By Andy Loigu

A former two-sport star at Warren Hills, Anthony Veneziano, has a realistic chance at making it to the major leagues either this season or next. His rise through the minor league developmental process is very similar to that of Cole Kimball, who hails from Hackettstown and Centenary College, who made “the show” with the Washington Nationals in 2011.

After a brilliant amateur career as a lefty pitcher with a blazing and overpowering fastball at Warren Hills High School and Coastal Carolina University, Veneziano was drafted in the tenth round by the Kansas City Royals and assigned to the team’s Rookie League affiliate at Idaho Falls in the summer of 2019.

Since then he has worked at adding some change of pace and breaking-ball pitches to his repertoire, because professional hitters feast on fastballs with ferocity when they know the pitcher cannot command any other type of pitch.

In his second season in the Double-A Texas League with Northwest Arkansas, Veneziano has been supremely masterful, with impressive command of a stockpile of pitches thrown with various speeds.

After seven games (all starts) Veneziano has a 4-1 win/loss record. He has impressed the scouts with a 1.45 earned run average per each nine innings pitched. His strikeout and walks issued numbers are truly phenomenal, with 43 strikeouts over 37 innings, while walking only four batters (less than one per game).

Back in 2010, Kimball had such a breakthrough at Double-A Harrisburg of the Eastern League, in his fourth full professional season of moving up the ranks. After a month at Syracuse in Triple-A, in which he gave up no runs in 12 appearances as a closer, he got the cherished call to be part of “the show.”

The way Veneziano is going, Kansas City may promote him to Triple-A Omaha soon. If he continues to shine there, the majors could be calling.

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.