Youth and Versatility Key for Peglegs Shifting Lineup

In baseball, where positions are so rigidly defined, the most valuable players are often the ones who can fill the most roles. That, in part, is why the new Los Angeles Angels’ pitcher and designated hitter Shohei Ohtani was so sought after as an international free agent this recent offseason—he poses a veritable threat both offensively and defensively.

At the high school level, versatility is all the more important because of the personnel turnover that happens from year to year. When asked who he thought was most deserving of commendation for his grit and work ethic over the course of the offseason, senior and co-captain Max Onderdonk spit out the name of junior and co-captain Jeremy Rubin without hesitation. Rubin has played an abundance of positions over his first two seasons, Stuyvesant’s boys’ varsity baseball team, the Peglegs, and was about to pick up a new one.

“I think Jeremy deserves a shout-out because just two weeks ago, he wasn’t going to catch this year, and now he’s starting at catcher opening day, and for the foreseeable future,” Onderdonk said.

Fellow senior Michael Gillow seconded this notion, saying, “He’s kind of doing it all for us—pitching, catching, and also hitting.” Considering that the Peglegs lost two starting pitchers, three starting infielders, and a starting catcher to graduation since last season, having a player like Rubin, who can excel in each of those roles, is utterly indispensable.

Even at positions without active competition, the Peglegs are still continuously looking to improve. According to both Onderdonk and Gillow, despite being two of the team’s core members, each of them still have vast improvements to make in their respective games. For Onderdonk, the deficiencies are in his hitting mechanics: “I’ve been struggling a lot as a hitter, so I’m trying to keep my hands closer to my body to shorten up my swing and get back to the basics,” Onderdonk said.

For Gillow, hitting was a concern last year, as he hit just 0.188 without a single extra-base hit and was removed from the lineup numerous times over the course of the season. However, in the preseason, Gillow seemed to be almost unrecognizably better. He has hit multiple home runs in non-league games leading up to the season, prompting Onderdonk to predict that he will likely be the team’s best hitter. Yet, despite the success, Gillow is still looking to tweak parts of his game: “I’ve been trying to hit for more power and knock runners in, rather than just try to get on [base],” he said.

Gillow started out the season hot at Bayside High School, hitting a three-run home run in the third inning to put the game out of reach en route to a 5-2 victory. Over the following four games, he racked up three hits in 12 at-bats, including another home run in a hard-fought, 6-5 victory over Newtown. With three times as many extra-base hits as the rest of the roster combined (3), Gillow has added a fire and fury that the top of the Peglegs’ lineup has not seen before, while also demonstrating tremendous, encouraging improvement on last season’s woes.

Junior Malcolm Hubbell is another player who emerged over the early stretch of the season. After batting just 0.250 with one extra-base hit (a double) in 2017, Hubbell is well on his way to surpassing both figures. In just 14 at-bats, Hubbell already has five hits, including a triple against West 50th Street Campus, making for a respectable 0.357 batting average, and putting him over the halfway point to last season’s hit total (8).

In addition to his plate prowess, Hubbell has also found success on the mound, filling in in the rotation for senior Khyber Sen, who has missed time with a leg injury. In his first start, an 11-1 victory over West 50th Street Campus, Hubbell threw five shutout innings, giving up just two hits and no walks while striking out four. While his second start, a 6-5 win over Newtown High School, was not nearly as clean considering that he gave up five runs on five hits and four walks, his first outing cannot be ignored, especially since it represents the only start during which a Peglegs pitcher has not given up a single run.

As it stands, the Peglegs are currently 4-1, but considering that three of these wins came by three runs or fewer, with two coming by a margin of just one, this torrid pace may not be sustainable. To stay among the city’s elite, the Peglegs will have to put away weaker teams early and stay disciplined on the field and in the batter’s box against stronger teams. This will be put to the test on April 20th against the Benjamin Cardozo High School Judges, who handily dispatched the Peglegs last season, 10-0, and are currently 4-0. The Judges are traditionally a strong pitching team, which indicates that the Peglegs will need an outpouring of power from sources outside of just Michael Gillow in order to stay in the game.