quote from: KSCfan on February 05, 2009, 08:58:44 AM
Well teams are starting to pratice this past week, and i know its way early, but anyone want to weigh in on thier own preseason New England Poll.  Mine would look something like this
1. Trinity
2. Eastern CT
3. Southern Maine
4. Wheaton
5. KSC
6. WNEC
7. Williams
8. Roger Williams

My thoughts being that Trinity is defending National Champions, and are still #1 until someone proves otherwise, thier pitching is still very good. Eastern has the pitching and offense to be very good as does Southern Maine.  Wheaton is ranked nationally as well as Keene State.  After that, WNEC and Roger, and Williams are all teams that can get hot and rattle of a very good stretch of wins


Don't like the last 3 in your rankings, tbh.

WNEC lost a lot from their squad last season, including Schwamb and Anderson, their top hitter and pitcher, respectively. As for RW, they picked up a lot of wins over pretty weak teams, I don't see them duplicating their success from last year.

Williams, well, they only won 24 games last year, so I'd say there's a few teams who could be ranked ahead of them.

1. Trinity
2. Southern Maine
3. Eastern CT.
4. Wheaton
5. Keane State
6. Suffolk
7. St. Joe's (ME)
8. Williams

Suffolk should be strong again. Let's not forget they were ranked #3 in New England in the final regional rankings before the regional selections were made, and missed out mostly due to a numbers game. They swept USM in a double-header last year, and won a total of 29 games while having one of the strongest strength of schedules in the region. They graduated their #1 in Steve Durant and best hitter in Nick Martinho, but that team absolutely mashed last year, and should once again. They also have a ton of pitching depth, as they bring back all but 2 pitchers from 2008.

St. Joe's started off a bit slow but got hot at the right time, winning the GNAC tournament and making their 3rd straight regional. They absolutely deserve to be in the top 8, even if they lost their undisputed best player in Luke Enman. They returned basically their entire pitching staff, so I think they'll do some damage once again.

dgilblair

Pre season picks

1. Trinity
2. Southern Maine
3. Wheaton
4. Eastern CT.
5. St. Joe's (ME)
6. Keene State
7. Suffolk
8. Williams

Don't think Trinity will be in the top five at the end of the year. No disrespect but they lost 31 wins on the mound.  Bayer is a talent for sure but he will be facing other teams number 1 this year.