Baseball Preview: Key to Thunderbolt Success This Season is Pitching

Solid pitching and defense can lead to a very successful season. For the young Cranston East’s baseball team this year, the hope is for pitching depth to carry them to the playoffs.

Mike Walsh, Thunderbolts head coach, has a fairly young team, with only one or two seniors starting.

“Pitching and defense are two strong points for our team,” he said, “I’m confident we are going to score runs and hit well, but our pitching is our strength.”

Even without the top pitcher from last year’s team, junior Bobby D'Arezzo, Walsh feels confident with his staff. D'Arezzo is dealing with a shoulder injury and has not been cleared to throw the baseball yet. But he can still swing the bat.

Senior Dan Muncy will play first base and fill a major role in the pitching rotation this year. Muncy and junior Kyle Tracy will shoulder the load of starts this season. 

Senior John Razzino leads off for the Bolts. Last year he made First Team All Division. 

Razzino is a solid outfield defender and he brings both speed and smarts to the basepath.

“He is a very good outfielder and when he gets on base with no outs it pretty much produces a run every time,” Walsh said.

Razzino led the team with 20 stolen bases last year.

At shortstop, sophomore Ivan Reyes has showed a lot of potential. “He is a very good player and talented,” the coach said.

At third base, Josmar Ventura has shown some potential, the coach said. He moved here from the Dominican Republic and has shown signs of being a good player.

The main goal for the Thunderbolts will be reaching the playoffs.

“It doesn’t matter what your record is once you head into the playoffs,” Walsh said, “We are looking to win 9-10 games. We hope our hitting can start picking up and we can get some key hits. We have to be better at situational hitting.”

Cranston West is their main rival and in the last three years the Thunderbolts have split the season series with the Falcons. It is a tradition to play a night game at Cranston Stadium and in three out of the last four seasons, East has come out victorious.

Some of the players on the Thunderbolts played winter sports, so they were not able to throw in the offseason. The coach has seen some improvement and noted that as the season moves along they show steady improvement.