There is a telltale of spring’s coming that isn’t the birds chirping, the last snow of the season melting or the little critters waking up from hibernation; it’s the sound of the pop of a catcher’s mitt, the smell of freshly cut outfield grass and the feel of the sunshine at the ballpark. For the Hofstra University baseball team, the transition from winter to spring is the perfect time to show off the skills and drills that they have been working on all offseason.
Now entering his fifth season as the Pride’s skipper, Hofstra head coach Frank Catalanotto is ready for a healthy and well-rested team to play some ball.
“We’re excited,” Catalanotto said. “Last year, we had a lot of injuries, especially to pitchers. Four guys had Tommy John surgery, and seven pitchers were out for the season. This year, they’re all healthy, and the team looks really good, so I’m really excited.”
After losing key players like Alex McCoy and setting back rehab for Carlos Martinez and Sean Hamilton, Hofstra’s 2025 season was one for resetting and rebuilding. Relying on a roster mostly made of freshmen, the Pride went 18-36 overall and 8-19 against fellow Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) members last season, placing last in CAA standings and missing out on the annual conference tournament.
But Catalanotto saw last year as a trial period.
“[Last season] was a very trying year, not only for the players, but also for the coaches,” Catalanotto said. “You had young kids getting a lot of playing time that were making some young mistakes, and we were missing a lot of our really good pitchers, so it was frustrating. But we learned a lot. As coaches, we learned that sometimes we have to take a step back and develop these players, and maybe we’re not going to make the playoffs this year, but we’re playing to get these guys some experience for next year.”
Now, after the graduation of five students and the signing of All-CAA standout Dylan Palmer to the Pittsburgh Pirates, an added level of pressure and responsibility has been put on Hofstra’s young core.
“[The young players] have hit the ground running,” Catalanotto said. “They’re much more mature. They know what to expect.”
Pitching remained the elephant in the room for Hofstra last season. The team’s pitching staff rose to a concerning 8.63 earned run average (ERA) last season and gave up 2.01 walks and hits per inning pitched. Since Martinez and Hamilton returned to full health and other young pitchers have gotten more mound time, the team’s Achilles’ heel may be more protected for the future season.
Martinez was Hofstra’s sole representative on the 2026 Preseason All-CAA team. He was one of four pitchers recovering from Tommy John surgery last year. Martinez had a 6-4 campaign in 2024, putting up five wins and an impressive 1.24 ERA against CAA teams.
“When you have a healthy [Martinez] leading the staff, that’s a good place to be,” Catalanotto said. “We expect this kid to get drafted this year at some point. He’s a leader, and I think these guys are going to feed off his leadership.”
Most pitching problems have been fixed in-house with the return of seven injured pitchers. Martinez will return to the ace position as the team’s Friday starter, while Hamilton will return in the two-spot of the rotation and appear most Saturdays. The Sunday starter and other midweek pitching arrangements are still up in the air, but Catalanotto leans toward giving sophomores Christian Rasmussen and Grady Lacourciere – notable bullpen arms as rookies in 2025 – opportunities to start games with more mature arms and smoother ball control.
“When you have a guy like [Martinez], it kind of sets everything up for success,” Catalanotto said. “What we haven’t seen in the past is guys challenging hitters and throwing strikes. So I’m expecting [the team’s] ERA to go down quite a bit and for us to be pitching more to contact as opposed to walking guys.”
Catalanotto’s ideal starting lineup combines returning faces with some transfer students who showed promise during fall exhibition games.
Michael Brown is predicted to be the leadoff hitter and regular shortstop. Last season, Brown had a team-leading 118 assists with a .274 batting average, appearing in every game for the Pride. He is a batter who tends to stay late in the count, drawing 22 walks and holding a .361 on-base percentage last year.
Tyler Cox aims to return from an injury that kept him out of the second half of the season, and he should see plenty of playing time in center field. In just 33 games in his first season with the Pride, Cox drew a team-high 28 walks and hit six home runs, two of which came during a late-March Sunday matinee at the College of William & Mary.
Tyler Castrataro will reprise his role as the Pride’s regular second baseman, a position in which he started at more often as the season progressed. He is also slated to bat third in the revamped Hofstra lineup. Castrataro had an impressive rookie season for the Pride, slashing .274/.323/.469, hitting eight home runs and driving in 33 runs, earning him a spot on the All-CAA Rookie team..
