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The Stony Brook School Compiling an Eye Opening Amount of Talent

by Trevor Dugan

 

When Jon Brewer took over as head coach at The Stony Brook School in 2021, the baseball program hadn’t even sniffed a state championship in their 99 years of existence. In the five years since his hiring, they’ve become a national powerhouse. In the last month alone, they’ve had players commit to UCONN, Alabama, Maryland and Villanova.

Since winning their first ever state championship in 2024, Brewer doesn’t have to stress about recruiting. Players from around the country come to him, eager to play for a program that routinely produces Division I ballplayers, and even MLB draft picks like Aiden Ruiz, the 44th overall pick in the 2026 MLB draft. 

After graduating 10 Division I bound players after the 2025 season, Brewer expected 2026 to be something of a rebuilding year for The Stony Brook School. Instead, they raised their ceiling even further by going 26-3, capping things off with a Mid-Atlantic Private School Championship victory over the exalted Poly Prep and finishing the season ranked as the 22nd best high school program in the country, according to Perfect Game. 

Looking at the program in its current state, chock full of some of the best young players in the country, you may assume that things were always like this at The Stony Brook School. They weren’t. Brewer had plenty of work to do when he was hired, and it started with the culture. 

“I walked into a program that was not ready to take off when I got here,” Brewer explained. “There was a lot of discipline that needed to be instilled. Accountability, and just a different way of doing things. But the recipe was there.” 

When he first arrived, Brewer recalls players showing up to practice in shorts, wearing different hats and arriving at different times. Today, every player is early to practice at The Stony Brook School. Everyone is wearing baseball pants, matching navy blue shirts and an SBS hat. Hair cropped short, faces clean shaven, ready to work. They practice from the first day of school in September all the way to the end of the season in June. Every player is fully bought into the culture Brewer has instilled. 

This tangible culture shift is perhaps best captured in a memory coach Brewer recounts with pride. Aiden Ruiz recently visited The Stony Brook School, taking a break from working with his new employer, the Pittsburgh Pirates, to visit his former teammates and coaches. Brewer encouraged Ruiz to join him at practice and speak to the players on the field, but Ruiz refused. 

“I said, ‘why don’t you come out on the field?’” Brewer recalled. “He tells me, ‘I don’t have on baseball pants coach, that’s not what we do here.’ I almost cried. It’s just so awesome that he’s playing for the Pirates now, and that stuck with him.” 

With all this newfound attention there’s no shortage of players hoping to play at The Stony Brook School. Some of the best players in the nation vie for a spot there, and Brewer tells prospective players and their families what to expect from the very beginning. 

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“I can’t guarantee anyone a spot. I can’t make promises, can’t undersell and overdeliver.” Brewer said. “What I can guarantee is we’re going to work hard every single day. We’re going to push these kids, and they’re going to get what they earn.” 

“Coach Brewer is a really good guy, and a good mentor,” said 2028 graduate Sam Dicker, who will be a key piece of the Bears’ rotation in 2027. “He knows how to get tough on the kids but also shows love, he’s like a dad…I know I can go to him for anything.” 

The Stony Brook School values depth in their baseball program. They don’t just want a few star players, they want a roster’s worth of guys who could be plugged in and contribute at any moment. Brewer mentioned Nick Saban of Alabama football and Kirby Smart of Georgia football as good examples he follows in building out a program.

“We want to be deep at every position, and have these guys competing every day.” Brewer explained. “They can’t take a day off, or they’ll lose their spot. That’s what we’ve tried to do here, and that’s really why we’ve been so successful.” 

One misconception about The Stony Brook School is that since they’re a private boarding school that charges tuition, their baseball program must be swimming in money. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Despite their national ranking the baseball team receives no preferential treatment over any of the school’s other sports teams. 

The players run fundraisers to support the program, and encourage family members and friends to make donations whenever they can. The team raised money to buy their own Trackman system and Rapsodo camera radar. Supportive family members have also donated pitching machines and things of that nature. And in a world full of turf fields, the Stony Brook School still plays on good old-fashioned grass and dirt. 

“This grass right here, I treat it all summer twice a week, personally, for weeds,” Brewer said. “While we do have a lot of cool stuff other schools may not have, the players have earned it. It builds character.” 

