“@AmoreCourant: LJ Mazzilli, drafted by Twins in ninth round, says he will return to #uconnbaseball for senior year instead.” Huge!
Looks like L J Mazzilli is coming back to UConn next year. This was reported in The Courant this morning. He is out to prove he deserves to be chosen higher than the 9th round.
It's really tough to have three threads that all say the same thing on a forum that moves as slow as this one.
UConnBaseball @UConnBaseball Second baseman LJ Mazzilli just received a shoutout from Michael Kay and David Cone on YES for deciding to return to UConn #HuskyPride
Between ferriter not getting drafted and LJ not signing, JP got lucky here. Losing these two plus the others would have made for a very tough year in 2013. Penders very good at recruiting talent, not nearly as good at developing it
i don't agree that Penders can't develope talent. Matt Barnes wasn't even considered the best HS pitcher in state. Plus Olt wasn't drafted out of HS, nor was LePage. Nemeth also developed quite well here, anong with Andreoli, Vance, Ferriter, Ahmed & Oberg,
What are you smoking?! Although, with that being your first post ever, only room to go up from there!
Dont mean to offend the regulars. But Blood developed Barnes, and the others you mentioned are all immensely talented and were from the get go. They all started as freshman which is proof of their "talent" vs development. No Uconn players in recent times were drafted out of high school except springer who was drafted late and has tools off the charts. Great recruiter, great speaker/public image, no denying his success just not a great developer. Just my opinion, you all reserve the right to disagree, that is the beauty of a forum
No. When someone with no posting experience comes onto a forum and speaks poorly about a manager who has been as successful as this one, it normally speaks to some unspoken motivation by the poster as opposed to saying anything about the manager. I am not saying you do have an axe to grind, but you should understand that your post will (and should) be perceived that way.
When you say Blood developed Barnes, probably, but under Penders overall supervision. It's obvious Barnes flurished in Penders system. He calls the shots, as a head coach should. The others I previously mentioned were not rated that high out of HS. I also left out a very high number of players not highly ranked out of HS, but were drafted out of UConn. And, let's face it, when you have around 20 players drafted out of your system, over the past 3 years, with 4 drafted within the 1st 2 rounds, Mr. Penders is doing something right after he recruits these players. Of the 4 players drafted in the 1st 2 rounds, only Springer was ever drafted out of HS, and that was in the very late rounds. I'd say Penders knows a thing, or two, about developing a program to enhance his players talent levels.
To be honest I have been in the same mindset as huskyblue and just haven't questioned it here yet because I wanted to sit back and give the new coaching staff time to settle in. I however have some very large concerns about some of the new coaches that have been brought in. I believe that recruiting here has always been strong under Penders and that's why we have seen the recent results that we have and will probably continue seeing those results, as our class for 2012 was excellent. However from people I talk to there are some real concerns about if our new assistants should be at the D1 level or not.
HB - I'm not really sure you can truly offend members of the BY... read some of the FHCRE threads or more recent PSU threads, thick skin tends to run in the bunch and we tend to eat our own when bored. I think Penders has done a damn good job for a Northeast Baseball School. He has developed some talent but more importantly, I don't believe he has done any harm to talent (First rule - Do no harm). There in no doubt he has put UConn on the map - let's pray he keeps the upward trajectory with the new staff and players. Consistently challenging for the BE Champ while picking off a few "national programs" (perceived or otherwise) will continue to keep the few D1 CT recruits home and attract those not afraid of the cold.
The tone of this thread has gone from Penders lack of developing the talent he recruited to the qualifications of his two new assistants. Two different topics. Regarding the new coaches, it's hard to judge them at this point. Last years "D" was not too good, but lots of frosh played. For a lot of freshmen & sophs, the pitching wasn't bad. But, when you lose 10 players to the MLB draft, including 3 in the 1st 2 rounds, as we did last year, it's very hard for a team to come back and win 50+ games the following year. Especially a northern team. My guess is this year will tell much more regarding the new coaches qualifications.
Yonick, the reason it went in that direction is because of the loss of coach Blood... His influence on the program should not be overlooked and it just has left me wondering if Penders can keep up what he has built. That is how we got to the qualifications of the new assistants. I will elaborate a little on what I said above but due to some relationships in the CT baseball community that have given me the privilege to see the world of recruiting from the inside, I rather not go into great detail about some of the comments I have heard about the new assistants from HS players who have attended UConn baseball camps and gotten a chance to work with them. However like I stated above, I have been told more than once, by people I trust, that they aren't sure we (UConn) has the right assistants for the job. I am always of the wait and see philosophy so this spring will provide me with a lot of insight and should allow for us all to pass judgement on if the team is improving or if the players have become stagnant in their development like you said above.
I think that this is what it comes down to. The fact is that he's had what, 13 guys drafted in the last 2 years? That's extremely impressive for a northeast program.
UConnHusky2012, are you saying that the HS kids, and posibly their HS coaches, are saying the new assistants aren't capable? If so, that's very dangerous for the programs future, if true. Recruiting wise I only know of 2 kids recruited during their stay. Naturally recruiting, in college baseball, is very closemouthed. But, the pitcher from Peabody MA sounds pretty good. And also the OF from ND W Haven, Garabedian. Malone, from Masuk, committed during Blood's tenure. I suppose the next 8-10 months will tell, but for HS prospects being turned off, that's very dangerous for the program, if true.
