2016 Massachusetts Spring Team Preview: Belmont Hill HS
March 1, 2016
By Dylan Hefflinger, Dennis Healy, Trevor Brown and PBR Staff
Editor in Chief / Co-Director of Scouting
With the 2016 spring season right around the corner, PBR New England is eagerly anticipating bringing the New England states the best high school coverage throughout the region.
Starting February 1st, we began releasing team previews for teams across the state, leading into the Preseason All-State Teams as well as the Preseason State Rankings.
If you are a coach and haven't filled out your 2016 Team Preview, click here.
Interested in attending a PBR New England event? Check out our schedule by clicking here.
2016 Massachusetts Spring Team Preview: Belmont Hill HS
Team Name: Belmont Hill (MA)
Head Coach: Michael Grant
Division: Prep Private
2015 Record: 17-4
Conference Record: 13-2
Returning Starters/Pitchers: 5/2
Overall Thoughts:
- We graduated a ton of players, nine contributors, five of which are playing college baseball - gone are Charlie McConnell SS (starting at Northeastern) Ben Wanger RHP/1B (Yale, Baseball America's projected Rookie of the year in the Ivy and last year's ISL MVP), Jack Wilhoite RHP/OF (Bowdoin), Noah Levine OF (Middlebury), Colin Ward RHP (Tufts). That class had gone 40-5 in league play over past 3 years. We have good players to replace them, but they are largely unproven. We will be young but athletic. Lots of guys can run, play good defense and have high potential. BUT they are young.
2016 Team Strengths:
- We are built on two high level kids ... AJ Difillipo (Columbia bound) and Austen Masel (Holy Cross). They finished 2nd and 3rd in the league in hitting last year. Masel is one of the top defensive CF in New England and AJ was 3rd in ISL in ERA a year ago. They will need to carry us if we are going to win. We should be able to pitch - Peter O'Connell, Chip Daley, and AJ Difillipo are all good arms and we have good depth beneath them. Team should be solid defensively as well and everyone can run, no base cloggers.
2016 Team Weaknesses:
- We may struggle to score runs. Will need to force teams to pitch to Masel/Difillippo and get guys on base when they come to plate. Also need relatively young guys with talent to step up and contribute at a high level.
Top Returning Players:
- AJ Difillipo, RHP/3B, 6-0 1.08 38K 38 IP, .479 BA 29 RBI (Columbia)
- Austen Masel, OF - .468 8 SB 22 runs scored (Holy Cross)
- Evan Sleight, OF
Top 2016 Players:
- Austen Masel, OF
- AJ Difillipo, RHP/INF
- Brendan Rocha, C
Top 2017 Players:
- Peter O'Connell, RHP/OF
- Robert Cronin, INF
Top 2018/2019 Players:
- Jake McOsker, LHP/OF (possible D1) - legit arm with + velocity
- Evan Sleight, OF (possible D1) - outstanding athlete, D1 Defender
- Jaylen Bailey, OF/LHP (possible D1) - hammers the baseball
- Connor Hopkins, C - good size and tools for a young kid
- Bryan Gotti, LHP - physically huge (6'3" 220) and will add velocity
- Spenser Smith, SS - Outstanding hands and feet, just needs fill out physically and at the plate
Notable Alumni:
- Keelan Smithers, Princeton
- Sean Gustin, Holy Cross (Academ All Amer last year)
- Jake Levine, Brown (Academ All Amer last year)
- Soren Hanson, Colby (1st team all NESCAC)
- Nolan Brennan, (Bucknell)
- Harry Roberson, (Amherst, NESCAC Rookie of the year 2015)
- Charlie McConnell, (Northeastern)
- Ben Wanger, (Yale)