Another aspect that separates The Stony Brook School from other programs around Long Island is their year-round schedule. As mentioned earlier, the Bears begin practicing as soon as the school year begins. 

“A lot of kids elsewhere don’t pick up a baseball until March if they’re not with their travel teams,” Brewer said. “That’s the real separator, it’s not the money. We’re year round, and that’s a draw for a lot of kids.” 

All that work comes in handy when playing the sort of schedule The Stony Brook School sets up for themselves. The Bears travel all over the Eastern seaboard in the Spring. Any hotbed of baseball activity east of the Mississippi, they show up and compete against nationally ranked competition from around the United States. It offers players a chance to consistently play against the highest level of talent.

“When you’re playing nationally ranked teams, they’re running out five or six arms that throw above 90 in a three-game series,” Brewer explained. “We really test ourselves on those trips, be it Georgia or Florida or anywhere. It also brings out the scouts, when you’re in warmer weather, that’s where the scouts are.” 

After this unprecedented success in the first five years of Brewer’s leadership, it’s difficult to imagine the Stony Brook School getting even better. But if you ask Brewer, he says the 2027 team is his best roster yet. 

“We’ve got donkeys on the mound for the first time since I’ve been here,” Brewer said gleefully. 

Chief among those highly touted pitchers is Gavin Chakar, a newcomer to The Stony Brook School hailing from Connecticut. Chakar’s fastball touches 96 MPH, and the 2028 graduate has been ranked at the top of his class. Chakar was the winning pitcher for Team USA in the 2025 USBC U-15 Pan American Championship Game. 

Next in the rotation is the impressive AJ Edwards, a 2029 graduate who pitched The Stony Brook School to victory in the 2026 Mid-Atlantic Championship against Poly Prep. Juniors Sam Dicker and Quincy Gibbs are two more exceptional pitchers that get up above 90 MPH, with fellow Junior Chrisitan Calabro rounding out the rotation. 

“I think we’re going to be the best team in the country,” Dicker said. “We have a really good 2028 class, and we have really good chemistry.”

“If you’ve got the arms, you can scrape across runs and win games,” Brewer said. “We just so happen to have really good Division I defense too.” 

The bats are no less elite. Clemson commit Vaughan Steinert and Alabama commit Juju Martinez figure to lead the way for the offense. Junior slugger Colin Raymond, who recently went on an official visit to the University of Georgia, also returns in 2027 after smashing 13 home runs in 2026. He will be an important run producer for the Bears this season.

Villanova commit Mateo Lopez will be another key contributor for the Bears, along with Angelo Cminiello, who recently committed to the University of Maryland. As you can see, there is no shortage of elite talent at any level of this roster.

With Ruiz having graduated and advanced to the pros, The Stony Brook School will be looking for a new leader to arise in the dugout. Any one of these talented players may emerge as the next de facto captain of the squad. 

On a team as talented as this, a few of The Stony Brook School’s players are flying under the radar and are worth an extra look this season as they search for a place to play beyond high school. 

Xavier-Santos Olson enters his senior season with the Bears as a player who coach Brewer says has developed into a legitimate Division-I talent. The 17 year old catcher blasted a home run at the Axcess World Series earlier this month, and has a strong throwing arm from behind the plate. 

2028 graduate Charlie Macias is another player Brewer named as an unheralded contributor. A switch-hitting middle infielder that rips line drives from either side of the plate, expect Mascias to be an important part of this season’s Stony Brook School squad. 

The Stony Brook School baseball program has two teams, the National team and Varsity team, and over 40 players vying for a spot on the Top 25 ranked National team roster. Over the next three months, these players will compete head-to-head until rosters are announced in late November. No other schools in the area are hosting three-month long tryouts, but the competition is a welcome part of The Stony Brook School’s culture.

The Stony Brook School will be among the top high school teams in the nation once again in 2027, with the talent to compete against any team in the country. Aside from all the rankings and commitments though, Coach Brewer says the best thing about these young men is their character.

“I want people to understand that these kids are one-of-ones, on the field and off it too,” Brewer said. “They’ve sacrificed so much to be here, living away from their families, and I’m so blessed to have them. That’s what I want people to know.” 

The Stony Brook School will begin their 2027 season in Hoover, Alabama at the Perfect Game High School Showdown.