A Behind the Scenes look at summer baseball
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- July
- 21
Many of you have asked for more on the summer baseball circuit. It isn’t exactly results, but I delved into the topic for a story in today’s paper. There are various levels a player can choose to play summer ball now. Some teams are nearly free. Others can cost upwards of $3-4-5,000. But it’s safe to say the more major tournaments a player competes in, the more looks he will get from scouts.
Indeed, showcases and major showcase tournaments have changed summer baseball forever, it seems. The story takes a look at how.
Read about the interesting case of Pat Farina, who went from a player with few, if any, options to one with $40,000 in scholarship money.
I’ll have more either later today or tomorrow on the recruitment of Ryan Pennell, who has been besieged by phone calls from colleges since July 1.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 at 11:27 am by Josh Thomson. 
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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.
Clippers coach I saw one of your games down in Virginia, I believe the team called themselves the Young Guns. Who is that Evan Longoria/Ryan Braun like kid one your team?
congrats to pat and family wouldnt got that playing for the iron men
Josh great job in getting to the bottom of the great debate. it’s just different strokes for different folks. No one way and it all depends on your ambitions, where you hope to go to school and what your expectations are. I can only commend the coaches of all these programs for all the time they dedicate to the kids.
if you want to save a bunch of money ..most colleges run summer camps where a coach can get a close up look at you(ballplayer) and give you his true evaluation… go to the weekly camp and pay for a couple of days ..not every family can afford 3-5000.00 dollars..this is not to knock these travel teams but there are other ways to get your kid looked at
Nice article Josh …... Good Job!
Fan, you could go to college-run camps, however, how many can you possibly attend? And you are only getting seen by that one school you are at. You get much more exposure at these tourneys from schools you never even thought of attending. Congrats to Pat!
congrats to pat… great job
What local players play on the Clippers and Diamond Buddies?
2009 American Team: SS/Mike Mercurio (High Point), C/Tyler Donovan (Winthrop), P-3B/George Perrota (Holy Cross), P/Nick Iuni (SCAD), P/Steven Roche (High Point), OF/David Wood (Elon), OF/Joe Rock (Manhattan), P/Nick McBride (East Carolina), C/Matt Gaine (Jacksonville ), P/Tyler Tucci (St Joe’s/Undecided), IF-C/Luis Gonzales (Concordia), P/Greg Devoux(Keene State), P/Willie Gabay(Mahopac-undecided), IF/Peter Gordon(undecided-Saunders), P/Nick Modico(Boston College), OF-IF/Dan Parham(Villanova), P/Mike Petilli (High Point), OF/Ed Spittaletta(Manhattan), 3B/Trace McDermott(Don Bosco Prep,Undecided),OF/IF/Pat Farina(Mahopac,undecided)
2010 National Team: P/ Ryan Pennell(Rye Neck), IF/ TJ Olesczuk (Hen Hud), P/ Chris Becker (Mahopac), 1B/ Brett Gemmell (Marlboro), OF/ Michael Lang (Ketcham), P/John Melville (Kingston), P/ Chris Roberto (Mahopac), OF/Gaston Rojas (Carmel), OF-IF/Brian Sullivan (Iona Prep), C/ Elias Tsouristakis (Fordham Prep), P/ Anthony Zawostowski (Minisink Valley), IF/ John Pilla (Ardsley), IF/ Jim McGowan (Mahopac), C/ Jon Casten (Valley Central), OF/Joe Mercurio (Mahopac), !B-P/ Mike Tandy(Hen Hud) ,IF/ Colin Moran (Iona Prep), P-OF/Billy Demersky (Mahopac), OF/Josey Espinal(Beacon), P-3B/Matt Phillips(Lakeland), P/Chris Erker(Mahopac), P-OF/Rich Giner(Horace Greeley), P/Angel Lugo(JJEF), P/Brandon Serio(Fox Lane)
Congratulations to the 16U Mamaroneck Tigers Babe Ruth Team for defeating Port Chester 8-0 last night to win the Metro New York State Championship and advance to the Mid Atlantic Regionals next month. The Tigers are led by current Mamaroneck varsity players Robert Gross, Jordan Zelin, Scott Hagan and Dean Chiapparelli.
beat port chester huh? congrats on such a big win over a really tough program.
Mamk Fan, you forget to mention the man with perhaps the performance of the tournament: Mamaroneck Pitcher Sam Wallach, who threw 12 innings of 2 run ball in the quarterfinals after getting the save the game before.
For Mahopac this year Chris Erker and Jim McGowan were the only ones that apperared for the indians.
you also forgot to mention the mention the game changer in the championship game. scott hagan pitched 5 one hit innings striking out 6 and went 3-4 with 2 hrs and 5 rbi
Doesn’t any one play for the love of the game anymore it seems like these keds are only playing to get a scholarship, and there are a group of people out there that exploit this desire, thats why inmy opinion in the not so near future there will be no more H.S. sports only organzations like these and similar ones in soccer and AAU basketball, its really sad.
The Rockland OTB Pirates defeated Shrub Oak tonight by the score 3-2 in 12 innings to capture the American Legion District 9 Championship. Dan Zlotnik pitched for Shrub Oak with Volpe coming on in relief. OTB starter Phil Martino went 5 inn. and Frank Rosario, Ryan Scanlon & Vinny Martorelli came on in relief to preserve the victory. OTB Pirates advance to the NYS Tournament in Utica, NY which starts on Wed. 7/29.
the american legion?? i never heard of it in this area…i know it is big in other states…how many American legion teams compete in this ares
There are 7 teams in NYS District 9. Rockland OTB Pirates, Newburgh Nuclears, Shrub Oak, Yonkers, Middletown, Rockland RiverDawgs, Ellenville
My opinion,
Speaking from experience, these kids play for scholarships BECAUSE they love their sport. They want to continue playing the sport they love at the next level. Nothing wrong with that.
Hey my opinion, High school sports has never been better. It is because of all these outside teams that the level of play has gone up in every sport in High School not just baseball.
Why aren’t there more teams in the American Legion league?
Only 7 teams covering Westchester, Rockland, Sullivan and Orange Counties does not seem to be enough. Is it very hard to start a franchise? What about Putnam and Dutchess Counties…...American Legion is not represented well in this area if there are only 7 teams from Yonkers to Ellenville. That is about a 75 mile drive
because then it wouldnt be competetive. youre already bringing kids together from mulitiple school districts. why would you want to break it down even further?
I think only 7 teams in that wide an area is not about keeping it competitive. The American Legion is unferrepresented in this area and needs to recruit new franchises in Westchester , Putnam, Dutchess.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe there should be many more American Legion teams within an hours drive of each other.
Someone told me that you do not even need to be sponsored by an American Legion to enter a team. If that is true , they need to advertise the league better to attract more teams.
legion ball is done. its too tough to get fields, to many stupid rules and when you bring back college players to compete with 16 and 17 yrs olds there is no interest. legion ball still lives in other states where there are no other option. towns like carmel, somers, and a few others had tried to start legion programs but have been blocked by the shrub oak guy. he doesn’t want competition for players since there are school restrictions.