Live Look Recap: 2/25-2/26
Midweek D1 Action in the Northeast
Seton Hall v Wagner
-Seton Hall played their home opener on Tuesday 2/25 against Wagner College, picking up a 14-6 victory. This was a good opportunity to get an early look at draft-eligible sophomore AJ Soldra. Soldra, an NJIT transfer, is someone I’ve talked about extensively and is one of the better college bats in the northeast. He went 1-3 with a single up the middle, a walk, and a HBP. Soldra shows plus bat speed and one of the more aesthetically pleasing ‘A’ swings you’ll see in the region. He’s a bit of a late bloomer and is just starting to tap into his potential as a hitter. The approach is understandably raw. On Tuesday and during prior looks, Soldra made some questionable swing decisions in hitter’s counts which led to some odd looking swings against less than stellar pitching. His high level hand-eye coordination and bat speed allows him to get to most offerings thrown his way. However, it seems to me that he is still learning the difference between what pitches he ‘CAN’ get to and what pitches he ‘SHOULD’ get to. That said, Soldra is off to a fantastic start with a .404/.482/.575 line through 54 plate appearances.
On the defensive end, Soldra has made noticeable gains as a centerfielder since my fall viewings. He’s making better reads off the bat and looked good going back on flyballs towards the warning track/outfield wall. You can see that Soldra is getting more comfortable in center after only playing 16 games there between last spring and summer.
If the last year or two are any indication, teams are a bit wary of committing to draft-eligible sophomores. A lot of that is financially driven as sophomores have greater negotiating leverage with two years of college eligibility in their back pocket. With Soldra, teams may ultimately feel more comfortable waiting until the 2026 draft to see how the bat rounds into form. Regardless, he’ll be on the draft radar this spring and will get a chance to perform in front of scouts with wood this summer on the cape.
*Soldra Double from the Fall*
-Catching Duo Delivers
-The Pirates have a dangerous offensive tandem at catcher with senior Jimmy Brennan (Post U transfer) and sophomore Kevin Milewski. Both righty bats slugged pull side homers on Tuesday and are up to 3 homers apiece this season. Brennan was a consistent offensive force at Post and even held his own on the cape back in 2023. Milewski has immense size at 6’5-235 and is extremely physical. Milewski was a perfect 4-4 and added a hard hit triple to the aforementioned homer. He’ll be a name to watch for 2026 given the power potential. Milewski gets some bonus points in my book for providing some quality vibes with his walk-up song.
-JR RHP Anthony Ehly received some midweek work in this one. Ehly was banged up at times last year and during the fall so it was good to see him back on the mound. He didn’t allow a baserunner for two innings, struck out one, and generated four groundball outs. Ehly has been an interesting projection arm with a long, lanky frame at 6’5-175 and easy operation. He’s been up to 92 MPH in the past but sat in the 85-87 range with a 79-81 MPH slider and a changeup around 79 against Wagner. We’ll see how things progress this spring as he continues to round into form.
-For Wagner, I’ve been intrigued by sophomore Diego Tavarez. A teammate of AJ Gracia and Ryan Costello at Ranney School, Tavarez is the team’s starting left fielder and is batting .278/.386/.500 with 2 HR, 7 BB, and 10 K in 44 plate appearances. He’s on the smallish side but has some hitterish qualities to his game. The arm limits him to left field, or possibly second base, but he figures to be a major contributor for Wagner this spring.
-When a D1 school feels comfortable giving the starting shortstop job to a freshman it’s a good idea to take notice. For Wagner, that freshman is Matt Sutera. The big-bodied shortstop stands in at 6'3-190 and was named NEC freshman of the week after a strong weekend series against Merrimack. Sutera didn’t have his best performance in this game, but he looks like a solid building block for Coach Noto and the Seahawks. Good name to tuck away for the future.
Fairleigh Dickinson v St Peter’s
-The question for FDU this year is going to be how quickly their arms can start to compete in games. Coach Roman lost a massive amount of innings from last year that needs to be replaced. Midweek games like this matchup against St Peter’s provides a valuable opportunity to see who is ready for a bigger role down the stretch. Enter freshman RHP Joseph Barbarino who handled himself well during his first college appearance. Barbarino sat 87-89 for 2 innings with two breaking balls, a curve in the 73-74 range and a firmer slider between 76-77. Barbarino isn’t super tall at around 6’0 but there’s plenty of room for him to grow and get stronger.
-While pitching is a big question mark for FDU the offense should do plenty of damage against NEC foes. It’s a deep lineup with a good mix of athleticism and pop one through nine. The most impressive part of FDU’s lineup on this day was shortstop Johnathan Gomez. As I said with Wagner’s Sutera, it’s always a good idea to pay extra attention to freshman who earn a starting gig at short. Gomez is a Cavalry Christian (FL) grad who is off to a .357/.471/.524 start through 11 games. Gomez is a loose athlete with room to grow and noticeable maturity as a hitter. He homered during my look this fall and went 2-4 with an opposite field triple, two walks, and a steal against St Peter’s. Gomez made all the plays at shortstop and should have no problem holding down the position for FDU long term.
-Vining = Winning
-For the Peacocks, senior catcher Ashby Vining could play himself into the senior sign/UDFA conversation this spring. Vining is a big, physical hitter who generates plus raw power with his strength based swing. He was a poised, mature presence behind the dish with better than average arm strength. Vining went 3-4 in this game with a double and two long balls, one of which helped spark a 9th inning comeback victory. Vining is already 23 years old, but many teams are looking to add experienced catchers with a plus tool or two on the scouting card to help fill out minor league rosters. There’s value in bringing in a player like Vining who can handle himself at multiple levels of the minor leagues out of the gate. Vining is coming off a .298/.386/.518 line with 10 homers last year and is currently posting a 1.529 OPS with four homers in 2025.
-Transfer Twosome
-I was able to see a couple of St Peter’s transfer arms during this game. The first was SO RHP Charlie Berryman, a juco transfer from Snead State CC in Alabama. I’m no expert on Alabama baseball, but I do know Snead State does a lot of winning and develops a lot of quality D1 ballplayers. A Snead State transfer up here is pretty rare so I made sure to pay attention. Berryman pitched out of the pen and showed some intriguing elements. He sat in the 88-90 range from a high, over-the-top slot. The fastball had good life to it, particularly up in the zone. Berryman threw a couple breakers in the upper 70s that he didn’t finish. He’s been up to 91-92 in the past and was reportedly up to 94 MPH this fall. Berryman is a fresh arm who only started focusing on pitching full time this year. There’s good size and arm speed here, though he’s raw presently. He looks like a solid development project for St Peter’s with the potential to work himself into a sizeable role this spring.
-The other transfer was JR RHP Jackson Thorne a Massachusetts native who attended Marymount University (DIII). Thorne topped out 90 MPH and sat in the 87-89 range from a low 3/4 slot. He’s been up to 92 in the past with some run and sinking action on the heater. He paired the fastball with a good upper 70s sweeper that should be a strong weapon against righties from that arm angle. Thorne pitched one inning, gave up one hit, and struck out the side out of the pen. Looks like a solid bullpen piece at the very least.
That’ll do it for this Live Look Recap. Be on the lookout for another entry tomorrow featuring NJIT’s Holden deJong and Lehigh’s Cole Leaman!