The UConn Blog - UConn Baseball 2021 Season PreviewsEscalators are for cowards.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/49593/uconn-fav.png2021-02-18T12:03:59-05:00http://www.theuconnblog.com/rss/stream/220535102021-02-18T12:03:59-05:002021-02-18T12:03:59-05:002021 UConn Baseball Preview: Relief Pitchers
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<figcaption>Ian Bethune/The UConn Blog</figcaption>
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<p>Caleb Wurster returns to bolster a deep Huskies bullpen.</p> <p id="xaXl6X">It’s impossible to talk about UConn’s pitching without the context of the season and the adjustments made to account for the COVID-19 pandemic. UConn will be playing a 61-game schedule, with seven more games than their usual spring slate. Conference weekends will consist of a Friday opener, a Saturday doubleheader, and a Sunday game. Pitching depth is already key to success in college baseball, and this unique season will only exacerbate it. </p>
<p id="Rwdh46">During preseason, the UConn coaching staff has emphasized how essential pitching depth will be, given the packed weekend slates. </p>
<p id="9lAqyO">“[This season] is gonna have to be more sort of like the way it gets in a regional,” pitching coach Josh MacDonald said in a recent interview. “There’s gonna be weekends like that. We’re on Sunday and we’re thinking ‘Okay, what’s left, what ingredients do we have left here, and just go and work with that.”</p>
<p id="smARfZ">UConn will have plenty of bullpen depth to work with, including a variety of veteran returnees, breakout candidates, newcomers, and two-way players ready to fight for their spots. </p>
<h3 id="fw9ZrG"><strong>Top Dogs</strong></h3>
<p id="cruIFU">The Huskies return their key man in the back end of the bullpen, lefty sidearm specialist Caleb Wurster. The redshirt sophomore erupted onto the scene in 2019 and quickly made a fool out of major teams in college baseball with his funky delivery and tremendous breaking ball. Wurster was a workhorse on the mound, setting the Huskies single-season appearance record (26 games) as the setup man for Jacob Wallace who is now part of the Boston Red Sox organization. Wurster had a 2.66 ERA, recorded 40 strikeouts through 47.1 innings pitched, and held opponents to just a .188 batting average against. </p>
<p id="CG0PFB">Despite Wurster getting all of the preseason accolades, the most exciting prospect in the Huskies’ bullpen very well might be second-year freshman Andrew Marrero. Pitching coach Josh MacDonald raved about his potential in the preseason and he hasn’t shown anything to the contrary so far in his career. In his first season of college summer ball, he struck out 15 batters in 10.1 innings of work. He continued that pace in the shortened 2020 season, allowing no runs in the 4.2 innings he was on the mound, then kept it up during fall ball as well. That consistency bodes well for him being used in high-leverage situations this spring. </p>
<p id="Mj8rwg">After three years as a starting pitcher, mostly on weekdays games, junior Colby Dunlop will make the full-time transition to the bullpen in 2020 in hopes of refreshing his arm. Dunlop had a few average seasons as a starting pitcher before a semi-disastrous 2020, but the UConn coaching staff thinks that a bullpen role will prevent him from getting burnt out. He’s another guy whose fastball hits in the mid-90s and he pairs it well with a wipeout breaking pitch.</p>
<p id="Jb2m4u">Kenny Haus adds to the immense depth of the UConn bullpen. The junior from Rancho Palos Verdes, California started out as a weekday starter for the Huskies, making a few relief appearances later in the 2019 season. He really exploded onto the scene in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, however. Haus went a whopping six appearances out of the bullpen without allowing a single hit to start the season, giving up just one earned run, four hits, and six walks through 11.1 innings while striking out 10. There are certainly questions to be asked as to whether he can continue his nuclear pace out of the bullpen this year, as he's a ground ball pitcher by trade, but if moving to the bullpen improves his numbers even half as much then he'll be a very solid option for the Huskies in later innings. </p>
<h3 id="aK5TGW"><strong>Newcomers</strong></h3>
<p id="t7LjKP">A few newcomers to the program impressed in the offseason and will certainly be featured in the upcoming season with plenty of innings to be had thanks to the 61-game schedule.</p>
<p id="NfgTZD">Brendan O’Donnell is a left-handed freshman from Hull, Massachusetts who might get some action with a fastball in the high 80’s and a good slider. He’ll get some playing time along with another true freshman, Bobby McBride, whose fastball hits in the lower 90’s. </p>
<p id="Bz0iHB">Devin Kirby is the latest to come through the California junior college pipeline established by MacDonald and it looks like he’ll be just as useful as Kenny Haus and Jeff Kersten before him. Kirby was a JUCO All-American at Santa Rosa Junior College and his 14.2 K/9, 1.09 ERA and 17 saves pop off the page. Operating from a low 3/4 right-handed delivery, Kirby features a fastball in the mid-to-upper 80’s, a changeup, and a curveball. </p>
<p id="3QK3kc">Junior Justin Willis is another transfer who will see some innings this year, bringing more College World Series experience to the team after falling down the pecking order at Vanderbilt. </p>
<h3 id="chiZFN"><strong>Two-way Talents</strong></h3>
<p id="4SJaiG">And then you have the wildcards, the great unknowns of the UConn bullpen — the elusive two-way players. MacDonald and head coach Jim Penders haven’t really had any two-way players to speak of in recent years, but in 2020 that could be set to change, especially with the extra games on the schedule and the potential for unforeseen COVID-related issues. </p>
<p id="w6KMfj">As good as Reggie Crawford is on the offensive side of the ball, he might have even more raw talent as a pitcher. With a fastball in the mid-to-upper 90’s and a curveball with good break, MacDonald identified Crawford as having “the best arm on the team, you know, in terms of just pure stuff.” Crawford is still raw as a pitcher, but his 6’4” frame gives him plenty to work with should the Huskies opt to go that way in his development. </p>
