Not drafted but not forgotten: Frabizio had big year at Bluefield
Vito Frabizio is a guy who left high school during his senior year, almost never pitched as a youngster and was not drafted by any Major League team.
So how did this right-hander from West Islip, New York wind up on the mound, pitching well for the Bluefield Orioles last summer?
He went 4-4, 2.96 in 12 starts and was third in the Appalachian League in innings and strikeouts and sixth in ERA. In 70 innings, the 20-year-old gave up 57 hits with 16 walks and fanned 64.
He's emerged as someone pitching his way toward prospect status, which is pretty remarkable for a guy who almost never pitched through his high school years.
The 6'3", 175-pounder won't say much about why he left high school in 2007.
"There were some incidents when I was younger. I don't really want to get into it. I never officially graduated high school, but I never dropped out either."
He later earned his diploma through a special program in the New York area, but he didn't play at all during what would have been his senior season.
It seemed teams and scouts around MLB lost track of him and he was not drafted in 2007.
By January of 2008 he had moved to Florida and was working out at Florida Atlantic University. Some coaches there called O's scout Nick Presto and he saw Frabizio play during a high school showcase game that month.
When his team ran short of pitchers, Frabizio, who was playing center field, took the mound.
"He was like 84 to 87 maybe with velocity, but he spun his curveball real well with a natural delivery and I thought he's a little tired, so let's give him a shot in another week," Presto said.
Frabizio eventually threw for Presto, O's minor league pitching coordinater Dave Schmidt and scouting director Joe Jordan in Sarasota at the Orioles complex. Even though he was sick that day, he threw well.
"He thought he was a center fielder, I think," Presto said. "I was really surprised he hadn't pitched. But he had a natural delivery. That's what we like. We don't like the mechanical kids. You have to have it come natural."
Presto and Frabizio quickly became friends and the O's signed Vito to a deal worth a reported $100,000 that includes money for college later if he chooses to attend.
"We thought if he had been at a high school in Florida and had played all year he would have been an 8th to a 10th-round pick," Presto said.
It was off to the Gulf Coast League in 2008 for Frabizio, who went 3-4, 5.93 in 10 games during his first pro season.
Frabizio's velocity sits between 88 and 92 with his fastball; he also throws a curve and changeup and has a nice sinking two-seam fastball.
"My changeup is the pitch I throw when I really need a big pitch in a big situation. I learned that pitch from my Gulf Coast League coach, Calvin Maduro."
But in March of 2009, that kid who left high school early, missed curfew several times during spring training in Sarasota and the O's brass eventually made him leave camp, sending him home to Long Island.
"Basically being young, you get ahead of yourself sometimes. I needed a little time to just grow up a little bit.
"You put things in perspective. You can either fulfill your dream or just go on and never know what you could have done. I realized I was lucky and should not have taken advantage of anything. I've matured a lot.
"That's not going to happen ever again."
Frabizio took that renewed attitude to Bluefield where he allowed two earned runs or less in eight of 12 starts and pitched to an ERA of 1.50 over his last three starts. He held righty batters to a .208 average while lefties hit .250 off him.
"Halfway through the year, I said to my pitching coach Troy Mattes, 'I think I can really do this.' This isn't just a dream anymore, I see what I can do and I believe in myself now.
"I appreciate getting my chance every day I walk out on that field with a uniform on. Baseball is my life, my dream."
Presto said Frabizio has matured and he's not worried about the pitcher's character at all.
"He's a really good kid. He's someone that always checks in with me. That's nice when a player does that. He's not a choir boy, I know that. He's been through some stuff. But now he better understands pro baseball and our staff has done a great job with him."
Presto saw Frabizio pitch last fall in an instructional league game in Florida and said that day he was reminded of Frabizio's hunger for and dedication to becoming a better pitcher.
"He gave up an unearned run in the first and then threw a couple of solid innings. After he came out I said 'Vito, when did you start throwing a slider?' He said 'I taught it to myself in the bullpen today because I didn't have my curve ball.'
"I said 'what.' He had just started throwing it that day. This kid has a natural ability to throw strikes. That's pretty special.
"He's got some hunger in him and that means a lot. He's a tough kid that likes to win. He's really a competitor."
Now if Frabizio can just get his teammates to stop giving him a hard time about that tattoo.
"I have Hollywood tattooed across my back. When I was nine my coach called me Hollywood. I'd come to the field with the most expensive bats and gloves my mom got me.
"Guys were still calling me that at 15 and when I was 17 I got the tattoo on my back. I just went out and did it.
"Guys in the clubhouse give me a lot of stuff about that. But there's no cockiness about me. The guys know that. I don't walk around cocky at all."
