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Men 2022 UConn Fall Baseball/Alumni Game
- Thread starter huskymedic
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Looking forward to that write up on UConn baseball. Judging from the way he was used during fall ball and how effective he was when I saw him pitch, I've had the feeling that Andrew Sears was a likely candidate for the weekend starting rotation.
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The cut to the chase…
-> UConn will have several talented arms in the mix for starting rotation jobs in the spring. For instance, sophomore righthanded pitcher Ian Cooke took a sizable step forward this fall. Cooke emerged toward the end of fall workouts, and he will go from a guy who earned 20 appearances — just six starts — to someone likely in the weekend rotation. He was anywhere from 90-94 and up to 95 mph with his fastball in the fall, along with solid secondary stuff.
Another safe bet to in the weekend rotation is transfer lefthanded pitcher Andrew Sears. Sears, a transfer from Rhode Island College, was terrific this fall, sitting 90-93 mph with his fastball, along with solid secondary stuff, while Stephen Quigley, another transfer, is a talented righthander who will be in the rotation mix. Quigley was anywhere from 89-92 mph with his fastball this fall and made a strong impression on MacDonald, Penders and Co. <-
Also mentioned w/ regards to starting rotation:
- Brady Afthim. “Afthim worked primarily out of the bullpen for UConn last season, and he could find his way to the starting rotation in the spring.”
- Jack Sullivan: “Sullivan was 88-91 mph with his fastball in the fall, and he is showing he can go through the batting order more than once.”
- Braden Quinn: “Quinn was anywhere from 88-90 mph with his fastball this fall, while some had him up to 93-94 mph with the offering over the summer.”
-> With those arms the primary ones in the mix for weekend starting jobs, it’s evident Josh MacDonald’s pitching staff once again will have quality depth. Why? Guys like Devin Kirby, Garrett Coe and Justin Willis also are back, while there are newcomers to watch as well. Kirby was up to 91-92 mph with his fastball with solid stuff this fall, Coe is a mid-80s guy with good command of the zone and Willis has made strides. <-
-> “We lost some guys from last year’s team, but for the most part, we will have most of our starting lineup back in 2023,” Penders said. “I think we have two guys in Korey Morton and David Smith who have a chance to be two of the fastest guys in college baseball, so I really like the upside with this group.” <-
-> Ben Huber is back at first base for the Huskies, while Bryan Padilla is back in the infield and TC Simmons is a premier defender who missed some of the fall with a minor injury. He will be ready to go in the spring. <-
-> Sophomore Matt Garbowski is the favorite as of now. The talented backstop would’ve challenged Donlan for the starting job last year but had a rash of injuries that involved the hamstring and back. Penders said he’s now healthy and has a mature offensive approach. <-
There’s more in the article regarding the new additions of UNC Asheville transfer Dom Freeberger, Infielder Luke Broadhurst, Wheaton College transfer Jake Studley, freshman Ryan Daniels, Maddix Dalena and Niko Brini.
See if you can find a way to read if ya get the chance.
I've been waiting all weekend for the UConn baseball fall report, it's finally out!
First off, the answer to my question that I have been wondering about all fall, who are the leaders to be in the weekend starting rotation. Currently the leaders for those jobs are Ian Cooke, Andrew Sears, and Stephen Quigley, the latter two having transferred into the program from Division 3 schools. Others to keep an eye on for possibly competing for the weekend starting jobs are Brady Afthim, Jack Sullivan, and Braden Quinn, all three were freshmen last season.
Lots of good info in this article, more later.
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Didn't realize that @huskymedic had already provided a really solid summary to the UConn fall report when I started to chime in. Thought I was responding to his initial posting of the tweet that mentioned the fall report was out.
There was one Penders quote that I really liked from the article that is not mentioned above:
“Overall, I would say it was a pretty positive fall,” UConn coach Jim Penders said. “I really liked a lot of our newcomers on the mound, and I feel like the offense is going to be in pretty good shape with the return of most of our lineup."
Other pitching newcomers not mentioned in the last few posts to watch out for in the spring according to the D1Baseball.com article. Will Nowak (transfer from Hartford), Tom Ellisen (he was redshirted last season), and freshman Jude Abbadessa, who could end up having a substantial bulllpen role. Also mentioned was Michael Quigley, who can be a bit "raw", but also had a fastball that hit 95 mph during fall ball.
