By Zach Braziller
Glenn Beyer won’t make a prediction about the regular season for one simple reason: The longtime John Adams baseball coach isn’t concerned about it. His only focus — the focus he’s always had in 18 years at the Ozone Park school — is on late May.
The playoffs are the real season; everything else is merely a warm-up. When it comes to the postseason, his goal is always the same.
“There’s only one hope I have every year: to win a championship,” he said. “That’s the only reason to go out and play. It’s not arrogant or cocky. Our goal is to win a championship because that’s all we know. Is it realistic? We have a puncher’s chance because of our talent and our two pitchers.”
Beyer has high hopes because of how much he returns. It starts with power-hitting middle infielder Jeffrey Valera, who is hearing from a host of top junior colleges, a player he says compares favorably at this age to New York Mets farmhand Carlos Guzman.
“Jeffrey was a better player than Carlos at this age,” Beyer said of the 6-foot, 190-pound Valera, who hit four home runs, batted .474, drove in 36 runs and scored 21 times a year ago. “It’s very hard to get your number retired by me, but he’ll get his number retired at the end of the year. He’s one of my all-time players.”
Fellow infielder Jorge Barahona, who had 29 RBIs and hit .490 last season, returns and so is catcher Adonis Castillo. Beyer thinks he has a solid pitching half. Right-hander Braylin Abreu, the staff ace, is back after going 7-1 last season, and will be followed in the rotation by junior varsity call-up Anderson Deleon and Tames Vargas.
Vargas can hardly break a pane of glass with his fastball, but the soft-tossing left-hander mixes up his pitches well and hits the corners. Deleon is hard to get a read on because he’s only 5-foot-5 and throws harder than many might expect.
“The ball comes on you quickly,” Beyer said. “He has tremendous command, a good change-up.”
Tom Lehman is thrilled star center fielder Josh Almonte has emerged as a pro prospect. The Long Island City coach always saw such potential in Almonte, but he’s pleased not just for Almonte, but the effect it’s having on his entire team.
“Sometimes we have Division II, Division III schools come down, but this is a first for our program,” Lehman said after three Major League scouts attended his team’s scrimmage against Grand Street Campus earlier in the week. “I always tell my guys you have to play like someone’s watching you. They see who’s watching and they’re like, ‘You’re right.’”
It also helps that Long Island City’s hardest working player is also Almonte, its best player, Lehman said. Not that Almonte is the Bulldogs’ lone threat. Cleanup hitter Leo Soto will bat behind Almonte, sophomore shortstop Christian Guerrero will also hit somewhere in the middle of the order and right-hander Charlie Mendes will be the staff ace.
“We have a very young team, but I think we can be very competitive,” Lehman said. “We have some talent.”
Newtown’s inexperience will be in the dugout, not on the field. With 11 seniors and 10 juniors, the Pioneers are loaded with upperclassmen — but they will be playing for a new coach. Junior varsity head man Ramon Canela will take over for longtime head man Neil Rosenblatt.
“For me this is a dream true,” the Newtown graduate said. “I’m very happy for the opportunity to do this.”
Canela will be relying on veterans such as senior catcher Luis Estevez, junior third baseman Chris Moreno and pitchers Naveed Asif (senior) and Alex Cruz (junior). Canela is high on Asif, a 6-foot-5, 240-pound hard-thrower he hopes can be an intimidating presence on the mound. He’s also looking for big things out of Cruz, who sat out last year after transferring into Newtown from Queens Vocational Tech.
“A lot of those kids went through a tough year last year and they’re trying to make this year memorable,” Canela said. “This could be the last year of Newtown baseball. We’re trying to make it a fun year. A lot of the kids have a lot to prove.”
Like Newtown, Francis Lewis has a new man in charge, its third new coach in as many years. Former Queens College standout John Palladino takes over for Greg Reo, who took over for Ian Millman last spring.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Palladino said. “It’s gonna be a great challenge to move up to the varsity level.”
Palladino, 26, who coached the JV at Lewis the last three years and is a social studies teacher at the Fresh Meadows school, isn’t sure what to expect. He does see talent, from senior catcher/infielder George Cornielle to senior first baseman Mike Insalaco and impressive sophomore shortstop Jalen Taveras. Without a lights-out ace and potent lineup, the key, Palladino said, will be playing sound defense and fundamental baseball.
“We have a lot of potential,” he said. “If we work hard and we put in the time, we can maximize the talent we have. My hopes are to get the most out of our talent. There isn’t one guy we have to lean on, it will be a team effort. I’m not gonna make predictions of what I think we’ll do.”
Forest Hills’ six-win turnaround last year wasn’t just a one-year phenomenon. The Rangers should be in contention for a playoff spot yet again with senior pitcher/outfielder Brett Wisner and senior outfielder Justin Ramos back. Wisner will be asked to take charge on the mound with Brian Scileppi and Amauris Santana having graduated.
If experience counts for anything, Aviation should be in store for a bounce-back year. Of the Flyers’ 18-man roster, 15 are either juniors and seniors. Among the key returnees are pitcher Darwin Rodriguez, pitcher/outfielder Elias Martinez and catcher William Reillo.
Everything will be new at Lane this year after last spring’s successful 11-5 campaign — new coach and new players. Michael Allen takes over for Jim Curcio on the bench and will be counting on a new group with so much lost to graduation. Senior Jose Cirineo and sophomore Giovanni Romero will be counted on to carry the load.
