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It's Fall Report time at @D1Baseball ! We kick things off with one of the more impressive consistent winners in college baseball -- @UConnBSB. @aaronfitt with an in-depth look at #UConn
Article is REALLY quite in-depth but here are a few cherry-picked highlights...
>>When Connecticut coach Jim Penders looks back at his 2011 team led by future big leaguers George Springer, Matt Barnes, Nick Ahmed, Scott Oberg and John Andreoli, he thinks to himself, “How the hell did I not win a national championship with that team? “And it’s like, well, we hadn’t been there. You hadn’t been to Omaha yet, you got to the supers. The year before (in 2010) you’re in the regional and you were overwhelmed in the regional because we were hosting it and hadn’t been in a regional since 1994 when I was playing. Then you’re in it, and it’s like, ‘How do we do this?’ And we’re playing tight. Then we got to the next step the next year and we’re playing loose.” The takeaway is that it’s easier to advance in the postseason if you have previous postseason experience to draw upon. So Penders hopes his 2020 Huskies will benefit from having been to the Conway Regional finals in 2018 and then pushing Oklahoma State to a decisive Game Seven in the 2019 Oklahoma City Regional finals. “I thought we were playing a lot looser in Oklahoma City than we were in Conway the year before. So I think there is something to that, I think it’s a little bit easier,” Penders said. “It’s never gonna be easy, but I think it’s a little bit easier year to year when you make that one more rung up the ladder, having been there you recognize the view from that perch, and you can make it up to that next rung.”
UConn has been to six regionals since 2010, so now this program knows what the postseason is all about. And there are plenty of holdovers from the last two NCAA tournament clubs to provide leadership and guidance to a slew of newcomers.<<
>>Heading into the fall, Vanderbilt transfer Justin Willis was already eligible under the new rules that allow players who received no athletic aid at their previous school to transfer freely. Willis, a 5-foot-8, 192-pound bulldog with a quick arm that produces 88-92 heat and a swing-and-miss slider, should be one of UConn’s leading closer candidates next spring. The Huskies are awaiting word on the eligibility of the other two D-I transfers, two-way players Ben Casparius (from North Carolina) and Erik Stock (Old Dominion). Casparius has some strength in his righthanded bat, but his biggest impact figures to come on the mound, where he was up to 92 with feel for three quality secondary pitches, making him a potential fit in the weekend rotation. Stock didn’t pitch last spring while recovering from Tommy John surgery, but he could add some depth to the pitching staff and provide athleticism, arm strength and speed at a variety of positions. Penders said he was pleased with how Stock was swinging the bat at the start of fall ball.<<
>>Yet another two-way player headlines UConn’s intriguing freshman class: first baseman/lefthander Reggie Crawford, who has big-time star potential. In Crawford’s first fall scrimmage appearance on the mound at Eastern Connecticut State (where the Huskies are practicing this fall while their new ballpark is built), Crawford touched 92 mph from a low three-quarters slot and flashed a promising sweeping slurve in the 74-79 range that was very tough on lefties. The 6-foot-3, 219-pound Crawford has a real chance to make an instant impact off the mound and at first base, where his his lefthanded power potential is tantalizing. He showed off his easy bat speed with a ringing double to the left-center gap and a sharp single the other way in the intrasquad I caught. “He could be the best freshman I’ve ever had. He was 98 (mph exit velocity) off the tee the other day, and it’s low effort. It’s just amazingly easy,” Penders said. “He knows he’s good, which is great. He’s got some confidence, so hopefully he can play first base. He’s also a lefthanded pitcher up to 93, and the slider, it’s special. He’s got a chance to be really good, but again, his bat’s going to be important, so you don’t want to tax him too much early on.<<
>>Shortstop is obviously a key question for UConn to answer after the departure of Prato. Other candidates for the job include sophomores Will Lucas and Andy Hague, juco transfer Zach Bushling, and freshman Todd Peterson. Out of that group, Lucas and Hague seem like the front-runners. Hague, a 5-foot-7, 157-pound spark plug, showed off his table-setter skill set in the scrimmage, reaching safely in all four of his plate appearances with two line-drive singles to the middle-away part of the field. He’s built like a classic scrappy second baseman, but Penders said he shouldn’t be ruled out as a potential shortstop because he has a strong arm and a very quick release. Lucas is a standout athlete who struggled mightily at the plate as a freshman but turned the corner in a big way in the NECBL and is now carrying himself with a lot more confidence. Bushling is a competitive left-handed hitter with above-average speed, good lateral range in the middle infield and a hard-nosed mentality. And Peterson is a lanky, rangy 6-foot-6 athlete with surprising quickness and natural defensive instincts. He needs to add strength and do some work with his swing, but he looks like a nice building block for the future.<<
It's Fall Report time at @D1Baseball ! We kick things off with one of the more impressive consistent winners in college baseball -- @UConnBSB. @aaronfitt with an in-depth look at #UConn
Article is REALLY quite in-depth but here are a few cherry-picked highlights...