<p id="m873dO">Erik Stock will mainly see appearances in the outfield, but he’s another player that the Huskies can call on to give them some innings on the mound. He pitched out of the bullpen at Old Dominion as a freshman in 2018 and provided two tough innings on the mound for the Huskies in the 2020 season.</p>
https://www.theuconnblog.com/2021/2/18/22287176/2021-uconn-baseball-preview-relief-pitchersLuke Swanson2021-02-18T10:56:58-05:002021-02-18T10:56:58-05:002021 UConn Baseball Preview: Outfield
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<p>Anchored by two returning starters, a strong cast of contributors will look to exceed expectations this season.</p> <p id="5oBptr">Coming into the 2021 season, Coach Penders looks to have assembled the <a href="https://www.courant.com/sports/college/hc-sp-amore-column-uconn-baseball-20210216-20210215-btxo7k5vlzfidhtes5qfxtcuni-story.html">most talented</a> UConn baseball team he’s had since the 2011 squad featuring George Springer and Matt Barnes. Much of that has to do with their impressive <a href="https://www.theuconnblog.com/2021/2/11/22272292/2021-uconn-baseball-preview-the-infield">infield</a> duo of Reggie Crawford and Pat Winkel, but the Huskies have no shortage of skilled players throughout their roster and the outfield is no exception. Here’s a closer look at the #HookC crew who will be manning the outfield for the Huskies this season:</p>
<h3 id="7zkYOD"><strong>Sure things</strong></h3>
<p id="7BUlW7">There are two outfield positions penciled in before the season even starts, with Kyler Fedko and Chris Winkel set to return to their starting spots in right and center field, respectively. </p>
<p id="tnBInQ"><strong>Kyler Fedko (So.)</strong></p>
<p id="VXLRSz">The returning sophomore is the no-doubt-about-it starting right fielder. Fedko has started 65 of the 67 games he’s played in college so far, so he’s about as much of a lock as it gets out there, barring an injury.</p>
<p id="05BavL">He was arguably the best player on the team last year as he slashed an absurd .412/.424/.581 line during a shortened season. Among everyday players, Fedko led the team in average (.412), total bases (32), multi-hit games (six), and was tied for the most runs (12) with his outfield cohort, Chris Winkel.</p>
<p id="HiwNDj">The most impressive statistic of all, though, is that he halved his strikeout rate from 16.1% in 2019 to 7.8% in 2020. Two of those strikeouts came against the potential No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming MLB Draft, Vanderbilt’s Kumar Rocker, so only two of them came against non-elite college pitching. </p>
<p id="K0BP87">Associate head coach <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBkAJ0YafSo">Jeff Hourigan said</a> the sophomore is one of the most competitive players they have during a recent interview with Chris Jones from the UConn athletic department.</p>
<p id="0J5LEv">“He does not give in as an offensive player,” Hourigan said.</p>
<p id="MUNP3g">The Gibsonia, Pennsylvania native was recently ranked on the <a href="https://d1baseball.com/season-preview/2021-preseason-power-rankings-top-100-outfielders/">D1Baseball top-100</a> for outfielders coming into the college season. Both the <a href="https://www.theuconnblog.com/2021/2/17/22288095/uconn-huskies-baseball-picked-to-finish-first-in-big-east-preseason-coaches-poll">Big East</a> and <a href="https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2021-big-east-conference-college-baseball-preview/">Baseball America</a> have him as the preseason conference player of the year as well. </p>
<p id="2uQTtW"><strong>Chris Winkel (Sr.)</strong></p>
<p id="EOezh5">Next up is the two-year team captain and center fielder Chris Winkel, who put up career highs in all three slash-line categories last season. He finished the year with a .348/.404/.457 slash line through 12 games, all starts. </p>
<p id="EECWmD">After hitting .264 in both 2018 and 2019, the older Winkel increased his batting average by 84 points during the shortened season. He struggled in the early goings of the campaign, but really took off against some weaker teams before the shutdown with multi-hit games in five of their last seven contests. </p>
<p id="OfuWyK">He spent time at both first base and in the outfield before permanently moving to center for when Reggie Crawford joined the team. He has committed just 16 errors in his four seasons in Storrs. </p>
<p id="769LXx">Hourigan said that Winkel has gotten more comfortable playing in center after the switch and that “not many balls are going to drop when he’s out there.”</p>
<p id="kCTQ0n">Winkel is using the extra year of eligibility given by the NCAA and he will get the chance to play alongside his younger brother, Pat, once again after the young catcher missed last season due to Tommy John surgery.</p>
<h3 id="eoHqom"><strong>Up for grabs</strong></h3>
<p id="XLYvvw">With Winkel and Fedko holding down the center and right field starting jobs, a slew of Huskies are expected to vie for playing time in left field.</p>
<p id="68yEUd"><strong>Erik Stock (Jr.)</strong></p>
<p id="jC309X">Stock took over in left field after the first few games of last season and delivered perhaps the most exciting performance of the Huskies’ 2020 campaign after transferring from Old Dominion. The Virginia Beach native hit a team-leading .484 in nine games, the third-highest mark in the nation. </p>
<p id="GASPSv">“I was joking with Stock last week and was like ‘we purposely hid you that first weekend so Michigan didn’t know how good of a hitter you were the next weekend,” Hourigan joked.</p>
<p id="AsEOTz">Stock is a two-way talent and took the mound sparingly last season, but found much less success pitching than he did at the dish. He appeared in three games and accrued an 18.00 ERA with a pair of strikeouts in two innings. It’s a small sample size, so take it with a grain of salt.</p>
<p id="mD3Teo"><strong>Ben Maycock (R-Jr.)</strong></p>