Frabizio has been putting a lot of time into his workouts this winter, sometimes working out with fellow New Yorker Pedro Beato, another O's minor league pitcher. He should have an excellent chance to be in Delmarva's rotation when the 2010 season starts in April.
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Categories (click for archive)Orioles News | Steve Melewski |
Steve, this guy sounds very promising. A very good find by the o's.
Sound like "Wild Thing" from Major Leagues!
Hopefully he can be straight enough to really see if he has the tools to get to the bigs. We dont need another Ponson we need another Mussina.
Steve - Great story...Do you think he'll start the season in A ball this year?
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I think he will likely start in Delmarva's rotation......Steve
Steve,
Great story....if this kid can keep his head on straight he might have quite a career. Thanks for keeping us up-to-date on those waiting in the wings.
Jim Carter
Steve,
Sounds like baseball helped straighten this kid out. He got lucky, now hopefully the Os will get lucky with him too.
Baldy
Interesting read, nice to hear about some of the guys farther down in the system. Your mention at the end of Pedro Beato got my attention most. When he was drafted in '06 he was very highly rated, but has since been passed by others on the pecking order. Do you know if he is still someone they see as having a future with the team?
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Beato went 5-7, 4.53 in 20 starts at Frederick last year, then went 1-3, 4.50 in five starts for Bowie. Sure he still has a chance and a real good arm, but you are right, some guys may be passing him by. This could be a big year for him to either re establish himself as someone to watch or have more pass him by. I would guess he would start at Bowie.......Steve
I met this guy at a Bluefield game in July 09. We live about 80 miles from Bluefield and try to go to at least one game each season. He didn't pitch in the game we saw, but just talking to him he seemed like a real nice guy. All the guys I've met at Bluefield have been real accommodating....I've gotten many autographs from these guys. It is a very intimate park setting in a beautiful location. Steve....thanks for all the great info you provide on the farm guys.....ncbeth
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Thanks. I was at Bluefield once, but it was probably around 1985.....Steve
Thanks for the story Steve. We hear a lot about the top prospects, but never much about the lower level, promising guys. Maybe one day, Frabizio will be featured on MiLB.com's Road to the Majors and they'll look to your story for background info.
Steve-
Did you see ESPN's 2010 top 100 prospect list?
I don't know how much stck you can put in these things, but, at least the O's have more of a presence nowadays.
Matusz #11- way to low when you see what he diid in just 1 year, including at the MLB level. I mean, how is Ackley higher, never having played a game.
Britton #25
Bell #61
Arrieta #90
20 players from last years draft. No Hobgood, the #5 overall pick. No Erbe either. I get the Hobgood thing cuz the more I read now, the more "experts" say he just isn't gonna do it. They are just basing that on his stats from his 1st year. I don't get how Erbe isn't there.
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Ryan, you can't get worked up about those lists. No way Hobgood would be top 100 after one year with an ERA of 4.73 unless he was some real big name like Strasburg. He'll be fine, no reason to worry about him after just 26.2 innings. Plenty of good players never made those lists or were barely there like Nolan Reimold for example......Steve
Nice story Steve. It's nice hearing about prospects at the lower level of the minor leagues. I bet a lot of these young men have a good story. Great human interest story, it shows what baseball is all about. Good stuff, keep up the good work.
Ray
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One of the enjoyable parts of this job are uncovering interesting stories about players in the minors like Vito. Thanks, Ray.......Steve
Steve,
I found it fascinating that he taught himself the slider in the limited bullpen time he had before his start. Are you kidding me? Who does that?
It sounds as if he as a natural talent and could be one of those guys that throws 8 or 9 pitches at any time - or just makes stuff up as he goes along. It will be interesting to see how he progress the next couple of years. It would really be something if he could get his fastball up to 90-94 too, but I'd rather have a pitcher than someone who's in love with the radar gun!
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He can get the 90's now and may add a tick or two to that as he progresses....Steve
Being a really close friend of Vito's , I can say that he did come a long way. I was with him for the whole ride. Through his high school issues and all , he's a good kid. He definitely came along way and I've been following his stats since he signed with the O's. I would like to see him stay focused and make it to the Majors. Cuzina I wanna see you playing for the Yankees !!!!
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No Yankees, he's an Oriole now! Vito was a die hard Yankees fan growing up in NY and that's fine, that was his boyhood team. Maybe one day he will stick it to them in Yankee Stadium. His dad is a big NYY fan and the fans in Bluefield were giving his dad a hard time about that in a good natured way.....Steve
That slider story is priceless. Some times it's clear that people are born to play the game. Between that, and the way he was discovered, I bet we'll see him in the majors some day. It just seems like his fate.
