Yesterday I linked up an article on William Harris written by Donald Leypoldt, and he was kind enough to share an article he wrote on Matt Rizzotti as well that hasn’t made it’s way online yet. If you missed the Harris article, you can find it here. Below is Donald’s article on Rizzotti…enjoy.

MATT THE BAT: Jasper standout Rizzotti not missing a beat in pro ball
By Don Leypoldt

WILLIAMSPORT, PA- This town of 30,000 is best known as the host city for the Little League World Series (LLWS). But just 10 minutes away from the LLWS site, Matt Rizzotti is thinking about the Major Leagues instead.

The first baseman had one of the best careers in Manhattan baseball history. His efforts were rewarded this past June when the Philadelphia Phillies selected him in the sixth round of the Major League Amateur Draft.

Now, he is the starting first sacker for the Phillies’ short season affiliate Williamsport Crosscutters. Williamsport is the first step of Rizzotti’s journey that will hopefully end 200 miles to the southeast, in Citizens’ Bank Park.

Rizzotti, an All-American at Archbishop Malloy High School, was pursued by such baseball powers as Vanderbilt and North Carolina. He landed at Manhattan because of its proximity and his relationships there; his brother Pat was a golfer for the Jaspers. “I picked Manhattan mainly because I knew a lot of people that went there. (St. Louis Cardinal farmhand) Nick Derba, who I went to high school with, was always a great friend and a big influence,” he says. “It was close to home and I didn’t want to go that far away.”

Rizzotti belted .416 in his freshman year and the temptation to transfer to a more marquee program was omnipresent. But that wasn’t in his character. “I’m a very loyal person,” Rizzotti explained. “I don’t think it (leaving) would be right to my team. I didn’t want to leave the family that I had already. Plus, I’m a big fan of always being the underdog and Manhattan College is the perfect underdog school. I think we found that out two years ago when we beat Nebraska in the Regional.”

The 2006 Nebraska-Manhattan game may have been the biggest highlight in the annals of Jasper baseball. Facing the #6 ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln during the opening round of the College World Series, Manhattan stunned their hosts- and the baseball world- with a 4-1 victory. Rizzotti slammed a solo home run off of eventual first rounder Joba Chamberlain to give Manhattan a 1-0 lead…and silence the Red Sea of Husker fans.

“Stepping into that stadium for the first game facing the home team, the favorite, Nebraska,and having 8,000 people there and all you saw was red and white, that was just unbelievable,” Rizzotti recalls. “At the end of the National Anthem, everyone does a cheer at one time and it was earth shattering. We were thinking ‘Do we really deserve to be here?’ But everything came around. We could hang with them, we put a few runs on the board and we obviously had (LHP and now Milwaukee Brewer farmhand) Chris Cody who stifled their bats.”

The Jaspers made it all the way to the Regional Finals, before falling in a heartbreaker to Miami.

Rizzotti’s career at Manhattan- much like his 6’5”, 235 pound frame- was gargantuan and imposing. He was a first team all-MAAC selection in all three of his Jasper seasons; he was the MAAC Player of the Year as a freshman.

In his junior campaign, he hit a team best .352 with 11 homers and 43 RBIs. His on base percentage was a whopping .502. For his collegiate career, he posted a .367 batting average to go along with 29 home runs, 46 doubles, 143 RBIs and 148 bases on balls.

The lefty made the most of his summers too. Playing for Vermont in the wooden bat New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) in 2005, Rizzotti batted .347 and slugged .559. Both statistics were good enough to place him in the league’s top five in each category. For good measure, Rizzotti also picked up the NECBL’s Sportsmanship Award. His power with a wood bat became evident the next summer when his 4 homers and 27 RBIs for Chatham were both top five numbers in the Cape Cod League. Rizzotti drew nearly a walk per game on the Cape.

But the mounting scouting buzz produced its own pressure as he entered his junior year. “It’s always tough to live up to expectations because there is always a higher expectation,” Rizzotti admits. “It’s tough for me to live up to my own expectations. I had a great freshman year and I want to beat that, but it’s probably not going to happen.

“The start of my junior year…I saw all of those (scouting) reports and I was thinking ‘They say I’m this good, and I’m pretty sure I’m this good but I have to be this good.’ And at the beginning of the year, I struggled big time. All I was thinking about was ‘Is this the biggest year of my life? I have to really get after it.’ I was pressing; I think I was 40 at bats in and batting .232. I was just horrible. But then I settled down and realized that a lot of it is out of my control. That is when I started hitting and being the player that,” he pauses and the confident but humble Long Island native searches for the right phrase, “they put the reports out on.”

An obvious early draft choice, Rizzotti worked out for a number of teams; the Phillies were quick to express interest. “When I was at Citizens Bank Park, I took balls at first base. I had a good BP. Then they said ‘We like you but we want you to take some balls in left.’ I’ve never played left field in my life,” Rizzotti recalls smiling. “But they’re looking at me at two positions. In their eyes, it increases the value of a player. I took some balls in left and after that workout, I had a very good feeling. The Phillies picked me so I’m very happy.”

Through fifteen games at Williamsport, Rizzotti is hitting .286 with a homer, 15 RBIs and a .385 on base percentage. He has also shown some nimble glove work. “The biggest adjustment has to be the constant speed of the pitchers every night. They’re throwing hard and mixing in good off speed stuff,” observed Rizzotti. “Also, I’ve been here for nine games and I think we’ve faced seven starting lefties. I’ve always hated hitting lefties. But I’ve been hitting them alright and I’m hanging with them.”

Rizzotti has faced southpaws in over half of his at bats in his first eleven games. He is hitting .280 against them.

Rizzotti is well aware that the Phillies have their own big, powerful, left handed first baseman- in the form of 2006 MVP Ryan Howard- blocking his way. It is logical to assume that Rizzotti’s big league future may be as a left fielder, just like in his workout.

For now though, Rizzotti’s short term goals are ambitious- but still focused on taking his pro journey one step at a time. “The goals in my mind are to hang with all of the players here and hopefully show them what I can do, which is hitting around .300. Maybe 10 home runs- I don’t know if that’s crazy- and a very good amount of RBIs. I’m real big into RBIs. If you have a runner at third, it’s not about getting that hit but it’s about getting him in. It’s also playing a solid defense and keeping the errors down. That’s always big too.”

They are big goals for a big man with big league dreams. But if past performance holds true, big success for Matt Rizzotti will follow.

Don Leypoldt is a freelance writer and the sports information contact for the NECBL’s Manchester Silkworms.