<p id="ClnOHF">Maycock is an absolute unit at 6-2, 244 lb. with good speed. He hasn’t played much in his three years at UConn, registering just 30 games played and 35 plate appearances, but saw the largest share of playing time yet last season. During a span of eight games, of which he started seven, Maycock got 22 at-bats and slashed .136/.240/.318. </p>
<p id="d4xmnA">“He’s so much fun to coach because he gives you his best effort every day,” Hourigan said. </p>
<p id="7jnyQ9">Despite limited collegiate action, he has put up some solid numbers during the summer. In 13 games in the New England Collegiate Baseball League in 2019, Maycock hit .380 with four homers, 10 RBIs, 10 runs scored, five stolen bases, and two doubles. </p>
<p id="nadYsZ">He hit his first home run for UConn against No. 8 Michigan on Feb. 16 of last season as well. </p>
<p id="fJri7D"><strong>Kevin Ferrer (R-Fr.)</strong></p>
<p id="vnsM2F">After a strong showing in the Perfect Game League during the summer of 2019, Ferrer played eight games for the Huskies in 2020. He went 5-13 with six RBIs and a pair of doubles. Two of those RBIs came against No. 1 Michigan in an 8-7 win on Feb. 21. </p>
<p id="sNohHT">“He just wakes up, gets out the bed, and he can just hit,” Hourigan said.</p>
<p id="OLsFhE"><strong>T.C. Simmons (R-So.)</strong></p>
<p id="otfIVi">Simmons transferred to UConn after two years of junior college ball at Grossmont College in El Cajon, California. In 47 games at the JUCO level, Simmons slashed .356/.505/.558 with four homers, 47 RBIs, 51 runs, and 15 doubles. He also swiped 12 bags on 16 attempts.</p>
<p id="wEMqmY">Hourigan said he’s been nicked up with some minor injuries but he can play everywhere in the outfield and gets on base at a good clip. </p>
<p id="SU2sQ8"><strong>Korey Morton (Fr.)</strong></p>
<p id="41IhG3">Morton is a legitimate burner, Hourigan said he might be the fastest player they’ve ever had. He was a high school sprinter and holds the Connecticut Class LL record in the 55-meter dash. </p>
<p id="tn8uYp"><strong>Phoenix Billings (Fr.)</strong></p>
<p id="l3gEqT">Billings didn’t play in 2020 because the high school season was canceled due to COVID-19, but he was an All-State player in 2019 when he hit .375 with 25 RBIs for Hand High School in Madison, Connecticut. He was also Hand’s starting quarterback and led them to two state titles on the football field while setting a school record for passing touchdowns. Most importantly, he has a Grade-A college baseball name.</p>
<p id="UPsL7P"><em><strong>Look for more UConn baseball coverage coming later today, including a preview of the talented relief pitchers taking the mound for the Huskies this season!</strong></em></p>
https://www.theuconnblog.com/2021/2/18/22288165/2021-uconn-baseball-preview-outfieldMike Mavredakis2021-02-18T08:00:00-05:002021-02-18T08:00:00-05:002021 UConn Baseball Preview: Starting Pitchers
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<figcaption>Ian Bethune/The UConn Blog</figcaption>
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<p>North Carolina transfer Ben Casparius highlights the weekend rotation for the Huskies.</p> <p id="pxoDk8">Two and a half years removed from taking the field as North Carolina’s starting third baseman in the College World Series and putting in a game-winning 2-for-5, three RBI night at the plate against eventual champions Oregon State, Ben Casparius is at a different school, in a different state, playing an entirely different role on this year’s UConn baseball team. Now, after an extremely long delay, he’s the Huskies’ Friday starter in a long line of great Friday starters.</p>
<p id="aKK8Bw">Casparius’ transfer saga was rendered all but moot by the COVID-19 pandemic cancelling the season, but for a while, the UConn coaching staff thought he was a lock to start opening day. He had <a href="https://www.courant.com/sports/college/hc-sp-amore-column-mlb-uconn-baseball-ben-casparius-20200616-20200615-jn2tgfmu7rbfdgnwckabyg6mrq-story.html">high praise</a> last fall, with head coach Jim Penders touting his “explosive” fastball. “If he throws it bellybutton or higher, it looks like 100 when it’s 93 [mph],” Penders said. His competitive streak and his command of the strike zone are legit, too.</p>
<p id="lFi9Pq">However, before COVID-19 shut things down, Casparius’ waiver was eventually denied, however, and after the cancellation of the 2019 season it was in doubt as to whether he would play for UConn at all with the MLB draft on the horizon. But as the shortened draft took place, he wasn’t selected in the first five rounds, so it wasn’t worth it for him to go to the league. </p>
<p id="pOUtdd">Casparius returns to UConn as their clear-cut Friday starter, in a long line of tremendous pitchers under coach Josh MacDonald, from Carson Cross in 2015 to Anthony Kay, Tim Cate and Mason Feole. The Connecticut native went to Staples High in Westport, where he went 5-1 his senior year and won a state championship, earning the Gatorade Player of the Year award. He had a stellar freshman year at North Carolina with a 1.69 ERA and a .118 batting average against, but faltered his sophomore year and started to weigh his options, eventually ending up on Penders’ doorstep. </p>
<p id="8GCaaP">Casparius is about as good of a pitching <em>prospect </em>as any to come out of Connecticut in recent years. His fastball sits 93-94 miles per hour, and it a few different variations; a four-seam, a sinker and a cutter are all in his arsenal. Then, you have the breaking pitches, including a curve, a slider and a wipeout changeup. Most elite college pitchers have three-to-four pitches that they’ve gained mastery of, so if Casparius can mix and match six of them, you might as well forget about it. </p>
<p id="RaWDOZ">“You may have a chance to see something special every time he touches the ball,” MacDonald said. “I think he’s about as athletic of a pitcher as we’ve had, everything comes very easy to him.”</p>
<p id="CJmgud">What’s it like to be at the plate facing Casparius? The reviews are in, and they’re not great. </p>
<p id="eNTwgW">“It is the worst experience I’ve had to face this fall and this winter,” UConn slugger and Co-Big East Preseason Player of the Year Kyler Fedko put it bluntly. “I mean, he’s probably has struck me out 10 of the last 12 at bats and it makes me so mad.”</p>