Prior to the start of last season, I thought UConn's weekend starting rotation was in good shape with Austin Peterson and Pat Gallagher leading it. These guys ended up being pretty terrific. At the same time prior to the start of the season, I was worried about the quality depth of the UConn pitching staff, but as the season ran its course, UConn's pitching depth proved to be very good. Prior to this coming season, UConn's pitching worries have have kind of flipped. The general depth of the pitching staff appears to be in pretty fine shape. At the same time, the big question on this team revolves around the starting pitching. I expect that with the UConn's pitching depth, the starting pitching should be at least okay since if someone doesn't work out there seem to be several guys who could potentially wind up in the starting rotation. The big question is just how good will the weekend starting rotation prove to be. Generally in the past, the strength of UConn's baseball teams has proved to be the starting pitching. It would be nice if that traditional strength happened again.
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Elevating two former d3 guys to potential weekend starter roles seems risky but Penders has proven me wrong several times before!
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Really liked what I saw from both of them this fall. They pound the zone and Quigley is very athletic on the mound. The leash will be shorter for the starters this year but the arms coming in after them will be better. Come the end of March roles will be defined and they will be ready to make another run. All the pieces are there.
In reading this stuff, it is somewhat astonishing by implication how far Chris Brown has fallen in his standing with UConn baseball over the last year. A year ago he was the starting 3B for UConn, and was getting talked about as a potential draft pick if he had a good season. Instead, both his defense and offense at the beginning of last season went south to such a degree that he quickly lost his starting job. Now in this write up analyzing the team for next season, Brown doesn't even get a mention.
The return of Luke Broadhurst to UConn makes me wonder if ECSU is going to become something of a new Avery Point in sending transfers to Storrs. We'll see what happens.
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I think he put alot of pressure on himself last year because of the high expectations. The pressure builds every game and then the confidence is gone. UConns depth is such that you don't get a ton of rope because there are talented guys just waiting for an opportunity. Padilla is a perfect example of that last year. I hope when he does get his chance this spring he takes advantage of it. I'm sure Mays lineup will look a little different then February.
Chris Brown had a break out 2021 season where he was the starting 3B for UConn for most of the season. However it bothered me that summer when he had a poor time at the plate during the summer while playing for Vermont of the Futures League (fairly low on the totem pole in terms of collegiate summer leagues). Chris Jones mentioned more than once during 2022 game broadcasts that Brown came up with some sort of hand injury towards the end of the 2021 fall ball season, and he seemed to wonder if that had an affect on his play at UConn this past season.
Whatever the case, Chris Brown entered the transfer portal this past summer after losing his starting job at UConn, but ended up coming back to play in Storrs. I believe that Brown did not play summer ball this past season, he is definitely someone I would have liked to have gotten some playing time this past summer.
One of the problems for Chris Brown is that he seems that his stock did not seem to rise at all during the 2022 fall ball season. While players like Dominic Freeberger, Luke Broadhurst, and Ryan Daniels got plenty of attention during the fall ball season on the UConn twitter feed and elsewhere, Brown barely got any mentions, or for that matter much playing time during the fall ball exhibition games. At this point, Freeberger, Broadhurst, and Daniels all seem to be well ahead of Brown in the pecking order in terms of getting potential playing time at 3B. We'll see what happens, but right now it doesn't appear that Brown is in the mix to get any sort of substantial playing time this spring.
With outfielder Zach Stephenson now again in the transfer portal and no longer listed on the UConn baseball roster, the number of players listed on the website roster is now 43. I believe this season's spring roster limit is 40, so 3 players still have to be removed from the official spring playing roster. In past seasons, UConn baseball has routinely redshirted a few players who are not officially on the spring roster, but who are still considered part of the team.
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I normally don't care for the Mic'd up athlete bit, but this one was certainly fun. No doubt one of the reasons why David Smith is the current team captain. UConn baseball often tweets out fun video's, and this continues in that tradition.
I've also noticed in the past how UConn baseball players from Pennsylvania tend to band together and support each other, and that trend continues in this video.