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 New Jersey Baseball Recruits & ProspectsFirst Love, First Base: Park Smith III
Gifted athletes come and go, and, over the years, New Jersey Baseball Magazine has had the opportunity to meet and interview many of them. Some realize their goals and some do not, but few have as clear a vision of where life will take them as Park Smith III. Park hails from Martinsville, NJ, where he played at various levels, eventually ascending to his senior year at Denison University, where he majors in political science and minors in philosophy. At each of those levels Park has set and achieved new standards for himself, and to date he has always measured up. At 22 years-old, he can already look back on a baseball career that has seen him succeed wherever he’s played. New Jersey Baseball Recruits & ProspectsWindow of Opportunity: Matt Roland
According to Answers.com, the odds of becoming a professional ball player, in any sport, are 837 to 1. Those represent long odds, no question, except to spirited, young ball players with visions of advancing as far as their abilities will take them. As far as they are concerned, the prospects for achieving their goals depend almost entirely on their individual levels of motivation and commitment to hard work. For Matthew Roland of Springfield, New Jersey, the motivation is there. New Jersey Baseball Magazine™ recently caught up with Matthew and his father, Bob, at the new Frozen Ropes of Union (see also Frozen Ropes of Union at www.njbaseballmag.com). Matt, presently a sophomore at Jonathan Dayton High School in Springfield, “has played baseball since he was five years-old,” as his Dad explains. While playing for Little League teams in both Springfield and Union, Matt appeared on “every All-Star team.”
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Recruits and ProspectsPassion for the Game - Jose Garcia Growing up in the Dominican Republic one cannot help but learn about and learn to love the game of baseball. Just ask any one of the hundreds of players born there who have made it to the big leagues. All it takes is a cursory glance at the all-time list of Dominican born players to know how extensive the learning process is. From Adrian Beltre, Robinson Cano, and Jose Reyes to Albert Pujols, Rafael Furcal and the legendary Alou brothers, this popular resort country has produced some of the most successful, famous ballplayers in major league history. Senior Shortstop–2nd baseman–pitcher Jose Garcia, a product of the Dominican Republic and of Trenton Central High School (TCHS), hopes someday to become one of them. In the words of his Uncle Marcos, Jose “eats, lives, and breathes baseball,” and he has done so ever since he played in Little League…at the age of 7. He had a gift and a passion for the game from the first time he set foot on a baseball field. It’s the legacy of growing up in the D.R. Recruits and ProspectsHard Work and Focus - Hans Schundler If diligence and concentration form the ingredients of success, then Hans Schundler of Jersey City has no worries, in baseball or in life. The 11 year-old fifth grader of Hoboken’s Mustard Seed School already has accumulated experiences, accolades, and perspective that most of us do not achieve in a lifetime. He knows, for example, that a baseball team’s performance on defense depends largely on having talented players up the middle – i.e., catcher, pitcher, middle infield, and center field – all positions that he plays, incidentally. He models himself after successful major leaguers, and he knows that “It doesn’t matter how much you practice, if you don’t practice the right way.” Heady stuff, no doubt, from an 11 year-old; although not all that surprising. He started playing T-Ball at age 5. Hans touts baseball as his “absolutely favorite sport,” itself a fairly remarkable fact, inasmuch as he “didn’t really get that from anyone in the family.” After he played T-ball at the tender age of five, he found that he had a natural liking for the game. 
New Jersey Baseball Recruits & ProspectsSharing the Wealth: Anthony Lebron
Some fairly sophisticated observations for an average ten year-old, right? Except that Anthony Lebron does not resemble an average ten year-old. U.S. Baseball Online FeatureAmerican Legion World Seriesby Bill Wells
This year, however, Dean and a veteran Berryhill team wanted more – and they got it. After winning its state and regional tournaments, Berryhill went undefeated at the national tournament en route to winning the 2009 World Series title Aug. 14-18 at Fargo, N.D. “The program... we’ve won way more than our share of state tournaments,” said Steve Cronkright, in his 16th season as the Berryhill manager. “We keep going back and working hard. You never imagine winning the last World Series game.
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New Jersey Baseball Bullpen SponsorFrozen Ropes
The first observation you make when you enter the converted warehouse at 60 Milltown Road is the friendly reception you receive from the Frozen Ropes staff. Operating as cash businesses in a recovering, consumer economy, baseball training academies such as Frozen Ropes have nonetheless appeared all across the country.
