It’s back to the basics for St. John’s Prep.
Last season, the Red Storm made their fourth consecutive trip to the CHSAA Class A baseball final, winning their third championship in four years. But there are few familiar faces left from that title team.
“We lost six starters off our team from last year,” coach Jason Bigeni said. “It’s more of a rebuilding year for us now.”
St. John’s Prep only returns two starters from last season and will look to four players to fill leadership roles. The new ace of the staff will be Dave Adams, who was Bigeni’s No. 3 pitcher. Also returning is center fielder Alonzo Stagger, leading the outfield. The next two players are ones who have made position switches in order to help solidify the Red Storm’s team.
Jorge Rodriguez will slide from second base over to shortstop. Edwin Vidal, who was mainly a utility man for Bigeni last year, logging a lot of time in the outfield, will move behind the plate for the Red Storm. Other than that, the coach will look for his newcomers to pick up the slack.
“We have a lot of juniors coming up from JV to help us,” Bigeni said. “They won their league last year, so the talent’s definitely there. They know what it takes to win and that’s what you need.”
Bigeni’s confidence in his team is not shaken, despite the question marks of younger players stepping up to the varsity level. Although he calls this season a rebuilding year, he still believes his team will contend with the stiff competition of the ‘A’ league.
“This might not be the most talented team I’ve ever coached,” Bigeni said. “But it’s definitely the hardest working one I’ve coached. We’re going to compete.”
Monsignor Scanlan leads the group of stiff competition that Bigeni alluded to.
The Crusaders are in a similar position as St. John’s Prep. They return four seniors from last year’s team, which lost to St. John’s Prep in the final, but coach Keith DelValle has zero thoughts about rebuilding.
“I have no problem in saying we’re the best team in our league,” DelValle said.
DelValle’s goal for his Scanlan squad is the championship, one it won two seasons ago and just slipped out of its grasp last season.
“We have the taste of winning,” DelValle said. “We were right there last year, only two outs away from winning. Now our goal is to get there and walk away with the trophy.”
Scanlan will look to get there relying on new ace Bryan Mulgrew, who DelValle expects to be a top pitcher in the league, and offensive anchor, catcher Albert Fernandez. Another player to watch out for is freshman Joel Paulino, who will take over at shortstop for Scanlan.
“The sky’s the limit for us,” DelValle said.
Cathedral Prep is on the opposite side of the spectrum as St. John’s Prep and Monsignor Scanlan. It lost one senior off last year’s team. Coach Rolando Lopez still made some changes coming into this year, hoping to build off a .500 season.
“Last season was my first year as coach,” Lopez said. “So I’m looking for us to improve our record.”
Lopez cites the high level of play in the league as an obstacle, with St. John’s Prep and Scanlan always contending. But with the help of ace junior Anthony LaPorta and offensive leadership of shortstop John Starace and senior catcher Christopher West, Lopez is looking for his team to make some noise.
The league will be rounded out with LaSalle, in its first year back in the ‘A’ league after making the move down from ‘AA’, along with Sacred Heart and Bishop Loughlin.