<p id="3liGTV">Outside of Casparius, there will be plenty of opportunities for others to make their mark in the starting rotation. The Huskies have 61 games scheduled this year to try and get ahead of any possible COVID cancellations — seven more than the usual 54, and will be further tested by the conference play format: four-game weekend series for seven straight weeks with a few midweek games thrown in. </p>
<p id="3XPGhD">UConn’s Saturday starter looked somewhat undecided at the start of 2019, but redshirt junior Joe Simeone made it his own over the course of 13 played games. After two unremarkable seasons out of the bullpen as a freshman and sophomore where the less that’s said about his ERA the better, Simeone began to transition to life as a starter. Through four starts in 2019, he posted a 3.00 ERA and held opposing pitchers to a 1.89 batting average. Simeone continued this promising trend in the fall scrimmages, <a href="https://twitter.com/UConnBSB/status/1328807709370699790?s=20">posting a 1.89 ERA and 12 strikeouts</a> through 15 innings pitched. Small sample size, sure, but there’s enough there to suggest that Simeone is more comfortable in a starting role than coming out of the bullpen.</p>
<p id="Z92lmg">Simeone has a sinking fastball that sits in the high 80’s to low 90’s, a curveball, a changeup and a slider that he breaks out occasionally. When he’s on the mound, he puts a tremendous amount of effort into every pitch, and that’s visible even by the fans in the stands. </p>
<p id="Cxhe3y">“When [Simeone] takes the ball, you know [that] when his day is done, we’re not questioning whether or not he gave his all. He’s gonna go out there, he’s gonna compete, he’s gonna leave it out on the field,” MacDonald said.</p>
<p id="FwUXSY">Redshirt sophomore Jimmy Wang, who burst onto the scene in the 2019 season, will also stake a claim to a starting role in 2021, according to the UConn baseball staff. Originally from Beijing, China, Wang made his name as a UConn player when he <a href="http://dailycampus.squarespace.com/stories/2019/4/11/jimmy-wang-brings-no-fear-mentality-from-haidian-beijing-to-jo-christian-field">joined the team via walk-on tryouts</a> in the fall of 2018, and had a solid first season as a weekly starter. He was 2-2 with a 3.91 ERA, getting into some sketchy situations but ultimately performing well for his first season at the Division I level. His 2020 season was derailed by injury, but an extended offseason and solid fall (3.43 ERA and 18 strikeouts through 21 innings) means he’ll be ready to go for the spring. </p>
<p id="XWLByC">Wang, as expected from someone who walked into Penders’ office without a lick of Division I college experience, was a bit raw that first year. Still, his 95 mph fastball and wipeout slider were effective in his first season, and he was able to add a changeup to his arsenal that first year. The coaching staff is looking for a little more refinement from Wang, some thing that’s essential if he is to reach his full potential. </p>
<p id="5WDHXj">“He seems to have matured a little bit in terms of how he goes about and approaches pitching [and] navigating his way through games, which is exciting,” MacDonald said. </p>
<p id="MNP5IF">Elsewhere in the rotation, the Huskies will have multiple newcomers ready to make an impact. Another player in competition for a weekend spot is Austin Peterson, a junior who transferred in from Wabash Valley Community College in Illinois this summer. </p>
<p id="GK1yA4">Peterson only made two starts at a junior college level before the season was cancelled due to COVID, so the real picture of his career comes from his time at Purdue before that. He worked out of the bullpen for the Boilermakers, pitching 25 games and earning an impressive 9.19 K/9 ratio. Like Simeone, his fastball sits low 90s and he has multiple breaking pitches. Peterson had a bout with COVID-19 earlier in the fall, but he remains on track to be an important starter for the Huskies this season. </p>
<p id="cOAHhJ">Sophomore Will Lucas is an interesting contender for a weekend starting spot. He was heralded as a two-way player as a freshman coming into the 2019 season, but was used mainly as an alternative to Conor Moriarty at third base. He never really got going at the plate, however, and the infield corner defense wasn’t fantastic either. Lucas emerged from the 2019 offseason as a starting pitcher, with a fastball in the mid-80s, a slider and a curveball to boot. </p>
<p id="KCCs5B">Freshman Pat Gallagher is another interesting prospect that could see time as a starter, either on Sunday or a weekday. The 6-foot freshman from Leominster, Massachusetts was an all-state hurler in high school and appeared in four relief appearances in his first year at UConn. </p>
<p id="9VeRye"><strong>Predicted Rotation: </strong></p>
<p id="bo4CDz">Friday: Ben Casparius</p>
<p id="5u7NWW">Saturday: Joe Simeone/Will Lucas</p>
<p id="tYXv1k">Sunday: Jimmy Wang</p>
https://www.theuconnblog.com/2021/2/18/22283815/2021-uconn-huskies-baseball-hook-c-baseball-preview-starting-pitchersLuke Swanson2021-02-17T16:21:35-05:002021-02-17T16:21:35-05:00UConn baseball picked to finish first in Big East Preseason Coaches’ Poll
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<figcaption>Ian Bethune for The UConn Blog</figcaption>
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<p>The Huskies’ Kyler Fedko was named Preseason Co-Player of the Year as well. </p> <p id="Hz3AUR">In its first season as a member of the <a href="https://www.bigeastcoastbias.com">Big East</a> since 2013, <a href="https://www.theuconnblog.com">UConn</a> baseball has been picked to finish first in the Preseason Coaches’ Poll, besting Creighton by one point. The Huskies received five of the eight first-place votes.</p>
<p id="N57nY7">Sophomore Kyler Fedko was named the Preseason Co-Player of the year alongside Seton Hall’s Tyler Shelder-McAvoy. Overall, four Huskies were named to the Preseason All-Big East Team — OF Kyler Fedko, 2B Christian Fedko, 1B Reggie Crawford and LHP Caleb Wurster. </p>
<p id="suN3ak">The younger Fedko brother finished last season hitting .412 with a pair of homers and 12 RBIs through 13 games. He had the highest batting average on the roster among everyday players and struck out just four times on the year. </p>