>>When Connecticut coach Jim Penders looks back at his 2011 team led by future big leaguers George Springer, Matt Barnes, Nick Ahmed, Scott Oberg and John Andreoli, he thinks to himself, “How the hell did I not win a national championship with that team? “And it’s like, well, we hadn’t been there. You hadn’t been to Omaha yet, you got to the supers. The year before (in 2010) you’re in the regional and you were overwhelmed in the regional because we were hosting it and hadn’t been in a regional since 1994 when I was playing. Then you’re in it, and it’s like, ‘How do we do this?’ And we’re playing tight. Then we got to the next step the next year and we’re playing loose.” The takeaway is that it’s easier to advance in the postseason if you have previous postseason experience to draw upon. So Penders hopes his 2020 Huskies will benefit from having been to the Conway Regional finals in 2018 and then pushing Oklahoma State to a decisive Game Seven in the 2019 Oklahoma City Regional finals. “I thought we were playing a lot looser in Oklahoma City than we were in Conway the year before. So I think there is something to that, I think it’s a little bit easier,” Penders said. “It’s never gonna be easy, but I think it’s a little bit easier year to year when you make that one more rung up the ladder, having been there you recognize the view from that perch, and you can make it up to that next rung.”
UConn has been to six regionals since 2010, so now this program knows what the postseason is all about. And there are plenty of holdovers from the last two NCAA tournament clubs to provide leadership and guidance to a slew of newcomers.<<
>>Heading into the fall, Vanderbilt transfer Justin Willis was already eligible under the new rules that allow players who received no athletic aid at their previous school to transfer freely. Willis, a 5-foot-8, 192-pound bulldog with a quick arm that produces 88-92 heat and a swing-and-miss slider, should be one of UConn’s leading closer candidates next spring. The Huskies are awaiting word on the eligibility of the other two D-I transfers, two-way players Ben Casparius (from North Carolina) and Erik Stock (Old Dominion). Casparius has some strength in his righthanded bat, but his biggest impact figures to come on the mound, where he was up to 92 with feel for three quality secondary pitches, making him a potential fit in the weekend rotation. Stock didn’t pitch last spring while recovering from Tommy John surgery, but he could add some depth to the pitching staff and provide athleticism, arm strength and speed at a variety of positions. Penders said he was pleased with how Stock was swinging the bat at the start of fall ball.<<
>>Yet another two-way player headlines UConn’s intriguing freshman class: first baseman/lefthander Reggie Crawford, who has big-time star potential. In Crawford’s first fall scrimmage appearance on the mound at Eastern Connecticut State (where the Huskies are practicing this fall while their new ballpark is built), Crawford touched 92 mph from a low three-quarters slot and flashed a promising sweeping slurve in the 74-79 range that was very tough on lefties. The 6-foot-3, 219-pound Crawford has a real chance to make an instant impact off the mound and at first base, where his his lefthanded power potential is tantalizing. He showed off his easy bat speed with a ringing double to the left-center gap and a sharp single the other way in the intrasquad I caught. “He could be the best freshman I’ve ever had. He was 98 (mph exit velocity) off the tee the other day, and it’s low effort. It’s just amazingly easy,” Penders said. “He knows he’s good, which is great. He’s got some confidence, so hopefully he can play first base. He’s also a lefthanded pitcher up to 93, and the slider, it’s special. He’s got a chance to be really good, but again, his bat’s going to be important, so you don’t want to tax him too much early on.<<
>>Shortstop is obviously a key question for UConn to answer after the departure of Prato. Other candidates for the job include sophomores Will Lucas and Andy Hague, juco transfer Zach Bushling, and freshman Todd Peterson. Out of that group, Lucas and Hague seem like the front-runners. Hague, a 5-foot-7, 157-pound spark plug, showed off his table-setter skill set in the scrimmage, reaching safely in all four of his plate appearances with two line-drive singles to the middle-away part of the field. He’s built like a classic scrappy second baseman, but Penders said he shouldn’t be ruled out as a potential shortstop because he has a strong arm and a very quick release. Lucas is a standout athlete who struggled mightily at the plate as a freshman but turned the corner in a big way in the NECBL and is now carrying himself with a lot more confidence. Bushling is a competitive left-handed hitter with above-average speed, good lateral range in the middle infield and a hard-nosed mentality. And Peterson is a lanky, rangy 6-foot-6 athlete with surprising quickness and natural defensive instincts. He needs to add strength and do some work with his swing, but he looks like a nice building block for the future.<<
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