Rockland's best pitchers
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- June
- 30
Everybody who works a local beat at The Journal News has been finishing up their all-star selections over the last few days. It’s our big project after the season ends. There are coaches to consult, notes to pore over, naps to take when the boss is out of the office. Wait, um, not that last one.
Some all-stars are locks. Everyone pretty much knows that Sean Hagan is going to make the first team in Westchester/Putnam, for example. Or Steve Prosapio in Rockland. But making those last few choices can be really tough. Every sport season there’s at least one spot on the first team that I end up agonizing over. Last spring I thought Ian Reese, the Pearl River catcher, was a first-team talent. But the all-county catcher had to be Billy Ribiero of Nyack, who had a monster year. I tried to squeeze him in elsewhere but it just didn’t work. The starting shortstop spot was tough too, as four guys had legitimate cases. I ended up going with Alec Cartagena, the slickest fielder among them. The point of all this is to show what a difficult — but fun — process the all-star selection is.
Now that Josh and I have made our choices we can start building suspense for the release of the special all-star sections, which come out Sunday July 11. Why it takes so long to print is a constant mystery, but that’s a whole other discussion. We try to keep all the selections quiet until then. The kids and coaches know so some of it leaks out.
There are three pitcher spots on the first team. Listed below are the best pitchers in Rockland. Tell me which three you would pick as all-county.
Robbie Aviles, Suffern: 9-1, 1.91 ERA, 66 IP, 40 H, 23 BB, 89 Ks
Dan Diaz, Nanuet: 7-1, 2.10 ERA, 46.2 IP, 22 H, 24 BB, 84 K
Ryan Fasano, North Rockland: 3-4, 2.28 ERA, 61.1 IP, 61 H, 17 BB, 50 K
Jordan Kolinsky, Clarkstown South: 4-2, 1.78 ERA, 35.1 IP, 21 H, 10 BB, 35 K
Stephen Putnick, Pearl River: 6-4, 2.30 ERA, 64 IP, 63 H, 12 BB, 63 K
Nick Viohl, North Rockland: 5-4, 1.67 ERA, 46 IP, 26 H, 20 BB, 31 K
This entry was posted
on Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 2:53 pm by Jake Thomases.
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Josh Thomson has done some of everything since joining The Journal News in
March 2003. He began working for the Gannett weeklies during the winter of
2002 as a freelance writer. He joined the daily staff soon after and has
since covered various high school and pro sports. Away from sportswriting,
Josh lives in Westchester and spends his free time either with his
fiancee, Sarah, or expertly managing his various championship-winning
fantasy sports teams. He's visited 21 major-league baseball stadiums and
insists that Fenway Park and Wrigley Field are the best by far. Josh
graduated from Carmel High School in 1998, then went to Boston University,
where, in 2002, he received a degree in communications with a minor in
history. 
Jake Thomases has covered baseball, hockey, girls basketball, and girls soccer for the Journal News since arriving in 2003. He previously interned at The Poughkeepsie Journal while attending Vassar College. He is socking money away under his mattress to buy the Knicks, at which time he will trade Jerome James to Cleveland for a ham sandwich.
Jordan Kolinsky missed his junior year due to Tommy John surgery. He went through rehab and trained hard gaining size and strength. He came back to have the 2nd lowest era in the league, averaged one strikeout per inning pitched, one of the lowest walks to innings pitched, led his league in rbi's (played less games due to playoffs than the player that tied him), had the second highest batting average and second best on base percentage. Innings pitched were less than others due to strict pitch counts on his rehab program and he still managed to have two complete games. That looks like an All County All-Star to me.
Kolinsky oftened pitched against weak teams. Two of his wins were against East Ramapo
BB – It amazes me how some people try to cut down the accomplishments of others. There are always stronger and weaker teams in every league. When Kolinsky pitched against Ramapo the first time they were the league leader and had the highest team batting average in the league. Unfortunately, Rockland does not play the same teams three times in a row, which in my opinion is the way it should be done. The pitching rotation was established and the third game forward in the rotation was his next time up. Both of these games were early on when he had a low pitch count and only pitched four innings. Kolinsky also pitched against Regis, Suffern, North and Valley Central. All very good teams and he was consistant regardless of the team he faced. My recommendation was not based on win-loss, but on the overall statistics of the ballplayer. Ramapo represented only 8 innings pitched. Do you want to trash all the teams?
Jordan had a great year and coming off Tommy John surgery is a great accomplishment and speaks volumes to his commitment. Not taking anything away from Jordan, but the year Robbie Aviles and Dan Diaz had are just dominating. The Rockland pitcher of the year looks like a toss up between the two.
jordan can get the utility position. he had a high batting average and he pitched well also
Fasano/Aviles/Viohl