<p id="GwWVIL">His older brother, Christian, has been one of the Huskies’ mainstays the past three seasons and will enter his third year as a starter. The second basemen slashed .275/.316/.353 in 57 plate appearances last season, starting all 13 games for UConn. He hit four doubles and drove in 12 runs in the COVID-19 shortened season.</p>
<p id="9G4kB3">Crawford, one of Jim Penders’ most highly-touted recruits, delivered one of the most impressive offensive performances of UConn’s short season. He slashed .365/.414/.558 with a homer and a team-leading 16 RBIs through 13 games. </p>
<p id="uf0S5T">The only reliever on the Preseason All-Big East team went to the final Husky on the list, Wurster. The Coventry, Rhode Island native found his name on this list and was also named to D1Baseball.com’s Preseason Second Team All-American team. In his two seasons at UConn, Wurster has posted a 2.48 ERA through 54.1 innings of work and struck out 48 batters as one of the Huskies’ top options in the bullpen.</p>
<aside id="ymsvIo"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"UConn baseball looking forward to 2021 campaign after extended offseason","url":"https://www.theuconnblog.com/2021/2/9/22243031/uconn-baseball-looking-forward-to-2021-campaign-after-extended-offseason"},{"title":"2021 UConn Baseball Preview: The Infield","url":"https://www.theuconnblog.com/2021/2/11/22272292/2021-uconn-baseball-preview-the-infield"},{"title":"UConn baseball adjusting to Big East with strong non conference slate","url":"https://www.theuconnblog.com/2021/2/15/22275642/uconn-huskies-baseball-adjusting-to-big-east-with-strong-non-conference-slate"}]}'></div></aside><p id="NZFwZ6"><strong>Big East Preseason Coaches’ Poll</strong></p>
<ol>
<li id="daNNSg">UConn Huskies (5)</li>
<li id="RiJlgU">Creighton Bluejays (2)</li>
<li id="OngJU3">Seton Hall Pirates (1)</li>
<li id="9QJ0Gr">St. John’s Red Storm</li>
<li id="ZCO9xf">Xavier Musketeers</li>
<li id="TyftTb"><a href="https://www.vuhoops.com">Villanova Wildcats</a></li>
<li id="W3A7fF">Butler Bulldogs</li>
<li id="cQKv3c"><a href="https://www.casualhoya.com">Georgetown Hoyas</a></li>
</ol>
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https://www.theuconnblog.com/2021/2/17/22288095/uconn-huskies-baseball-picked-to-finish-first-in-big-east-preseason-coaches-pollMike Mavredakis2021-02-15T11:59:10-05:002021-02-15T11:59:10-05:00UConn baseball adjusting to Big East with strong non-conference slate
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<figcaption>Ian Bethune/The UConn Blog</figcaption>
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<p>The Huskies are shifting from an elite conference to one that has experienced less success.</p> <p id="sTYFXc"><a href="https://www.theuconnblog.com">UConn</a> baseball’s final season in the American Athletic Conference was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The American, with its 24 conference games full of strong RPI opponents, was an ideal baseball location for a school in the Northeast like UConn, where there are few high-end baseball programs with which to compete.</p>
<p id="fZ49jE">Overall, the <a href="https://www.bigeastcoastbias.com">Big East</a> is a better regional fit for all sports and a cultural fit for the Huskies’ men’s and women’s basketball teams. The move also allowed the football program to go independent and play more relevant opponents.</p>
<p id="3PBfxg">The only program that doesn’t benefit from this move is the baseball team, who will shift from one of the best baseball conferences in the country to one of the more mediocre. While some of the Huskies’ new conference mates have a history of success, UConn’s league competition leaves something to be desired compared to its old stomping grounds, where several of the schools regularly made and succeeded in the NCAA Tournament.</p>
<p id="7RKqPC">The Big East has not appeared in a Super Regional since 2012 when St. John’s advanced out of the Chapel Hill Regional to the Tuscon Super Regional. No Big East program has hosted a regional since the realignment in 2013.</p>
<p id="ftlgQ9">Meanwhile, two AAC programs, Houston (2014) and East Carolina (2016 and 2019), have advanced to Super Regionals. Additionally, Houston (2015, 2017) and East Carolina (2018, 2019) have each hosted a Regional. This gulf in competition also extends to tournament bids.</p>
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<p id="p3fpai">Of the 10 schools that have played a game in the American Athletic Conference, including UConn, eight have earned a tournament nod. Meanwhile, only three of the seven Big East schools can say the same, with St. John’s and Xavier accounting for six of the conference’s seven bids since 2014.</p>
<p id="9sAjVA">Even if schools aren’t making the NCAA Tournament regularly, they can still be solid programs that provide a good RPI opportunity, helping the conference at large succeed as RPI is the primary ranking used to compare teams without head-to-head results.</p>
<p id="G415HS">The American regularly posts a high conference RPI with each school ranking in the top 130 in the RPI in 2019. That was good for No. 5 out of 31 Division I conference, just .004 points behind the <a href="https://www.pacifictakes.com">Pac-12</a> for the No. 4 spot. Three of the seven Big East baseball programs ranked as high as No. 130 but three ranked below 200. That slotted the Big East No. 17 in the rankings, sandwiched between the Southern and Ohio Valley conferences.</p>
<p id="TBmTRG">Since 2014, the first year after realignment, the Big East has consistently ranked in the teens in conference RPI, while the American has been slotted no worse than sixth, peaking at third in 2015. The Big East’s best mark was No. 10 in 2017, the only year in which a team earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.</p>
<p id="LtohxZ">This is particularly important for UConn, as regional opponents with a strong RPI are few and far between. Given the randomness of a single baseball game, it’s inevitable that UConn will drop a contest or two to inferior competition, dinging their RPI. Thus, minimizing the appearances of sub-200 teams on the schedule is key.</p>
