Newsday Athlete of the Week is Port Jefferson's Luke Filippi
Port Jefferson starting pitcher Luke Filippi against Bayport-Blue Point at Diamonds in the Pines Park on May 8, 2021. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Luke Filippi is as well-rounded as they come.
A quarterback in the fall, star pitcher in the spring and scholar athlete year-round, the Port Jefferson senior seemingly excels at everything he does.
In 28 innings, Filippi has allowed six hits, no earned runs and struck out 52 batters. He’s batting .633 with a 1.571 OPS, 17 RBIs and 19 stolen bases this season.
“Luke goes about his business with the purpose of succeeding,” coach Jesse Rosen said. “Whether it’s schoolwork or baseball, everything is done with conviction.”
Filippi is Newsday’s Athlete of the Week.
Last Thursday at Greenport, Filippi pitched a one-hitter with 18 strikeouts. He needed only 72 pitches to retire 21 of the 23 batters he faced with just six pitches called balls. According to Rosen, the three outs that weren’t strikeouts were bunts that Filippi fielded.
“It was one of the most dominating high school performances I’ve ever seen,” Rosen said.
Filippi followed that performance by striking out nine Pierson batters in a two-hit shutout on Tuesday.
“I always just want to win,” Filippi said. “My only goal is really to help our team win a county championship.”
As phenomenal as he is on the field, Filippi’s humility might be his most impressive feature. He was quick to credit his recent success to the pitch-calling and framing by his catchers, eighth grader Evan Raymond and sophomore Natti Mullen.
A football captain for the last three seasons, Filippi was named to the All-Long Island second team after rushing for 971 yards and 15 touchdowns and throwing for 632 yards and four scores last season.
“I think being a quarterback and throwing all fall helped my arm strength and conditioning coming into this season,” Filippi said.
Last Sunday, the Suffolk County Chapter of the National Football Foundation recognized Filippi as a member of the Golden 11 football team of top scholar athletes.
“It means a lot to me because it shows how hard I’ve worked in school to be one of the top scholar athletes,” Filippi said. “When it comes to athletics, it’s not just me going out there and doing it myself. Throughout the football season, the offensive line was great and the rest of my teammates and coaches helped me out a ton.”
Filippi will attend Albany in the fall, where he will major in human biology and continue to play baseball.
Matt Lindsay is a high school sports reporter who joined Newsday in 2022 after graduating from Stony Brook University.
