It was early on in Josh Abramson’s high school pitching career that it became clear that in order to succeed at the varsity level, he was going to have to do it by keeping hitters off-balanced with an array of off-speed pitches.
“By the time you get to high school, you hear about guys all the time that are coming up and they got these big fastballs and you hear about them,” Abramson said. “That was never the case (for me) and I knew I got to work, work your way around that, you got to be creative and you got to hit your spots.”
For Abramson and his Belleville team, it’s a strategy that has proven to be brilliant in recent days.
On April 20, Abramson cooled off a red-hot Kearny team when he tossed a one-hit, five inning shutout, striking out six and walking just one. Then, seven days later against Hoboken, the senior right-hander struck out nine over five innings, allowing an unearned run on two hits and a walk as the Buccaneers went on to win 2-1.
The two outings not only helped give Belleville two critical wins in its efforts to earn at least one home game in the North 2, Group 3 tournament, it also led to Abramson being selected as The Observer Athlete of the Week.
After a disastrous initial start against Newark Tech on April 5, Abramson has allowed just one earned run in his four games since. In those outings, spanning 18 ⅔ innings, he has struck out 31 batters, while allowing just six hits and seven walks to go with a sparkling 0.37 ERA.
“My off-speed stuff has been a lot better and I think that’s helping me the last few games,” said Abramson. “(It helped me) get more strikeouts, put more batters away and get more ground balls and I think that’s helping me.
“I was told this is as good as I’ve been pitching in high school.”
A four-pitch pitcher, Abramson’s high 70s fastball has become a complementary pitcher to his slider and curveball. This spring saw him start incorporating a change-up into the mix as well.
“His fastball’s probably in the 75 to 78 (mile per hour) range and that’s a range that really isn’t going to blow many good hitters away,” head coach Joe Sorce said. “You have to be able to locate your pitches, your fastball, and you have to throw off-speed pitches for strikes.
“What Josh has done on the mound has been impressive. He’s throwing strikes and we’ve mixed his pitches pretty well.”
The mound is not the only place where Abramson has had to adjust on the fly and be resourceful.
An infielder his entire life and Belleville’s starting second baseman as a sophomore, injuries as well as a promising group of young infielders led to Sorce shifting Abramson to left field before the start of last season.
Abramson went on to earn All-League honors in the outfield and up until the final two innings of Saturday’s game, had not returned to the infield since making the move.
“Josh is a team guy and last year as a junior we told him that and he went out there and he did it,” said Sorce. “He went out there, he did it and played a solid outfield.
Despite not being a power hitter, Abramson, who is hitting .300 on the season, was recently moved to the cleanup spot in the Belleville lineup. Even in the power spot, his offensive game proved to be a fit, as he reached base three times in a win at Newark East Side last Wednesday, going 1-for-2 with two walks, two RBI, a run and two stolen bases.
Abramson’s shutout of Kearny was the start of a four-game winning streak for Belleville entering a big week, which includes the start of the Greater Newark Tournament.
The Bucs, seeded 17th, will travel to face 16th-seeded Newark Academy in the preliminary round on Wednesday with the winner to play top-seeded Livingston.
“It gives us a lot of momentum,” Abramson said. “It’s important because you want to feel like you’re able to compete with anybody going into the county tournament. (The winning streak) definitely gives you that confidence that you could go out there and you could compete with these teams.”
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)