Center Moriches' Liam Pulsipher hoping to make Ducks' roster this season
Liam Pulsipher, a lefthanded pitcher who graduated from Center Moriches High School in 2018 and recently tried out for the Long Island Ducks, speaks during the team's Media Day at Fairfield Properties Ballpark in Central Islip on Saturday, April 20, 2024. Credit: James Escher
Liam Pulsipher is ready for his moment.
The son of former Mets pitcher Bill Pulsipher is chasing his first professional baseball opportunity with the Ducks. Pulsipher’s initials of LHP — his middle name is Hayden —may have predetermined his path as a southpaw on the mound, and the Center Moriches product is one step closer to doing it at home.
Pulsipher, 23, performed well enough at the Ducks’ open-player tryout on April 13 to receive a spring training invite. He hopes to break camp with the team and be on the Ducks’ 26-man roster ahead of Opening Day on Thursday.
“I think the mindset that I’m having is just like, I belong,” Pulsipher said at Ducks media day on Saturday. “I got to tell myself I belong here. It’s just the confidence . . . To be with guys that have big-league experience, you need confidence, definitely.”
Pulsipher pitched a perfect ninth inning in the Ducks’ combined no-hitter on Friday, a 14-0 preseason win over the California Dogecoin. The lefthander has impressed pitching coach Bobby Blevins in camp.
“Well, just his composure,” Blevins said. “Understanding that it takes a lot of work. Right now, he’s inexperienced, but that’s where being around this quality of guys and experience will only help him benefit in every which way — on and off the field. He comes here ready to do his work.”
Bill Pulsipher had a 4.63 ERA in 20 starts, 34 appearances and 147 2⁄3 innings for the Mets across the 1995, 1998 and 2000 seasons. He also pitched for the Brewers, Cardinals, Red Sox and White Sox. Pulsipher pitched for the Atlantic League champion Ducks in 2004 and had a 9-5 record with a 3.67 ERA.
“Probably the biggest thing that he’s taught me, aside from mechanical stuff and how to be a pitcher, is that we have to get up and grind and make sacrifices every day,” Liam Pulsipher said. “It’s part of being an athlete. I sacrifice a big part of my social life to be here, and that’s because I want it.
“You got to want it to be here, and that’s something he’s taught me as a young child.”
Pulsipher was a force at Center Moriches, earning 2017 Newsday All-Long Island second-team and 2018 first-team honors. He went 8-1 with a 0.78 ERA and 65 strikeouts in 49 innings, leading the Red Devils to the 2018 state Class B title, the first in program history.
Pulsipher played his freshman season at Stony Brook and transferred to Suffolk Community College for the 2020 season. He played his final three collegiate years at nearby Queens College and posted a 4-2 record with a 4.84 ERA in 2023.
The Ducks’ pitching staff is spearheaded by Wei-Yin Chen, who had a 59-51 record with a 4.18 ERA in eight MLB seasons (four with the Orioles and four with the Marlins). When asked what advice he would give to any young pitcher, Chen said to “not get too rushed” and “just take it easy.” Pulsipher said he talked to Chen for about an hour on Friday to pick his brain about things such as pitch philosophy and changeup grips.
“[Pulsipher has] quality stuff that can play, and now it’s just on him to put in the work and just make it happen,” Blevins said. “Results speak.”
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
