May 17th, 2022
The Albany Dutchmen are used to having players from major schools and the 2022 season will be no exception.
After a 21-21 2021 season, the Dutchmen bring in a number of players from big-name schools who will be key parts of the team in 2022.
It will have numerous high-level talents, including a pair of Oklahoma Sooners in infielder Mason Lowe and pitcher Luc Fladda. Catcher Austin Bode (Louisville) will also be coming. They also bring in first baseman/outfielder Anthony Raimo (Rhode Island) and infielder Danny Rogers (Rutgers). A pair of Princeton teammates in outfielder/pitcher Caden Shapiro and first baseman Kyle Vinci will play for them as well.
Head Coach Nick Davey said that they will have some returners for the 2022 season. Three of them are pitchers Michael DiMartino (Fairleigh Dickinson), who pitched to a 2.51 ERA across 10 appearances for the Dutchmen last summer, Connor O’Neill (Manhattan), who had a 3.06 ERA in nine relief appearances and Billy Fitzgerald, who made six appearances out of the bullpen.
They will also return a few offensive players. Two-way player Chase Carroll (UAlbany) will return, who pitched four innings last year and played in 10 games as second baseman. Nick Schwartz (Southern New Hampshire) is also back, who hit .340 in 34 games as catcher last summer.
“It’s a couple things. It’s a reminder to us as an organization and myself and my coaching staff that we’re doing the right thing, with that amount of kids wanting to come back and play for us, so we’re really happy about that,” Davey said. “I think we’re going to be young, which isn’t a bad thing… all that means to me is opportunity.”
Davey, who is the second-longest tenured head coach in the PGCBL, has a coaching style of letting his players be free and loose, allowing them to get the experience that playing in the league and for him can provide. Stealing bases is a big part of that, with the Dutchmen having broken team and individual records for stolen bases in recent years.
“I just like to play fast,” Davey said. “I’m not afraid to let them fail. I want them to learn their game, I want them to learn the game, I want them to become better all-around baseball players and I think by giving them some freedom and letting them dictate what happens, I think they learn the game a little bit more and that’s what summer baseball is for.”
At the end of the day, Davey is excited to bring his team back to Albany this summer and have success in the 2022 season.
“They know what they need to get out of this summer and they need they need this experience as much as we want them here,” Davey said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to see some real development from day one to day 60.”