Joe D’Auria never has had a hunch work out so well.
It was Bryan Verbitsky’s sophomore season when the Island Trees High School coach told him he was going to pitch.
“That was the start of my pitching career,” the Hofstra right-hander recalled.
It almost certainly will continue at the next level, in the Padres’ organization. San Diego made the hard-throwing 6-foot, 205-pound Long Island product, a starter and reliever at Hofstra, its third-round pick (86th overall) in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft Friday, the highest selection of a Hofstra player ever in the June draft.
“It was a real special feeling I’ll remember the rest of my life,”said Verbitsky, a junior who throws his fastball in the low 90s to go with an improving change-up and sharp slider. “I really wasn’t expecting to go that early. I saw my name, got up and starting jumping around like a little kid, hugging my family.”
Verbitsky closed his sophomore year of high school and became the staff ace as a senior, yet he was recruited to Hofstra as an outfielder after setting the Island Trees record with 30 home runs and leading the school to the 2007 Nassau County Class A title.
“You could tell he had a live arm,” D’Auria said. “In the beginning, control was bad, but he was a kid who did work hard.”
Verbitsky pitched in Little League, but he never knew where the ball was going. He was hesitant when D’Auria suggested he try pitching, but Verbitsky liked taking on challenges.
His sophomore year with the Pride was impressive enough to earn an invite to the Cape Cod League. The popular vacation spot is where Verbitsky gained the confidence he needed to have a big junior year, going 3-4 with a 2.66 ERA, striking out 51 in 44 innings pitched while walking 10.
He was an all-star while pitching for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in the league, which includes the nation’s top college prospects.
“It really helped my game get to another level,” Verbitsky said.
“Once you start believing in yourself, you see your game take off to the next level.”
* St. John’s lefty Ryan Horstman was taken in the fourth round (117th) by the Mariners. … The Rays took Half Hollows Hills East High School’s righty Stephen Woods in the sixth round (188). … Former Giants safety Chad Jones, whose football career was cut short by a car accident after the 2010 NFL Draft, was selected by the Reds in the ninth round (285). … Seton Hall righties Brian Gilbert and Jon Prosinski were drafted in the seventh (200) and 10th rounds (303), respectively, by the Twins and Phillies.