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High School  | General | 2/3/2020

Depth defines No. 1 Tampa Jesuit

Jeff Dahn
Photo: Camden Minacci (Tampa Jesuit Athletics)

PG National HS Top 50 | High School Preview Index

Speaking only in general terms, it would not be inaccurate to describe the 2020 Tampa Jesuit High School roster as extremely veteran, extremely deep and, most importantly, extremely talented.

That’s how the Tigers’ roster shakes out when considered in its entirety. If the magnifying glass is zoomed-in on the pitching staff alone, the adverb “extremely” could probably be modified to a degree. Words like “enormously,” “exceptionally” or even “outrageously” would certainly qualify as acceptable alternatives.

The 2020 Tampa Jesuit Tigers have a dozen top seniors on board who played in at least half of their team’s varsity games as juniors in a 2019, and about a half-dozen juniors who did the same thing as sophomores. And, it’s certainly worth noting, it was a season that ended with the Tigers winning the Florida Class 6A state championship.

The victory in the state title game put a bow on an impressive 27-5 campaign and landed Jesuit in the No. 17 spot in the Perfect Game High School 2019 Final Top 50 National Rankings. With so much proven talent back in the fold, the Tigers debuted in the No. 1 position in the PG HS 2020 Preseason Top 50 National Rankings that were released on Friday.

If Jesuit performed somewhat outside of the national spotlight until late in the 2019 campaign, that’s not going to happen this year. The Tigers are sitting squarely in that spotlight’s bright glare as the new season begins and they’re embracing both the attention and the high expectations the lofty ranking brings.

“Obviously, we’re really excited. I’m happy for our guys and they’ve worked really hard,” sixth-year Jesuit head coach Miguel Menendez told PG during a telephone conversation last week. “We’ve got some really talented guys. For me personally, this is probably the most talented group of guys I’ve ever coached, so for them to get recognized for everything they’ve put into this, I’m happy and I’m blessed. It obviously puts a target on our back but we wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Five of those top seniors are primary pitchers who combined to throw 165 of the staff’s 207 innings pitched during that championship run. And to top it off, all five of those 2020s have already signed with NCAA Division I schools.

The senior leading the parade is Camden Minacci, a 6-foot-3, 195-pound right-hander and a Wake Forest signee ranked No. 112 nationally in the 2020 class. Minacci struck out 85 batters in 62 2/3 innings as a junior in 2019 on his way to a 12-1 record and a 1.12 ERA.

Right-hander Justin Clark (West Virginia, t-500) was also an innings eater last season, throwing 38 on his way to 5-0/2.95. The righty Josh Mallitz (Ole Miss, No. 468)  went 2-1 with a 4.41 ERA while working 27 innings, right-hander Turner Thompson (Tulane, t-500)  was 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA in 20 innings and another righty, Alex Bryant (Holy Cross, t-1000) worked 17 1/3 and finished 3-1/1.62.

The righty Tripp Russo ate up 16 1/3 varsity innings and junior left-hander Dominic Castellanos (UCF, t-500) saw some varsity action last year and will likely play a more prominent role this season.

“I tell people all that time that I’m a much better coach when I can run Minacci, Clark, Mallitz, Thompson and those other guys out on the mound – they make you look pretty smart,” Menendez said. “We’ve got so many guys. We’ve got 11 PO’s on our roster and we feel like all of them are really good.”

The head coach was just warming up: “When you look at the guys that we have, it’s just the depth of our pitching, and it’s program-wide,” he said. “We’ve got some young guys waiting their turn who could probably go to just about any other high school in the area and be 1’s or 2’s. They’re playing on our JV team just because that’s where the innings are.”

Senior position players Bennett Lee (Tulane, t-500), Joseph Casale (t-1000), Henry Politz (Holy Cross, t-500), Jalen Niles (HF) and Jonathan Shoop (Butler, HF), and juniors Billy "BJ" Graham Jr. (No. 316) and Cole Russo (UCF, No. 200) all played in at least 25 games last season.