<p id="6XLArn">A few games with those strong RPI schools — St. John’s and Seton Hall — will now be part of the conference season, cutting into that already small number. This shift is likely to change UConn’s scheduling strategy moving forward.</p>
<p id="19WuAI">While the Huskies were always aggressive in the non-conference, they had a grueling 24-game conference slate to help keep RPI high. UConn will now have 21 contests against Big East competition, leaving 35 non-conference games to fill out.</p>
<p id="sHxHLb">UConn’s 2021 schedule showed how it plans to go about the non-conference season moving forward. The Huskies added a four-game series on the road against <a href="https://www.vivathematadors.com">Texas Tech</a>, who appeared in the 2018 and 2019 <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/college-world-series">College World Series</a> and is ranked No. 4 in the preseason coaches poll. They will also begin the year with a three-game set against No. 14 Virginia and visit 2016 National Champion Coastal Carolina for a pair of contests in early March.</p>
<p id="xyt4W4">Ultimately, the move to the Big East was the right move for the athletic department as a whole and has reinvigorated the fanbase. However, baseball was a program that benefitted from life in the American and now that it has returned to the Big East — sans some of the programs that made it a high-end baseball conference prior to the realignment — the Huskies will regularly be aggressive in non-conference scheduling to offset the weaker conference slate.</p>
https://www.theuconnblog.com/2021/2/15/22275642/uconn-huskies-baseball-adjusting-to-big-east-with-strong-non-conference-slateShawn McGrath2021-02-11T16:25:07-05:002021-02-11T16:25:07-05:002021 UConn Baseball Preview: Infield
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<figcaption>Ian Bethune/The UConn Blog</figcaption>
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<p>An impressive mix of youngsters and veteran talent should give Coach Penders plenty of good headaches when setting the lineup this season.</p> <p id="ZKMd2S">Head coach Jim Penders will have an embarrassment of riches to call upon in the infield heading into 2021, including two of the best prospects in program history: first baseman Reggie Crawford and catcher Patrick Winkel. </p>
<p id="0gaJ26">While the two rising stars have never been featured on the diamond at the same time — Crawford was a freshman last year when Winkel missed the entire season after undergoing Tommy John surgery — 2020’s cancellation opened up a golden opportunity to see two of the best young position players at Storrs since, no exaggeration, George Springer and Nick Ahmed. </p>
<p id="K7ztem">The offensive numbers the two of them put up in their respective freshman seasons are astounding:</p>
<p id="SAiSv2">In 13 games of the 2020 season, Reggie Crawford had a .365 average, .414 on-base percentage, and a .558 slugging percentage, ranking third, second, and third on the team in each respective category <em>as a freshman</em>. Would he have sustained that ridiculous pace over a full 50+ game season? It would be pretty cool, but history says otherwise. What could help him at least try and match that pace is the work he’s been putting in with hitting coach Jeff Hourigan this offseason. <a href="https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/college-podcast-uconns-jim-penders-talks-2021-big-east-move/">Penders said</a> that Crawford already has an extremely advanced approach at the plate for his age, but wants to develop even more power and has worked all offseason to pull the ball more. </p>
<p id="OK4GXt">What should translate to a full season of games, however, will be Crawford’s defense. His 6’4” frame and natural athleticism lends itself to immense range at first base, where he has big shoes to fill defensively. Through three seasons and over 1,000 putouts, his predecessor at first base, Chris Winkel, only committed 10 errors. With the rest of the infield near-unchanged, Crawford has had the chance to develop chemistry with the rest of the squad through the 13 games in 2020 and the entirety of the offseason. Winkel will return to the team after gaining an extra year of eligibility, and will feature at first base when Crawford is given a rest at DH. </p>
<p id="kDROYo">At catcher in 2019, Patrick Winkel had arguably an even more impressive rookie season with UConn baseball. Forgoing a chance to sign with the Yankees after being drafted by them in 2018, Winkel hit .318 in 2019 against elite conference and non-conference competition, leading the team with seven home runs and a .486 slugging percentage.</p>
<p id="HUhYcw">Even more impressive than his tremendous offensive power, however, is Winkel’s poise behind the plate. The catcher is the quarterback of the defense, and typically freshmen slowly grow into that role, but the Orange, Connecticut native quickly made it his own and became a leader on the field despite battling multiple injuries his rookie season. After a full season of mashing and an impressive track record behind the plate, Winkel has done nothing but improve his draft stock, <a href="https://d1baseball.com/fall-report/fall-report-connecticut-2/">projected </a>to be at least a third-round pick this summer, when he will be eligible again. </p>
<p id="ZTOQJ6">Winkel will likely rotate more often this year due to the compressed schedule — four-game weekends and regular doubleheaders will really put a crick in your back — which should give journeyman slugger Ciaran Devenney a chance to show off. Devenney started his career at HBCU Delaware State before transferring to Mercer Community College near his hometown of Manalapan, New Jersey. He finally ended up at UMass Lowell, where he hit .261/.509/.423 in two years there, earning an all-conference team spot in 2019. </p>
