Live Look Recap: NJIT v Iona, 2/28
NJIT's deJong delivers a 'dub' in his first home start of the year.
-Holden the Highlander
-Live look options are pretty limited this time of year in the northeast, even on weekends. Getting the chance to see a legitimate draft arm start on a Friday was a pretty big win in my book. JR lefty Holden deJong stood out last year when I saw him throw against Binghamton. Ten months later and it’s clear deJong has ascended from ‘interesting projection arm’ to one of the better college lefties in the northeast. The two most noticeable areas of growth are his physical development and breaking ball. deJong remains projectable with good length to his frame, but he’s also gotten much stronger and it looks like he’s packed on at least ten pounds of good weight. The breaking ball has transformed from a distant second pitch in a fastball dominant repertoire into a legitimate weapon. More on the breaking ball later.
Against Iona on Friday, deJong came out hot, racking up six whiffs in the first inning alone- four on the four-seamer which sat 91-92 and topped out at 93 in the early frames. The fastball remains deJong’s best pitch, capable of blowing up hitters in the top third of the zone and drawing chases above it. deJong gets above average ride from a high release and a quick arm action that allows the ball to sneak up on batters. There is occasional running action depending on where he’s trying to locate and he did a good job working the ball inside to righty bats. As for that breaking ball, it’s classified as a slider, but the shape is probably best described as a slurve. It features big depth and some late horizontal movement. Previously, deJong had trouble getting behind and around the ball when throwing his slider which made it difficult to maintain a consistent shape which hindered command. Now, with the increased strength likely playing a role, deJong is able to get significant movement from a more consistent release point away from his body. deJong’s feel for spin appears to have improved as well, with the ability to add and subtract depth or sweep situationally. The pitch sat 78-82 MPH while showing decent feel for backfooting the pitch to righty bats. There appeared to be more comfort locating glove side compared to his arm side, though that’s hard to say based on a single start.
By the third inning, deJong’s fastball lived around 90-91 MPH and dipped into the 88-90 range by the fifth, coinciding with a temperature drop. The fastball lost some life and the whiffs began to dry up. Even during the early portion of the game, deJong’s fastball quality varied by location—explosive up, flatter down. At 91+ it didn’t lead to hard hits, but later on the swings against it were more tenacious. To combat the velo dip, DeJong mixed in mid-80s changeups during innings 4-6, highlighting some pitchability. The changeup doesn’t come out of the hand quite as clean as the fastball or slider, but he maintained his arm speed fairly well on the pitch, giving it a chance to be a usable third pitch this spring.
Overall, this was a solid early showing for deJong in what was his third start of the year. He’s been up to 95 MPH this spring and it’s probable that we’ll see a bit more zip on the heater as things warm up in the northeast. deJong finished the day way 101 pitches through 6 innings with a 5 K:3 BB ratio, 2 ER, and 5 hits (2 doubles) allowed in the win.
There isn’t a ton of college lefty depth in the region and deJong has already established himself as one of the better southpaws in the class. There are some reliever concerns given the profile, but sustained success in NJIT's weekend rotation could help alleviate those. Below is a full breakdown of DeJong's outing.
-Sophomore lefty Anthony Anzaldi hurled two hitless innings to close out the win for NJIT. Anzaldi has some arm talent and sat in the 87-89 range with a decent slider. Finding the plate has been an issue for him in the past but there’s enough raw talent for him to carve out an important role this spring if the control improves.
-2025 will be year four at NJIT for grad shortstop Ray Ortiz. The righty bat packs a punch in his slender 6’1-185 frame and is coming off back-to-back double digit homer seasons. Ortiz hit an absolute rocket over the batter’s eye in center and is up to four homers through ten games this spring. Already 23, Ortiz would have to really hit to garner interest as a senior sign/UDFA. He’s not the smoothest defender at short and is splitting time between there and second base. Either way, Ortiz will be a major run producer for NJIT this year. 20 homers isn’t out of the realm of possibility. Catcher Cole Campbell is an above average runner with a top-of-the order skillset. A redshirt sophomore, Campbell had an impressive ‘24 season with a near 80% contact rate and a sub 17% chase rate that led to a .341/.434/.444 line. He’s more of a gap-to-gap hitter who is working to improve as a catch-and-throw guy. Campbell had two hits and walked once vs Iona on Friday before recording three hits and his first homer on Saturday.
-Though he didn’t pitch in this game, it’s worth mentioning the start that MT Morrissey had for NJIT on Saturday. Morrissey, a grad transfer from Bryant, needed only 85 pitches to complete seven innings of work. He allowed seven hits, no walks, one HBP, and struck out seven. He Morrissey has been up to 96 MPH in the early going this spring and is someone to keep tabs on as a potential discount pick or UDFA.
-You don’t see too many juco transfers from Montana around here so it was pretty cool to see Iona’s leadoff hitter and starting centerfielder, Damian Rodriguez, in action. Rodriguez played ball at Dawson CC before making his way to the east coast. The JR is a right-handed hitter and thrower who is on the small side with a skinny 6’0-165 build. He had a hard single the opposite way off deJong in the 3rd inning and recorded home-to-first times of 4.15 and 4.21. Rodriguez isn’t exactly twitchy but he can certainly run and cover ground in center. There’s not a ton of bat speed or power at this stage, but he doesn’t try to sell out for power and will take what pitchers give him. I’m not sure exactly how he ended up at Iona, but Rodriguez is a good piece for an Iona squad that needed to find a replacement CF in a hurry. Meanwhile, Sean Stephenson showed off some good pull side pop in BP and smoked an opposite field double down the line in a left-on-left matchup against deJong. He also showed quality speed with a 4.22 run time down the line. Stephenson is a redshirt freshman who was originally committed to James Madison. He’ll be draft-eligible by age but is probably a year away from potentially finding his way on the draft radar. Stephenson is still getting acclimating at third base and his defense there will be an area to watch moving forward.
-Freshman RHP Danny Onorato made an appearance out of the pen and showcased some interesting traits. He has a good pitcher’s frame at 6’2-190 with an old school overhead delivery from the windup. He topped out at 90 MPH on Friday and sat 87-89. He mixed in a new 81-83 MPH cutter that is a work in a progress and a 78-79 slider. Onorato didn’t have the most effective day but there’s good clay to work with for Iona.