Top NH pitchers in 2012

with the possible exception of mellin at north I am not sure there are many all out shut down pitchers in D1 this year. many teams have legit 1's and 2's but not sure how many can flat out stop a team. I think offense may make a comeback this year as there seems to be more parity than usual.Some names that do come to mind are McCarthy at BG and Breen from Salem, they both have the stuff when they are on.

I havent seen him pitch yet but there is some talk of Dan Kinnon from Londonderry getting some attention.

I dont know if your going to see much more offense with the BBCOR Bats this year. To hit a ball over an outfielders head will have to be earned this year.

I totally agree that there are few dominant pitchers like there has been in the past. With that being said, BBCOR bats should benefit those pitchers who may not be amazing, but are certainly very good. Here are my top eleven pitchers for this year. Feel free to add on if you'd like.

2012 D1 Season Pitcher Rankings:
1) Jake Mellin (Nash. North)
2) Joe McCarthy (BG)
3) Dan Kinnon (Lon.)
3.5) Tom Hudon (Merr.)
4) Ted Christie (Nash. South)
5) Eddie Dionne (Concord)
6) Matt Lipkin (Nash. North)
7) Ryan Maloney (Lon.)
8) Clayton Welch (Man. West)
9) Kyle McCarthy (Nash. North)
10) Michael Beaudet (Trinity)

I believe you are missing Merrimack's Tom Hudon. I know that he is a competitor, and if I had to win one game, I doubt that I would look any further

I've see some of the others on the list work.... Maloney, Christie, McCarthy, Beaudett...they are all going to have strong seasons. I still like Hudon.

Hudon committed to a college yet? He is certainly the most seasoned pitcher in D1.

I think Terry Dugdale from Souhegan is a top pitcher as well, though obviously he doesn't play in D1. He throws hard in the mid to upper 80's.

Totally forgot Merrimack's Hudon. He should be in for a really strong year. Solid lefty, low to mid 80's with great movement. I'm not sure how well he hits anymore but i do remember he used to hit pretty good. And redsox, he has comitted to St. Anselm.

quote:

Originally posted by NHSports11:
I totally agree that there are few dominant pitchers like there has been in the past. With that being said, BBCOR bats should benefit those pitchers who may not be amazing, but are certainly very good. Here are my top eleven pitchers for this year. Feel free to add on if you'd like.

2012 D1 Season Pitcher Rankings:
1) Jake Mellin (Nash. North)
2) Joe McCarthy (BG)
3) Dan Kinnon (Lon.)
3.5) Tom Hudon (Merr.)
4) Ted Christie (Nash. South)
5) Eddie Dionne (Concord)
6) Matt Lipkin (Nash. North)
7) Ryan Maloney (Lon.)
8) Clayton Welch (Man. West)
9) Kyle McCarthy (Nash. North)
10) Michael Beaudet (Trinity)

Divisions mean very little when you are discussing pitchers. Cote and Maher were D3 and D2 respectively. I've seen most of the D1 guys over the years. I would argue you have D2 and D3 kids that could mix in very well with D1 list above.

I am sure there are many D2 & 3 pitchers worthy here,but since my son is at D1 I couldn't comment. One name I mentioned earlier was Breen from Salem. He played football in the fall so maybe he didn't get the exposure the showcase league provides. This was , however, the pitcher who carried the Salem team last year when it seemed the whole staff went down with injuries. He throws as hard as anyone in D1, and I do mean anyone, and has better than average offspeed. He also was Salem legions number 2 last summer. can't help but think maybe he is being overlooked.

I do agree with you LJ that there are certainly some lower division pitchers who could easily pitch in D1. Josh Jacques (Somersworth), Terry Dugdale (Souhegan), Brandon Krueger (Interlakes) to name a few. I'm sure there are definitely more, but not being as familiar with these teams it's hard for me to assess the talent. Feel free to help out and get those lower division guys' names out there.