Steve-
Leslie Anderson? Why not? It's not like the O's are 3 deep at every position on the Farm. In fact, the little credit we do get for our Pos-Proz's are for guys that we have just drafted the last 2 seasons and really have not done anything to warrant other then their initial pre-draft scouting reports.
LIKE DUSTIN FREAKIN ACKLEY BEING AHEAD OF MATUSZ ON THE TOP 100!! ARE THEY NUTS? Ackley is a bust bust bust. He's another Shawn Green. I don't even want to put him at HALF a JD Drew, or a QUARTER of a Jim Edmunds.
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Ryan, I don't know anything about some prospects on these other teams. I do know Ackley went to UNC and hit over .400 there but that's about it. I did see he hit .315 in the AFL before ever playing a minor lg game, how does that translate into he's a bust.
Once again, don't get too caught up in the rankings. They are fun to look at but once a player is in the minors, it doesn't matter who ranks him where, it's all about that individual's performance. No one ranked Bergesen very high and look what he did. Some scouts were down on Reimold and he led AL rookies in a couple of offensive categories. Look at the rankings for some usefulness, but they don't gaurantee anything really in the final analysis......Steve
I think this is the blog of Vito's agent. There were some mentions of him on the site..... FYI
http://39ontheline.blogspot.com/
Steve, can you confirm this?
Thanks
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Josh I believe is his agent and Josh Bell's agent and that looks like his website....Steve
Haha My coach called me "Hollywood" in highschool. I think I'll try out for Bluefield.
Steve, I really enjoyed this story. I am a Journalist major at Towson, and this story gave me so many ideas, and really showed me what baseball reporting is all about as far as enjoyment, because I could tell that you enjoyed every bit of doing this story. I just hope when i cover the shcool team for the Towerlight I can really do some searching and find the story beneath the bigger stories. Keep up the good work.
Sam
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Sam, nice to hear from a fellow Tiger. I am a proud Tiger grad, despite basketball season, but let's not go there. I did enjoy this story, sometimes you almost put pressure on yourself with a story like this to tell it right. Everyone knows about Adam Jones when you write about him, but people need to learn about guys like Vito.
Good luck with the Towerlight and feel free to keep in touch. For me it's about being curious, wanting to know what makes these guys tick and doing your homework. In this case, the scout, Nick Presto was such a big part of this story that you have to interview him as well as Vito. Thanks for your nice comments.
Steve
P.S. I am at many of the home basketball games so look me up.
Love the blogs about the lesser known prospects, keep em comin!
Steve-
I just think Ackley is going to be a bust, on purely hunch. And, I didn't like his comments about being lucky to go to a team in the top 5 that isn't used to picking in the top 5. About, the teams that just seem to always be there. I was offended as an O's fan, that some of these younger guys, would consider the Mariners a better franchise than the O's. These last 10 years really have hurt the perception of this team. No wonder free agents don't want to come here. Thanks Pete! lol.
Steve-
My comments may be a little prejudicial because Vito is my Godchild, However he comes from a great family who are very proud of him. His sister is a NYC Cop who requested to work in the worst areas NYC have to offer. Just goes to show you their parents did a great job & neither want to sit back & let things happen they are go getters. I hope only the best for Vito in where ever life takes this wonderful young man.
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Thanks for writing in, Anthony. Vito's enthusiasm for the game was obvious and he sure seems like someone that all O's fans can root for.....Steve
Nice work Steve!
Steve
Great article!!! We really enjoyed watching Vito pitch for our Bluefield Orioles last year and wish him the best of luck...He has a great future ahead of him...
Join my Facebook group....Bluefield Orioles Rock!! for information and updates through the year about our Bluefield Orioles...
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=112229255347
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Thanks, I just joined...At least am trying to.......Steve
Great Story. I know Vito. My son played summer ball with him. To me he was always underrated as an athlete. Nice kid with a real nice Dad. I wish him the very best.
I was Vito's manager of the LL all star team for five years along with his dad, Vito Sr. There is no question about his god given talent. I have high hopes for him as a player and as a fine young man. It was nice seeing him every day this summer at my home. Vito and my son Jake grew up together and played ball together during their friendship. He is like a son to me and I never cut him any slack because I saw the talent in him. He has an enormous heart and now that he has matured, I know there is no end to what he has dreamed of all his life. Lets not forget his family who has stood behind him and showed tough love when needed. They are all very near and dear to me. If you happen to read this V-Chop, I love you but I will still kick your ass !
Looking forward to coming to some games.
Big Steve