<aside id="QnBdT4"><div data-anthem-component="actionbox" data-anthem-component-data='{"title":"Subscribe to The UConn Hockey Hub!","description":"The most in-depth coverage of UConn men’s hockey","label":"TAKE ME TO THE HUB!","url":"https://www.patreon.com/uconnhockeyhub"}'></div></aside><p id="fHzB1G">Christian Fedko has made the second base position his own in recent years, converting from an outfield-cum-designated hitter role in his 2018 season to taking over the second baseman mantle from Michael Woodworth, who was moved to the outfield. His numbers have been good over his two-year career, but he really shines in clutch moments. During the 2019 regional he was the Huskies’ biggest offensive threat, with multi-hit games against Nebraska twice and Harvard, and was responsible for one of the biggest hits in UConn history the year prior with a 8th inning go-ahead home run against No. 15 Coastal Carolina that sent UConn to the NCAA Regional. </p>
<p id="n1wUfg">Fedko definitely profiles as more of an offensive second baseman first, worrying about the defensive side second. He had his fair share of growing pains at second in 2019, but has adapted to the role and is no longer a liability at the position. Fedko will certainly be a candidate for the DH spot when the lineup calls for it, with Andy Hague or Zach Bushling subbing in for him defensively.</p>
<p id="B0T5O3">Third base and shortstop are two of the more open spots in the lineup, but Penders won’t be starved for good choices. At short, Bushling made the position his own in 2019, playing every inning in the shortened season. The 5’7” speedster had a respectable .286 average and stole a team-high three bases in 2019, his first season with the team since transferring in from Siera Community College in California. The former high school football and basketball star will get a long, hard look at featuring near the top of the batting order, based mostly on turning in quality at-bats all of last season. </p>
<p id="sLs45V">Pushing Bushling for that starting spot will be redshirt sophomore Hague, who wouldn’t have been blamed in the slightest if he had transferred at any point in his UConn career. Hague was stuck behind iron man Anthony Prato for his first two years at Storrs, redshirted the 2019 season, but returned to the program to fight for a spot in 2020, and ended up starting on opening day. He’s struggled at the plate in two seasons with the team, but <a href="https://twitter.com/UConnBSB/status/1321089949102465024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1321089949102465024%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=">reportedly</a> led the team in batting average in fall ball. Hague is a sparkplug who will likely come off the bench as a pinch runner when he’s not featured in the lineup, but if he can finally put it all together on offense, he’ll be a threat to win that starting spot.</p>
<p id="uFR9un">David Langer will be an even-keel option for the Huskies at the hot corner, giving them some experience on the left side of the infield. The sixth-year senior’s jersey number (41), baggy pants, and work ethic are sure to make him a fan favorite, but he’ll have to fend off an under-the-radar prospect who’s making his presence known to earn regular playing time. </p>
<p id="HyWoXw">That prospect is none other than true freshman Bryan Padilla who hails from Poly Prep in Brooklyn, New York and followed the same path to Storrs as former shortstop Anthony Prato. It wouldn’t be a shock to see Padilla’s named called during a future MLB draft, as he has a good arm and is solid defensively already at shortstop, plus has the ability to put together good at-bats. </p>
<p id="ifReJG">Langer and Padilla will have to contend with Todd Petersen, a youngster with college baseball experience. At 6’6”, 206, Petersen is an absolute unit of a player from Newtown, Connecticut who started six games at third base in 2020, but never quite got going at the plate.</p>
https://www.theuconnblog.com/2021/2/11/22272292/2021-uconn-baseball-preview-the-infieldLuke Swanson2021-02-09T14:29:05-05:002021-02-09T14:29:05-05:00UConn baseball looking forward to 2021 campaign after extended offseason
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<figcaption>Ian Bethune/The UConn Blog</figcaption>
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<p>A new conference and home ballpark have the Huskies hankering to get their season started despite the looming threat of COVID-19.</p> <p id="a9WJao">UConn baseball’s 2020 season was chopped off at the knees far before the first pitch was thrown. Coronavirus (COVID-19) wasn’t a huge topic in the United States when the Huskies kicked off their season with a 1-2 weekend against Cal Poly and the two participants in the College World Series final (Vanderbilt and Michigan), but the then-epidemic was always going to be an issue for college athletics. </p>
<p id="xBnfEO">It would take almost a month for college—and professional—athletics to come crashing down due to the virus, but not before the Huskies scored what would have been their crowning non-conference achievement, a series victory over No. 1 Michigan, and their biggest non-conference flop, a 2-1 series defeat to New Orleans. </p>
<p id="PRseF2">The Huskies’ last few games of the season, a series sweep of Presbyterian and a win at Hartford, were some of their worst performances of the season, <a href="https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/college-podcast-uconns-jim-penders-talks-2021-big-east-move/">according to head coach Jim Penders</a>. </p>
<p id="ghyNIZ">Playing poorly and still coming out with a victory typically bodes well for the rest of the season, but the rest of the season never arrived. UConn’s 2020 season was relegated to a what-if.</p>
<p id="84A9te">The Huskies had few departures — thanks to the NCAA rule that all spring athletes could seek an extra year of eligibility if their season was cut short due to COVID-19 — but a couple of significant players did leave over the offseason. Anthony Nucerino, who started 29 games during the 2019 campaign, donned his cap and gown and graduated along with defensive wizard Conor Moriarty and outfielder Michael Chiovitti. </p>
<p id="A55kGM">A handful of players also transferred from the program: redshirt freshman pitcher Leif Bigelow is now at Maine, and Paul Gozzo, the hard-hitting catcher who was second on the team in slugging in 2019, is now enjoying the sunshine at the University of California-San Diego. </p>