Devildad, I would not disagree in the least bit that Breen is a really good pitcher. I have seen him pitch multiple times. He does have some good speed on his fastball with above average off speed stuff. The problem I have though, is that he has been overshadowed by pitchers like Nick Poore and Dan Peters. With that being said, nobody has really heard much of him out of Salem in the pitching department. Maybe I'm wrong, but I do hope to hear much more about this kid over the course of the season.

I would agree with Mike on Tom Hudon and giving him the ball in a big game. Last summer with Post #54 he was on a staff with Maher, Lucas Olen (SNHU) and his former Merrimack High teammate Spencer Damon (Franklin Pierce) that dominated the State & Northeast Regional Legion tournaments. For the tournaments, Tom was slotted 3rd in the rotation which had him start the winner’s bracket final in both tournaments. He beat Nashua 3-0 (with a great save from Ryan Mossman) and went on to beat Connecticut 4-2 (a great save from Damon). Tom relished the role and was not the least bit intimidated. One other pitcher from that staff to keep an eye on is Mossman from Bedford High who proved he belonged with this stud group by throwing a complete game, 5 hitter against a very strong Massachusetts team in a 3-1 victory at the Regional.

Good points bl-baseball,

Mossman can't be overlooked. He will stand-out this year. How about sophomore Connor Sahlin from Campbell. He has been bringing it winter workouts.

I know Mellin signed early with Hartford, and Dugdale signed with Albany, both will play D1 in America East. Did any other NH kids sign D1?

I'll throw in one more...Graham McIntire signed with Marist.

Another name to throw into the top 5 in New Hampshire??? Portsmouth's Rick Holt. Rick is a big, burly 6'4" junior who can flat out bring it. He throws his two seamer around 85-88 with a knee-buckling curveball to compliment it. As a sophomore, he was recognized as a 2nd team all state pitcher with a 7-0 1.49 era and a .375 Batting average to go with it. Granted he was throwing against the not as strong division two teams, but he still gutted out an eight inning performance to save Portsmouth's nationally recognized winning streak. As anchor of the clipper staff now, his potential has no limit and I was wondering what all of you think of this.

P.S.: I am not a Portsmouth biased man nor am i a graduate of Portsmouth High School, but when i see talent that Holt possesses, I feel obliged to discover the public opinion of him

Now that we are at the half way point in the HS season any changes to the preseason list? Any surprises? Any disappointments?

Matt Lipkind of Nashua North had his senior season end after 1 start because of a knee injury. Disappointing for the senior, but North has good pitching depth.

Losing an arm like Matt Lipkind can't help. But I suppose that North is a team that can afford to lose one of their top three starters more than a few other teams. North has 9 left...it appears that Jake Mellin will get 3 of them. South, tomorrow, Concord, and BG. Plus some work out of the pen. Finishing in the top 4 seems to be a lock.

In regards to pitching. I saw Dover's sophomore LH Anthony Lupi pitch against North and he was nasty (2 hits, 2 bb, 6 k's)...lots of movement on his two seamer.

I still think Merrimack's junior southpaw, Matt Wojciak, has the potential. He has had two strong starts...BG and Central, and one tough one, Trinity (a couple of miscues in the 1st cost him and he couldn't rebound).

Trinity's Giampatruzzi is another LH who could beat you in a big game.

Hopkinton's lefty Bonifant throws a one hitter against Somersworth tonight. He teams with Dionne from Concord and Drouin from Merrimack Valley this summer for Concord Post 21. Could be some quality baseball and fun to watch for Concord area fans at Memorial Field.

With the season winding down there are still many teams in the hunt for the top 4 seeds in D1, with no clear cut favorite. North has been the front runner due to their outstanding pitching and defense, but their offense at times looks mediocre at best. Concord has the bats as we saw last night in the 19-6 beat down of Bishop Guertin, but they also have been beatable when their bats were not there.

As I predicted in another post, Manchester Memorial has been the surprise team this year. They handed North their first loss of the year, and have played consistent baseball all year aside from a few games. (Concord shutout, BG perfect game).

