Former Coach Remembers Iona Prep Graduate Drafted by the Miami Marlins

The Miami Marlins drafted 20-year-old Rye resident and All-American third baseman Colin Moran from North Carolina with the sixth overall pick in Thursday’s Major League Baseball’s First-Year Player Draft, but his former coach at Iona Prep Fred Gallo remembers Moran at different positions during his high school years.

“He was my shortstop for two years,” said Gallo, barking at the TV and rooting for Moran and the North Carolina Tar Heels as they played South Carolina on Saturday in the Super Regional round of the NCAA Baseball tournament. “And he was my Mariano Rivera.”

Gallo said Moran was athletic enough to play shortstop, and he felt comfortable using a position player as his closer for two reasons: He had an easy motion and could locate an 85-mph fastball. He converted nearly every save opportunity, but Gallo still remembers the one save he didn’t convert.

“It was his senior year in a semi-final game against St. Raymond. It was a knockout game. He strikes out the first two, blew them away. Then a lefty comes up. Strike one. Strike two. Both fastballs,” Gallo said. “Then he tried to trick him with a slider. That ball could still be going. And we lost the game.”

But Moran won’t be pitching at the next level. He became an All-American because of his bat. In 2013, Moran hit .357, belted 13 home runs, drove in 84 runs and scored 69 runs in his junior year at North Carolina.

Gallo said, Moran will continue to post impressive offensive numbers at the next level because of his dedication to perfecting his swing.

While Moran was at Iona Prep, Gallo said he was “obsessed” with hitting. He said Moran’s father would throw to him before school started, and he would take an endless amount of swings.

“I will be the most shocked guy in the world if he doesn’t hit,” Gallo said.

Moran’s offensive potential was the reason he was drafted No. 6 overall, but Gallo disagrees with scouts who say Moran doesn’t have the range to stay at third base in the Majors.

“He has the range to play shortstop right now. He’s got soft hands, and he has a canon for an arm. He can throw from all angles like [Robinson] Cano,” Gallo said. But he did acknowledge the possibility of Moran moving to first base as he continues to get bigger.

Regardless of position, Gallo predicts Moran will be on the Marlins’ Major League roster by the end of next year.

“If he signs this year, he will play wherever they put him, and he will hit. Next year he’ll be in Double-A, and he’ll be called up by September,” Gallo said.  

Moran will be the second New Rochelle product on the Marlins’ roster, joining Tom Koehler, who is currently in Miami’s starting rotation.