<p id="iymrFy">But the majority of players from the 2020 team are returning, and we got to see some of them in action when baseball finally returned — on an extremely limited basis — this summer. Infielder Christian and outfielder Kyler Fedko played in the Connecticut Collegiate Baseball League alongside Kevin Ferrer and Ben Maycock, batting against pitchers Will Lucas and Colby Dunlop. </p>
<p id="BLq8UK">That took them to autumn, where their usual fall ball practices took an entirely different form. Elliot Ballpark wasn’t the only new baseball facility to open up while the program was on a pause due to COVID in addition to the regular offseason. The new training facility attached to the project has a team-specific cafeteria, weight rooms, and meeting rooms that really transformed their offseason prep, <a href="https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/college-podcast-uconns-jim-penders-talks-2021-big-east-move/">Penders said</a>. </p>
<p id="UiDBF7">“We are all super excited to get back out there, I think it’s been awesome to scrimmage at Elliot Ballpark but we are ready to face an opponent,” captain Chris Winkel said. </p>
<aside id="SZzBB7"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"UConn baseball reveals full 2021 schedule ","url":"https://www.theuconnblog.com/2021/2/2/22261242/uconn-baseball-reveals-full-2021-schedule"}]}'></div></aside><p id="szukSv">Going into the 2021 season, the Huskies also have a new conference to look forward to. Playing in the Big East will certainly be a step down from The American, but the new opponents will certainly require less travel, and their road game against Creighton gives them the chance to play in TD Ameritrade Park, which is the venue for the College World Series.</p>
<p id="fPoLGw">The specter of COVID-19 still hangs over the new season, however, just like it did the last. UConn has scheduled 61 games instead of the usual 56, citing the need to have options if and when an outbreak occurs. </p>
<p id="qm6cTE">In addition, college baseball as a whole has adopted certain in-game preventative measures to combat the spread. Whether they’ll work or not, considering the players still share a locker room and weight room, remains to be seen. </p>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">* Coaches cannot cross the foul line in front of their dugout, or enter the dirt around home plate to ask a question about a call, etc. This includes pregame meetings. (umpires can approach coaches, socially distant)</p>— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) <a href="https://twitter.com/KendallRogers/status/1358081301551677441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2021</a>
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<p id="KVynE6">More uncertainty hangs over this college baseball season than the last, but after a long offseason and two sports seasons’ worth of knowledge to draw from, this year will hopefully be a safe and successful one for the Huskies.</p>
https://www.theuconnblog.com/2021/2/9/22243031/uconn-baseball-looking-forward-to-2021-campaign-after-extended-offseasonLuke Swanson2021-02-02T12:00:50-05:002021-02-02T12:00:50-05:00UConn baseball reveals full 2021 schedule
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<p>The Huskies are eager to show off their new ballpark and slated to do so March 10 against Hartford.</p> <p id="j1y8NV"><a href="https://www.theuconnblog.com/pages/2021-uconn-huskies-baseball-schedule">UConn baseball’s full 2021 schedule</a> was revealed on Monday, including what will hopefully be the debut of the Huskies’ new field, Elliot Ballpark.</p>
<p id="UuOQBF">UConn’s first game at their new home is set for March 10 at 3 p.m. with the Huskies taking on Hartford. They’ll play another midweek game against Central Connecticut a few weeks later then welcome Rhode Island to town the following weekend for a three-game set. </p>
<p id="1oeHyR">Elliot Ballpark will also play host to another first: UConn’s first weekend series back in the Big East, which will happen April 9-11 against Georgetown. In addition, the Huskies will round out their home conference slate with series against Butler (April 30-May 2) and Seton Hall (May 20-22) then make road trips to Creighton, Xavier, St. John’s, and Villanova. </p>
<p id="y9E1z0">The Big East conference schedule will be made entirely up of four-game doubleheaders, with two games on Saturdays. As of now, the first game will be seven innings and the second will be a normal nine-inning contest. This has the effect of creating a bloated schedule for the Huskies — 61 games are scheduled instead of the normal 54 to account for games potentially canceled due to COVID-19. </p>
<p id="UXWW9l">Before their Big East lineup was revealed, UConn’s 2021 season was already set to start with an extremely strong non-conference schedule. This has become the norm in recent years but will be increasingly important in their new conference. The Big East is a large step down in quality from the AAC, so the Huskies will need that extra boost in RPI from their opponents outside of the conference. </p>
<p id="kRwymu">The first pitch of the Huskies’ 2021 season will be thrown against Virginia, a squad that won the College World Series just six years ago and comes in ranked as high as fifth in the preseason rankings. UConn will also take an early-season trip to Coastal Carolina, a team that the Huskies have grown extremely familiar with in the past three years, playing them twice in the regular season and once in an NCAA Regional. Arguably the toughest test of the year will be a trip to Lubbock in March for a four-game series against No. 2 Texas Tech. The Red Raiders have been Big 12 champions five times since 2014, making the College World Series in 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2019. </p>
<p id="9BBpGJ">It's still up in the air whether or not UConn fans will be allowed to attend home games at Elliot Ballpark, but if we go by the Connecticut state sector <a href="https://portal.ct.gov/DECD/Content/Coronavirus-Business-Recovery/Sector-Rules-and-Certification-for-Reopen">guidelines</a> then up to 25% of the stadium could be filled, which equates to roughly 375 fans in the stands.</p>
https://www.theuconnblog.com/2021/2/2/22261242/uconn-baseball-reveals-full-2021-scheduleLuke Swanson