My team on the rise has to be Spaulding. They have a team full of juniors and seniors, relying on the bat of Bobby Dow and strong efforts 1-9 in their lineup. That has propelled them into the running for a top 4 seed after beating North and Concord both.

My team that is falling fast has to be Manchester Central. They were touted as the top Manchester team this year, but have struggled against a majority of their opponents. They did beat Concord last week, but aside from that, their pitching staff took a huge blow when their ace Joey Provencher broke his hand. Chris Lekkas stepped into the ace rold, but has not performed well since his opening day win over Exeter.

The last week and a half leading up to playoffs should make for an interesting one. There are quite a few teams that could win the whole thing.

Based purely on the weather patterns lately and prom season schedule conflicts, the last few games are going to seriously test the depth of the bullpens. I know BG used 2 Sophomores vs. Spaulding last Friday night and I have to assume based purely on the size of the two pitchers, Spaulding did the same. The one thing that impressed me most about Spaulding is they had quite a few speedy runners. I heard there were two pro scouts at the BG/Concord game last night, too - Yankees and Red Sox.

I would say that the surprise team this year has been Timberlane. They showed flashes late last year of what they could be but I certainly didn't think they would be this good. Great job by that staff to have them playing such inspired ball.I also think that Salem has started to hit thier stride a bit and if the pitching holds up they could (note that I said could not would )make some noise. Bouvier is backfrom mcl injury and Peters and Landers have been very tough as of late.I think late May and early June could become very interesting in D1.

quote:

The last week and a half leading up to playoffs should make for an interesting one. There are quite a few teams that could win the whole thing.

I think North is in the Drivers seat. the only real test left for them is BG. They are the most solid team in D1 in my opinion

I agree with Devildad about Timby, but based on their playoff run last year - it's not a complete surprise... Quite a few underclassman last year on that team... Salem's up'n'down though - they've beat the teams they're supposed to recently, but lost to better teams (Timby, Merry, & Memorial).

Merrimack on the other hand has gone 40 innings without giving up a run (see http://www.nh-highschoolsports...win-over-winnacunnet) - that's pretty impressive. Not sure if it includes the 4 innings of the 4-0 lead they have on Keene.

As for North - obviously the BG game for "local rivalry" could be tough and they do have South next Friday to conclude the season in another rivalry game. They are in the driver's seat to the #1 seed and a possible repeat of last year's run. The current standings have #1 North, #4 Timby, #5 Merri - that could be a tough path barring upsets.

I would love to say Concord was going to win it all but already having a loss against North & the Championship last year I think North might be in our heads. The loss to Central this year is bothersome as well. I do think we have a shot. Merrimack is heating up at the right time as well. I think next season you may see Concord as the #1 team from beginning to end. There is a lot of depth on JV.

Interesting day... BG beats North 3-1 - leaving 4 teams with 4 losses in D1. First place could be settled by our favorite points system... Over in Hollis, it was a double no hitter for 6 complete innings - Goffstown scored 2 early as a result of walks early in the game. I believe Hollis got a hit in the 7th, but still lost... Finally South scored on Merrimack breaking their streak, but Merrimack still won. The last week is going to be interesting.

Nasty Lefty, are you A.K.A. Mr. Currier?

No big deal, Sometimes its best to wait to post when something is personal. I've done it myself. Again no biggie.

Congrats to all the winners and losers on Saturday. Some terrific baseball was played. My son pitches for Dover High,(Anthony Lupi). I went to all the games and watched some very good teams in D1. Of all the teams, I thought Merrimack was the best overall, followed closely by Concord & Nashua North. The final definitely lived up to expectations with 2 evenly matched teams going at it.

I was very impressed at the level of pitching in D1. Looking forward to watching the boys pitch at the showcase this week. Thank you Coach Demas for giving all these talented athletes the oppportunity to showcase their pitching skills.

Wolfpack,

I saw Anthony pitch twice this year, and I was impressed with him. I especially liked his performance vs. North at Holman...a great baseball game. I assume he is pitching Legion for Dover.

Good luck to Anthony except when pitching against Merrimack.

See you on the diamond.