DOMINATION: Poly Prep star right-hander Andrew Zapata is 4-0 with a 0.84 ERA and has 27 strikeouts in 32 1 / 3 innings. (Denis Gostev)
Arguably the best prep pitcher in New York City isn’t on draft boards and he doesn’t have a college lined up.
That’s because Andrew Zapata, Poly Prep’s 6-foot-1 right-hander with the blazing fastball and control of up to three off-speed pitches, is just a sophomore.
Zapata, who is 4-0, has touched 89 miles per hour on the radar gun. Of his first five outings, four have been shutouts. He has registered a minuscule 0.84 ERA and piled up 27 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings — and he only is starting to grow facial hair.
“If he progresses the way he should, he will be the best pitcher we ever had,” said 10th-year Poly Prep coach Matt Roventini, a list that includes Sam Hasty (Rutgers), Sam Berg (Northeastern), J.J. Franco (Brown), Ryan Burke (Wake Forest) and Sam Heller (Amherst).
Zapata, 16, has blanked private school power Berkeley Carroll, threw six scoreless frames against defending NYSAISAA champion Collegiate, and also shut out Catholic school dynamo Xaverian and Riverdale in a first-place showdown for the top spot in the Ivy Prep League last Friday. The latter two performances displayed the poise and makeup his teammates rave about.
Against Xaverian, the tying run was on second base in the seventh inning with noted catching prospect Elvin Soto at the plate when Zapata fanned him on a 2-2 changeup. He breezed through Riverdale’s high-powered lineup for six innings before finding trouble in the seventh. He allowed a double, hit a batter and walked another. He then went to 3-0 on the next hitter before pumping in three straight fastballs to cap the gem.
The baby-faced Staten Island native already has begun to receive significant college interest from Wake Forest, St. John’s and Boston College. Not only that, he is on the radar of major league scouts.
“Here you have a 6-foot-1 kid with a clean arm and ability to command four pitches,” one scout said. “He’s certainly a guy that we need to keep an eye on for the next two years.”