A new face for the Pride, Danny Corona, will most likely bat cleanup and play first base. Corona played at Wake Forest University from 2022 to 2023 and transferred to the University of Missouri in 2024. Then, he joined the Trenton Thunder of the MLB Draft League in 2025, where he batted in five runs and put up a .986 fielding percentage in 45 games.
CJ Griggs will return as the team’s designated hitter, a position he assumed during his rookie season. He is set to bat fifth for Hofstra. In 97 at-bats last season, Griggs batted .309 and drove in 16 runs.
Gabriel Melara is slated to make his NCAA debut this season and will fill out the corner infield as the Pride’s regular third baseman. Catalanotto is hoping that Melara will bat sixth. Melara joins the Pride after two seasons at Skyline College, a junior college in California, where he made it into the California Community College Baseball Coaches Association’s preseason poll and put up a combined .356/.476/.551 slash line with 61 RBIs. He also has a combined .973 fielding percentage, proving him as a reliable counterpart to Corona at first base.
In the lower third of the batting lineup, Nick Gallello is anticipated to significantly increase his playing time in right field following the loss of previous regular right fielder, Luke Masiuk. Gallello got nine starts toward the end of his rookie season and batted .375. He also hit a home run at the College of Charleston in the final series of last season.
JJ DeVito is the last newcomer to Catalanotto’s ideal lineup and rounds out the outfield by playing in left field. Transitioning to Division I baseball, DeVito played two seasons at Division II Molloy University and was named to the All-East Coast Conference team twice, proving his power at the plate and speed by slugging .571 with 13 career home runs and 38 career stolen bases. DeVito saw significantly less playing time in his first season of Division I baseball, only playing in 10 games with St. John’s University last year.
Nick Biddle rounds up the lineup, likely by batting ninth and catching. As a rookie, Biddle hit .300 and drove in seven runs, but his biggest asset is his arm; he made 22 assists and can quickly throw the ball to an infielder if he suspects an attempt at stealing a base.
Despite the changes in the lineup, one thing remains constant with this new team’s strength: their stellar defense, a bright spot of last year’s lineup. Catalanotto’s 2025 roster held a .965 fielding percentage, with most errors coming from the then-young middle infield.
“There weren’t a lot of good things that came out of last year, but I think our defense was one of them,” said Catalanotto. “I think we’re even better this year on the defensive side.”
A notable change within the CAA is the introduction of a North and a South division for baseball, partially to give more playoff opportunities for northern teams who may be overshadowed by powerhouse baseball programs from the geographic south. A new rule that comes with the introduction of divisions is the fact that the Pride will now play their division rivals twice during the regular season, one home series and one road series.
“There are a lot of really good teams in the south, so I feel like we’re right where we should be: tied for second,” Catalanotto said. “[Northeastern University] is a tough team, but I think we’re going to give them a run for their money, because it’s a much different team and a more mature team.”
Hofstra will play in the inaugural North Division alongside Monmouth University, Northeastern, Stony Brook University and Towson University and is predicted to finish the season in a three-way tie for second place with Stony Brook and Towson.
The Pride will open their season against Mississippi State University, who finished their 2025 season with a 36-23 overall record and earned a spot in the Tallahassee regional of the NCAA Baseball Tournament, eliminating 2025 CAA champion Northeastern, but losing to host Florida State University in double elimination. The opening series to both teams’ 2026 campaigns marks their first-ever meeting.
After an unranked but successful season, Mississippi State is ranked No. 4 in Division I Baseball’s preseason power rankings, but the Pride is committed to opening their seasons against some of the strongest baseball teams in the country, whether it be the 2024 champion, University of Tennessee, or a high-ranked program like Mississippi State.
“The guys all like going to play the best of the best, and we kind of use it as a measuring stick to see where we’re at,” Catalanotto said. “Obviously, [opening the season against Tennessee] last year didn’t go very well. Hopefully, we can make some adjustments, and hopefully we can give Mississippi State a fight.”
First pitch of the season took place on Friday, Feb. 13 at 5 p.m. in Starkville, Mississippi.
