Former area high school pitcher inks contract with Trenton Thunder of MLB Draft League
VERNON. Christian Capuano joined the Thunder on July 8 and will pitch in the second half of the league’s season this summer
| 25 Jul 2022 | 10:34
Christian Capuano stands with his family on the ball field.
Christian Capuano, a 2016 graduate and former standout pitcher at Vernon Township High School and 2020 graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University Florham (FDU-Florham), has signed a contract with the Trenton Thunder of the Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft League. Formed in 2021, the MLB Draft League is a training ground for baseball’s top draft-eligible talent. The league is comprised of six teams that play in former minor league baseball stadiums in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, and West Virginia. In its inaugural season last year, 39 players from the league were selected in the MLB Draft and another 50 players from the league either signed with MLB teams as undrafted free agents or with the independent league.
Capuano (6’4”, 205) joined the Thunder on Friday, July 8, and will pitch in the second half of the league’s season this summer, which will feature professional players who have exhausted their amateur eligibility or who otherwise wish to begin their professional careers. Last summer, Capuano was one of the top pitchers and a Wolff Division All-Star in the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League, a Mid-Atlantic collegiate summer league, finishing first in wins, second in strikeouts and second in ERA. This spring, Capuano led the FDU-Florham baseball team to its first ECAC Division III Championship and most wins in a season since 2014. As their ace and a 2022 Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) First Team starting pitcher, Capuano led the league and ranked 13th in the country with 101 strikeouts, which also set a single season record on the Florham Campus. Capuano was selected to the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-Region IV Second Team and to the D3baseball.com All-Region IV Third Team.
Capuano earned his Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from FDU-Florham in 2020 and completed his Master of Administrative Science degree this May.
On Thursday, July 14, Capuano pitched three innings, allowed zero runs and four hits and struck out four. He was named Player of the Game and earned his first win in the MLB Draft League.
