Lucky13Baseball

About Lucky 13 Baseball

Recruiting Service for Student-Athletes

My name is John Mangieri, owner and founder of Lucky 13 Baseball – an independent recruiting service for aspiring student-athletes looking to play at the collegiate level. With over 280 Division I and almost 250 Division II universities and college that offer NCAA baseball scholarships, the process of finding the right school can be quite frustrating and very time consuming.

Reaching out and contacting numerous coaches during this recruiting process and understanding the NCAA and NAIA rules and regulations can be a vigorous task for the average athlete and his family. If you are a serious athlete looking to further develop your baseball skills and use those skills to help you attend the college of your choice, my recruiting service can provide you with that opportunity.

What the parents are saying...

We would like to thank Lucky 13 and John Mangieri for all the hard work and dedication provided to our family during college recruiting and the MLB Draft process. Our three sons Jack, Cole and Trey have had the pleasure of working with John on their pitching skills for the last ten years. John has helped make our sons better pitchers and assisted with all aspects of college recruiting. Lucky13 was instrumental in coordinating with college coaches in attending our son’s games to gain exposure. All three of them have played at the college level at Catholic University, University of Pennsylvania and Lafayette College. John has also guided us at the professional level. When it came time for the MLB draft, John was an integral part of the process. He would reach out to his mlb contacts in various organizations to ensure Cole was being evaluated and would attend his starts. Ultimately Cole signed with the NY Yankees and John was involved every step of the way. John is the best coach we have ever worked with but more than that, he is a great person. His passion and energy taught our sons about the mental toughness that is also needed in succeeding in baseball and in life. He teaches hard work, respect for the game, and dedication. John has mentored and built confidence in our sons that will last a lifetime. He is a class act and a special person to know.

Thank you so much Lucky 13. We are incredibly grateful for everything.

The Zaffiro Family

We would like to thank John for helping and guiding our son Angelo with his commitment to Adelphi University. Angelo has been training with John for several years now and will continue even while playing collegiate baseball.

John has been a great coach and mentor to Angelo and a lot of other boys we know. Everyone who crosses path with John, has nothing but great things to say. He really cares about the future of the kids and will guide them find that perfect fit.

Thank you John and Lucky 13 Baseball!

Jason and Karen Nunes

From the outset, our family understood that the recruiting process would be a long and tiresome journey. Thankfully, we were turned on to John through other contacts in the baseball world and from the start, John was remarkable. John sat my son and I down and immediately set expectations of what we were about to emark upon. Specifically, John noted the importance of staying positive throughout a journey that would bring with it many ups and downs (both physical and emotional) for player and parents alike. This was all the more important given my sons intent goal of playing Division 1 baseball.

John immediately worked with us to understand our athletic (baseball) and academic needs and together we crafted a target list of schools for Jack. By way of his pedigree as a former player, coach, and mentor, John has an extensive list of contacts that lined up well with our target schools in the Northeast. From the start, John conducted outreach to coaches to detemine their recruiting needs (by position). This is an important and often overlooked step by other services. In other words, why market a specific position/player to a college coach if they're not looking for that position in your sons recruting class? Once he determined there was a need, John was prompt to send videos, stats, metrics, and academic information for my son to target schools. The key difference I immediately noticed with John was the almost IMMEDIATE feedback (good or bad) he gets from coaches and their view of your son's ability/projectability. This here is testament to John's reputation and true value, all of which helped us learn a great deal along the way. So many coaches and recruiting services will tell you what you WANT to hear versus what you NEED to hear. Further, by eliciting candid and immediate feedback from coaches, John helped us understand the different styles and preferences among college coaches and programs, which is critical for parents and players alike to understand. John even had D1 coaches come watch my son play at high school games and had verbatim feedback from each of them sent to us that night! While in some cases the feedback was critical, it allowed us to work with his coaches to refine areas of his game that were especially important to college level coaches. Morevoer, it allowed us to truly begin to understand what college coaches/programs valued my son's skillset and style of play. This is a key learning that I cannot stress enough and that John's is able to guide players and families through. Just because your son may want to play for a specific college program, your son's style/skillset may not line up well with that specific team's culture, and overall philosophy. Through the process, and by way of attending John's college camp (among others), John was always checking in with us, keeping the communication brief, informative, actionable, and to the point. He is a man of his word...is prompt, candid, and has impeccable follow up with parents and coaches alike. John is a lifelong baseballer and takes the recruting process very seriously for his clients, all in the spirit of finding the best fit for his clients, both academic and athletic.