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Should My Child Choose College
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New Jersey Baseball Feature StoryKeeping It In The Family
Keeping baseball in the family has its precedent. The brothers Alou and Niekro, and the father-son tandem of Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey, Jr., come readily to mind. New Jersey Baseball Feature StoryMarvelous Maeve
The Amazin’ Mets’ Marvelous Marv Throneberry Fans of the game – particularly Mets’ fans – will no doubt recall Marvelous Marv Throneberry, who played first base for the Amazin’ Mets of the early-to-mid-1960s. Long-time Mets fans remember Marvelous Marv as a tall, soft-spoken, slugger who brought infrequent but impressive power to the plate and, well, butter fingers to the field. Nearly a half-century later, another young player emerges who commands the same nickname, but this time for all the right reasons. Meet Marvelous Maeve Ducas, a nine year-old phenom from Scranton, Pennsylvania who dazzles on offense and defense for a boys’ little league baseball team called Tim Wagner’s Sporting Goods. Maeve started playing baseball innocently enough. She is the youngest of four children and, at the tender, young age of seven years-old... New Jersey Baseball Feature StoryRealizing the Dream
 Baseball Biomechanicsby Frank Colabella 
The 21st century is here, where technology and science meet baseball. For years motion capture has been around for video games and the elite golfer and major league baseball players. Here a sports motion is recorded with sensors and a 3-D computer generated motion is created. This motion can pick up on flaws in the human body, which if corrected then can prevent injury and better a pitcher or hitter. Injury prevention is crucial to a young athlete’s development. Doctors nationwide are reporting a growing number of young pitchers with serious arm injuries. Most injuries are coming from inefficiencies in pitching, muscle imbalances in the body from lack of exercise, and over use which the body cannot handle. One tool elite athlete’s use is to have athletic trainers, physical therapists and team physicians evaluate who then recommend for a 3-d motion capture analysis. That term is used way too loosely in the baseball and golf industry. Many think you take a camera record the motion and the view. Analyze and compare to a major league player. Things have changed!! New Jersey Baseball Feature StoryQuiet Confidence
A graduate of Dave Gallagher’s Baseball Academy, Casey approaches his junior season with impressive credentials. In addition to playing in his District Little League tournament at age 10, he pitched for his 16 year-old, Pony League All-Star team, recording the team’s only win in the Eastern Region tournament, won a semi-final game in the Mercer County Tournament, pitched above his level on the Lawrence Senior Legion team, and became a reliable starter for his varsity baseball team when only a sophomore. He enters the Spring ’09 campaign as Notre Dame’s ace of the staff New Jersey Baseball Feature StoryBorn to Pitch
In fact, you might even say that he was born to pitch. Aside from some brief experience playing second base in Little League, he has performed as a pitcher his entire young life. It seemed to always come easy for him. He has great footsteps to follow, excellent training, consistent support from his parents, and the physical talent and mental toughness to succeed. 
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You would not expect a ten year-old ball player to have aspirations beyond having fun and trying to make the plays he sees his heroes make at the professional level. Anthony Lebron of Paterson, NJ enjoys baseball as much as any kid you know. He loves watching Derek Jeter make “amazing plays and A-Rod hit game winning home runs.” He marvels at Mark Texeira’s bat speed and fielding prowess at 1st base; and, he particularly admires Jorge Posada’s “glove movement, his soft hands.”
Jordan Dean admitted Berryhill Post 165 of Midland, Mich., was just happy to be at the 2008 American Legion World Series.
As everyone in the baseball training industry knows by now, the Frozen Ropes franchise system occupies a significant niche in the national market. With over 40 franchises operating nationally and even one in Verona, Italy, more coaches and parents everywhere view Frozen Ropes as the go-to training facility for players of any age to learn the finer points of the greatest game on earth. New Jersey Baseball Magazine tracked down Bill Connolly, Bob Roland and staff in November ’09 for an update on the two year-old Frozen Ropes of Union.
To be precise, Ron has a vision for Magic Sports Tournament and Health Complex, a multi-sport, tournament, training, instructional, multi-service sports and health center unlike any other. Magic Baseball, a travel team that got its start in 1999, started him thinking. But it was not until he saw Cooperstown Dreams Park (CDP) that the idea began to take shape.
Supply Meets Demand
When you think of people who have a passion for baseball in general and for youth baseball in particular, you need look no farther than Dave Wintermute and Richard Roy of Lambertville. Between them, they bring a zest to the game that youth baseball advocates everywhere may emulate.
To hear Coach Jimmy Hill and Coach Pete Connell tell it, you would no doubt agree that it’s a no-brainer. Training young ball players in the fundamentals of baseball, that is. New Jersey Baseball caught up with these ambitious, resourceful owners of The Fred Hill Sports Academy (FHSA) in late summer 2008.
Carolyn Malmi has “loved baseball since she was a kid” growing up in Chicago. She played girls’ softball until she turned sixteen years-old, when she reached sophomore year of high school. She played the game well enough to earn a roster spot on the girls’ U.S. Junior Olympic team that went to Amsterdam in 2001.
Growing up in a family of athletes brings a variety of expectations and pressures with which most of us are unfamiliar. Not so for Brock Podgurski. His father, Walt Podgurski, was a 1st Team All-State player in high school, a 1st Team All-American in college, and was drafted by the Minnesota Twins. Brock’s younger brother, Ben, played on the 12 year-old Cal Ripken State championship team, and both younger sisters play softball on their local recreation league teams.
Like most 17 year-olds with a passion for baseball, Anthony Sicuranza of Harrington Park, New Jersey, has dreamed of playing the game and rubbing elbows with the best of the best. He has favorite ball players whom he follows and tries to emulate, he plays third base on his community rec team, and he can recite little known facts about the game that many of us have forgotten.
He says that he remembers being a fan of baseball ever since he “saw Wade Boggs ride the horse” after the New York Yankees clinched the 1996 World Series. It was the first time the Bronx Bombers had won the series in nine years. Fittingly, Anthony was five years-old at the time.
Every so often we meet a young pitcher who embodies the best qualities of a seasoned competitor – an earnest, unrelenting presence on the mound coupled with a modest, unassuming personality. Few fit that description better than Casey Clark, a junior southpaw for Notre Dame High School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.
You could almost say that Nick Nametko was born to play baseball. The 6’3” 230 lb. junior pitcher for Manchester High School in Ocean County has played some form of organized baseball since the age of four. That’s right, since the age of four. If he was not born, literally, to play the game, he certainly comes close to that distinction.
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