It's his first full year as the starting catcher and senior Alberto Mlenak is contributing in all the aspects of the game from fielding to hitting and handling the pitchers.
He has been a catcher all his baseball life even as young as when he was playing on the lowest levels of Little League.
"You get to see the whole field," said Mlenak about what he likes about playing catcher. "You are also involved in the play before it happens.”
He has contributed offensively and defensively this season.
As of early this week the senior was hitting .446 and went 7-for-15 last week with seven RBI. He went 2-for-3 with three RBI and a home run in a 13-1 victory over Weehawken on the road in a North Jersey Interscholastic Conference Meadowlands B division battle.
"Not letting too many fastballs get by mean while also hitting fast balls early in the count," said Mlenak about what attributes to his success this season and bats in the third hole. “If it looks good, I will hit it.”
For the senior catcher it was his third home run of the season. The other two dingers came against Saddle Brook and North Arlington.
Mlenak's defense and offense has helped the Aviators think about getting back to the state playoffs despite an inexperienced team.
Hasbrouck Heights was 7-8 as of Wednesday with three games this week before the state cutoff on Friday. Teams who have a .500 record or better receive automatic bids to the state tournament. A team could make the state playoffs with an under .500 record, only if the state section does not have 16 teams fill out the bracket.
"That's what we have been talking about all season long," said Mlenak.
Mlenak and the rest of the Aviators knew that they would have a tough run this season with several seniors graduating from last season's team.
The team worked overtime getting ready for the spring season including coming in at 6:30 a.m. before school and get in extra practice.
Find out what's happening in Hasbrouck Heightsfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
"We knew that there were a lot of seniors graduating last year and that we had to put in extra work," said Mlenak who is looking to play at Bergen Community College next season with the hope of playing in the future at a four-year college.
As a senior backstop he has been called upon to lead the team on the field and help out a young pitching staff that includes underclassmen Steve Sears, Joe Crabbe and Michael Matteis.
Defensively, Mlenak has been working hard with his throws to second to get the runners by working 15 minutes with his teammates before and sometimes after practice just on that.
In addition head coach Rocco Minichiello allows Mlenak to call most of the pitches. "If it is a big game the coach will call it, but most of the time the coach allows me to call the pitches," said Mlenak.
If Mlenak would call it, he would like at the very least to send the Aviators to the state playoffs and then who knows what could happen in the state tournament.