Lee collected a team-high 38 hits in 2019 – including 12 doubles, seven triples and three home runs – on his way to hitting .442 in 25 games. Graham hit .357 (9 2Bs, 1 3B, 1 HR) in 32 games, Politz was at .355 and drove in 21 runs in 30 games and Cole Russo hit .342 with a couple of home runs and a team-high 27 RBI in 27 games.

Menendez and his staff took those players and several others – there were six seniors on last year’s roster that played a lot – into the 2019 season with the thought that they had a group that could potentially make a deep state championship tournament run. They also felt like winning it all was a more realistic goal for the season now at hand.

Well, the Tigers exceeded those expectations to the nth-degree by winning the school’s second state championship in five years (5th overall) and came into their short 2019 fall practice season eager to get back after it and exceed expectations once again.

“You could see the difference,” Menendez said. “We had a really good fall playing some games here locally and the guys really performed well; you could just see it. As a coach, you always worry about the guys being overconfident or how they’re going to come back after winning the whole thing.

“Are they going to have the same effort and energy level that you need to go through it again? Well, they’ve done that and then some.”

All the D-I college offers his players receive is a source of pride for Menendez. He tells the parents of the  prospects that populate his program that if their sons have the desire and the drive needed to one day play college baseball at any level, he and his staff will do everything they can to help them get there.

Menendez acknowledged that the real high-profile guys may not need as much of his help as others due to the exposure they receive while playing with their summer travel ball teams, but if they need an assist with anything, the Jesuit coaches are there to assist.

“We want them all to have that opportunity if that’s what they want to do,” he said. “Hopefully they’ll find a place that’s a good fit for them both academically and athletically so they can continue to play the game.”

The history of the baseball program at Tampa Jesuit High School is a rich one and it goes beyond the five state championships it captured in 1994, 1997, 2000, 2014 and 2019 (the 2017 Tigers reached the state championship game where they were beaten by nationally top-five ranked Archbishop McCarthy). They’ve won eight straight Florida 6A District titles, including five straight under Menendez.

Hundreds of Jesuit grads have gone on to play college baseball. At least 15 former or current MLB players once walked the halls at the school, including Hall-of-Famer Al Lopez, legendary former player/manager Lou Piniella, and other former players like Brad Radke and Dave Magadan, among many others.

Current big-leaguers who are Jesuit alumni include New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, the 2019 NL Rookie of the Year from the class of 2013, and Houston Astros right-hander and 2011 PG All-American Lance McCullers from the class of 2014.

Menendez was born in Tampa, raised in Key West and then returned to attend the University of Tampa, where he starred on the baseball team. He knows well of the programs’ past successes.

“We talk about it all the time,” Menendez said of the school’s longtime love affair with the game of baseball. “There are five of our coaches on the staff that played here and graduated from Jesuit – guys that have been here and coached for a long time – and we try to make (the current players) aware of the history. We take great pride in our history and we try to make sure these guys really understand it and grasp it.”

Tampa Jesuit will play its first meaningful game since it came from behind to beat Dunedin, 4-3, in last year’s Class 6A state championship game, when it hosts Tampa Blake in the 2020 season-opener on Feb. 18.

Opening day at any level of baseball is always a very special time and Menendez doesn’t doubt for a minute that his guys will come out not only ready to play but, more importantly, excited to be playing once again.

A season can become more challenging when the calendar flips into April and the playoffs haven’t yet begun, but he’s just as certain this group of Jesuit Tigers will maintain both the focus and motivation needed to succeed.

“We talk about what the expectations are,” Menendez said. “They don’t really change from year to year here – it’s pretty much the same – but we just talk about mindset and just trying to make sure we (maintain that) with all this great recognition we’re starting to get. Great responsibility comes with that.

“We have to make sure that we rise to the challenge every day and we know we’re going to get everybody’s best effort,” he concluded. “Now there’s maybe a little bit bigger target on our back, but that’s OK.”
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