Having a true advocate in the process is worth every penny and John exceeded our expectations in every way. In the end, my son ended up selecting a school which, although it wasn't on his initial list, ended up being a terrific fit for him and checked several boxes, not least of which was that it was Division I and is led by a phenomenal coaching staff of equal pedigree to John. Our son and entire family are thrilled with the outcome and are wholeheartedly thankful to John Mangieri and Lucky 13. John is worth every penny and I would promptly recommend him to other families to help guide you and your son along an otherwise daunting journey.

-Chris & Maureen Bodkin

The Olivieri Family is most appreciative and grateful to John Mangieri and Lucky13 for all he has done for our son and our family. John’s investment in

the development of our son Francis, since 2020, has supported and enabled him to realize his vision of being a collegiate baseball player at a high

academic school. John’s caring, passionate, demanding and personal approach to player development has enabled Francis to maximize his

baseball potential and act with great self-confidence enabling him to become a leader of leaders on the field and in any environment.

“The balance of player development and building competitive teams that conduct themselves professionally, regardless of the scenario, is so rare in

the Northeast Baseball community. At various stages of playing baseball, (youth fun to college recruiting and commitment) it is difficult to waft away

the fog of deception that Northeast travel baseball has become, which is filled with organizations and coaches that you wouldn’t trust anyone with,

much less your child. John Mangieri is truly the diamond of the diamond! Your child will emerge from his tutelage, guidance and coaching not only as

the very best baseball player they can be, they will display unmatched perseverance, mental strength and their character will be equally as ready

for the next phases of life to achieve measurable levels of success. Our gratitude and support of John Mangieri and Lucky13 is immeasurable.

We are infinitely grateful for his ability to develop our son to have outstanding qualities as a young man, in his baseball career and in his life.”

- Frank and Lisa Olivieri, parents of Francis Olivieri ’23 High School Graduate, 3.8 GPA and Gettysburg Commit

We can't thank John enough for his exceptional support and guidance throughout our son’s baseball journey. His knowledge and genuine passion for the sport made the recruiting process smooth and rewarding. Thanks to his efforts,AJ found the perfect opportunity to showcase his skills and continue his baseball and academic career at Baruch College. I highly recommend John to any aspiring baseball player looking to take their game to the next level.

- Andrew DeRose

Thank you so much to John Mangieri in his assistance in helping my son get committed to a top notch Division 2 baseball program. John was instrumental in his direction and in contacting and getting honest feedback from college coaches. You can tell how strong his relationships are with the coaches as he gets instant feedback, many times within minutes of him reaching out. He has extensive contacts with many coaches in the Northeast and his contacts continue to grow. In addition, John's college showcase camp was crucial in having over 15 top schools in D1, D2 and D3 programs evaluating the boys. Finally and most importantly, John gives and gets honest feedback, sometimes not what you want to hear, but what you need to hear to assess where you fall in the college recruitment process. We are eternally grateful to John for all his advice and guidance and being my son's advocate.

Thank you.

- Tom & Paola Rizzuto

» Read more testimonials

Recent Player News and Accomplishments

Gianni Rizzato (OF) has committed to Pace University.

Matteo Karcic has committed to the University of Bridgeport.

Jack Bodkin (MIF) has committed to Hofstra University.

Trey Zaffiro (RHP) has committed to Lafayette.

Tommy Rizzuto has committed to Adelphi.

Anthony Rivera (RHP) has committed to Farmingdale State University.

AJ Derose has committed to Baruch College.

Anthony Larissa (Catcher) has committed to John Jay

Kenny Pastrana has committed to Baruch College

Ryan Foerst has committed to Baruch College

George Demacopoulos has committed to St. Joseph’s University

Francis Olivieri has Committed to Gettysburg College.

Recent Player News and Accomplishments

Joey Frazzetta has Committed to the University of New Haven

Brian Baek has Committed to Baruch College

Roy Longarzo has Committed to Baruch College

Anthony Prizinsano (RHP) has Committed to the College of Staten Island

Dylan Wayne has committed to Queens College

Frankie Ricapito (LHP) has committed to Queens College

Michael Frazzetta has committed to SUNY Maritime

PJ Tobin has committed to Concordia College

Ayden Rivera (IF/OF/RHP) has committed to CCNY.

Johnny Dezago (RHP) has committed to St. Thomas Aquinas College

John Carver (Lynbrook, NY) has committed to Adelphi University.

Teddy Mouhlas has committed as a two way player to NYU