One of the key pitchers for the Boulders during their championship 2014 season, Joey Donino has come a long way since graduating from Columbia only three years ago.
Despite being one of the more consistent pitchers to don a Boulders uniform, Donino threw his final pitch for Rockland during the hinge Game 4 of the Can-Am League Championship series in 2014. Since that day, Donino has moved around quite a bit. Immediately after the season, the Diamondbacks whisked him away, signing him to a minor league contract, impressed with his solid performance during his first action as a professional.
In 2015, with the Hillsboro Hops in Low-A, he was reunited with fellow Boulder Steve Nyisztor, who was also signed following the 2014 season. Between Low-A and rookie level ball, Donino pitched in six games, with one of them being a start. He didn’t record a decision, but did post a solid, albeit unspectacular 3.86 ERA, with 13 strikeouts compared to only four walks, earning one save.
However, Arizona didn’t seem to be thrilled with his performances that year, and was promptly released. To begin the 2016 season, the Worcester native came back to the Can-Am league, signing with the Sussex County Miners, again rejoining teammate Steve Nyisztor. He started off the season on Opening Day winning a pitchers’ duel against the Boulders and Markus Solbach.
His season was marked by inconsistency however, and he was unable to replicate the success that he had found the previous two seasons with Rockland and Hillsboro. He finished the year 2-10, with an ugly ERA of 5.18. His peripherals indicated that his season should’ve been much more successful. His 83 strikeouts with only 42 walks showed that he had some bad luck. He flashed signs of promise throughout the year, but his second season in the Can-Am was marred by inconsistency.
With the Boulders, Donino posted a great season after graduating from Columbia earlier in 2014. He finished the year with a solid 4.31 ERA in ten starts, posting a 5-4 record while averaging 8.5 strikeouts per nine innings. During the tail end of the regular season, Donino came up with a big start, tossing six shutout innings to pull Rockland into a tie for first place, part of an 18.2 consecutive scoreless inning streak. He then capped it off by allowing no earned runs in 6.2 innings in Rockland’s eventual 8-7 win over New Jersey, a key game that helped the Boulders come back in that series and eventually win the championship a few days later.