Rockland Player of the Year
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- July
- 8
Once all the first-team players have been chosen, the next job is to pick a player of the year. This year’s field was a bit deeper than in years past. I wasn’t sure who was going to be player of the year until the coaches and I picked one.
The last few years I knew in advance who was going to win. Robbie Aviles was so good last year that despite the great season by his teammate Jimmy Brennan he was a shoo-in. Same thing the year before that when Sean Giblin pitched Pearl River into the sectional final.
No Rockland teams even made a sectional final this year so there were few postseason heroes. Some guys had great regular seaosn numbers but had enough hiccups to put their candidacy in question.
At season’s end it was still very much up in the air. I studied the numbers and looked back at some big games and started to lean slightly in one direction. But I figured I’d see what the coaches thought before I made a call. If they strongly favored someone else I could be convinced. It turned out they liked the same guy I did. Problem solved.
Now it’s your chance to tell me what you think. I’m going to give you the list of four players who were my finalists. Make the call, and tell me why. Then place your vote in the poll to the right.
Robbie Aviles, Suffern, 1B/P
Jimmy Brennan, Suffern, CF/P
Dan Diaz, Nanuet, SS/P
Vinny Martorelli, North Rockland, C
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 at 5:26 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.
What is this love affair you have with Dan Diaz?
He really isn’t THAT good.
solid pitcher, not a great hitter. To be on the same list as brennan? Come on.
Diaz is nothing special at all. He played in a much weaker league than the other three on this list. When Nanuet scrimmaged at South before sectionals, South roughed him up. He would be nothing more than a #3 on Suffern, South, or North Rockland.
Why the hating on Danny D? The guy was unhittable for most of the year. True, he played in a weaker league than Rockland-AA. I don’t deny that. But it wasn’t much weaker. Hastings, Albertus, and Pearl River were good teams. And Rockland-AA had East Ramapo and a bad Clarkstown North team. So don’t overestimate how much better League I-B was than League III-C.
As a pitcher, Diaz did basically all he could do. He K’ed 74 in 46 innings. He gave up four earned runs over his last five starts. And his final start was a one-hitter in the playoffs. When he wasn’t hitting he played shortstop, the most important defensive position on the field.
I’m not saying he should definitely be player of the year. I’m just saying he belongs in the discussion.
I guess people have not learned the Pennell lesson – you don’t have to be in AA to be as good (or better) than kids who happen to go to bigger schools. I don’t know this kid from Adam but knocking him on these grounds is sour grapes and wrong. Pennell, who took this knock all year is lighting it up against top national competition in GA right now and will have his pick of D1 offers.
However like I said, Diaz was roughed up (perhaps even an understatement) when throwing against South and that was heading into postseason play. And evidently, Diaz does not have his pick of D1 offers. I am not arguing in the case of Pennell who is performing at an elite level this summer