Esposito to host baseball camp at St. Joseph
BY SHAWN LAYTON
Staff Writer

METUCHEN - With the dog days of summer in full swing, area baseball players ages 7-16 can get their own swing on at Coach Paul Esposito's Summer Baseball Camp at St. Joseph High School in Metuchen.

Esposito is the current head coach for the Falcon team at the high school and is opening the field up to players July 9 to begin three weeks of sessions.

Camps are scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday with the last hour reserved for pitching and catching instruction. Interested players can sign up for one or multiple weeks depending on their preference.

Esposito brings an impressive résumé to the camp, which area players are sure to benefit from at the camps. A 1996 graduate of Middletown North High School, Esposito went on to play shortstop for Fairleigh Dickinson University before professional baseball stints in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Newark, New Jersey, and Grossetto, Italy.

During his time playing for the Frontier League's Johnstown Johnnies, Esposito earned a spot on the league's All-Star team. For the Newark Bears, he had the honor of hitting behind future Hall of Fame outfielder Rickey Henderson, arguably the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history. After a stay with the Somerset Patriots, Esposito finished his playing days in Italy.

"This summer's camp will stress the fundamentals of hitting, fielding, base-running and situational play," Esposito said. "We will spend a lot of time on certain drills because I'm a big believer in exposure to the fundamentals. We absorb through repetition, and the staff at this summer's camp will take the time to really go in-depth."

In addition to the freshman coach at St. Joe's, Michael Butler, Esposito will have current St. Joe's players at camps to assist with instruction.

"The primary message of the camps is to show young players what it will take to be successful players at the high school level," Esposito said. "Players should take with them the knowledge of what it will take to be successful players in Middlesex county baseball."

While the camp will stress teamwork and fundamentals, a nice addition to the team drills will be the instruction of certain drills players can do on their own. This should be a nice component, considering the difficulty of assembling 18 players on one's own time.

"We will teach players types of drills they can do individually that can really improve their overall performance on the field," Esposito said.

"The camp should be very informative and a lot of fun."

Interested participants can contact Esposito at coachespo@verizon.net or visit www.Stjoes.org to print out a registration form for mail-in. Walk-ups are welcome, and the price for one week is $149.