UConn Baseball 2017

[huskymedic]

The Huskies kick off the 2017 campaign down in Port. St. Lucie Fla. against UMass-Lowell on Friday, Feb. 17 at 3:30 p.m. (2017 Schedule)

Hill, Yahn Selected Co-Captains for 2017 Season
>At sunrise this morning, atop Cemetery Hill, the UConn baseball team named senior Aaron Hill (Groton, Conn.) and junior Willy Yahn (Sharon, Conn.) as co-captains for the 2017 season, as announced by 14th year head coach Jim Penders.<

 

[dbmill]

Cemetery Hill. What a place to name the captains.

 

[huskymedic]

Cemetery Hill. What a place to name the captains.

LOL, I'd love to know a bit more about that tradition.

 

[dbmill]

LOL, I'd love to know a bit more about that tradition.

It says in the story that the announcement was made at the graves of University founders Charles and Augustus Storrs. I just hope that the selection and announcement didn't involve the use of a ouija board.

 

[dbmill]

In naming Aaron Hill one of the captains, it would seem that Coach Penders and the team have a greater confidence in Hill maintaining the level of play he has shown since late last season, and in summer and fall ball, and not falling back into the prolonged hitting slumps that he has had in previous seasons.

 

[dbmill]

Chris Jones and Coach Penders talk about the upcoming non conference schedule. Nothing earth shattering, except perhaps to find out that it is cheaper to fly to California than it is to Florida during spring break in March.

 

[lavuuk153]

I already have my trip to Clearwater booked. I can't wait for the season to start.

 

[huskymedic]

UConn Baseball ‏@UConnBaseball 22m 22 minutes ago
Mark it down! #UConn preseason dinner slotted for Jan. 18 in Hartford. Details for event provided below. $100/ ticket

UConn Baseball Preseason Dinner Scheduled for Jan. 18

 

[dbmill]

The Huskies kick off the 2017 campaign down in Port. St. Lucie Fla. against UMass-Lowell on Friday, Feb. 17 at 3:30 p.m. (2017 Schedule)

Hill, Yahn Selected Co-Captains for 2017 Season
>At sunrise this morning, atop Cemetery Hill, the UConn baseball team named senior Aaron Hill (Groton, Conn.) and junior Willy Yahn (Sharon, Conn.) as co-captains for the 2017 season, as announced by 14th year head coach Jim Penders.<

Gavin Keefe of the New London Day has an article on Groton's Aaron Hill being named co-captain of the baseball team. The story leads off with the baseball team atop Cemetery Hill.

Hill honored to be selected as UConn baseball team co-captain

 

[Baseballguy]

I cannot wait for the season to start. With Cate (who has bulked up a bit) and Wills leading the pitching staff we have to have one of, if not the best, 1-2 in the conference. It sounds like Doug, Feole and CJ are battling it out for the Sunday spot. Doug had a great year out of the pen last season and followed it up with pitching great as a starter in Mystic. Feole had a great summer for the Blues and seems to have good movement on his off-speed stuff. CJ had a very underrated season last year and pitched very well as a starter for, I believe, Brockton two summers ago. This competition will be a good one. Ronnie apparently will split the closer role with Randy. Ronnie pitched great in relief in the Cape this summer and he topped out at 95 last year so having heat coming out of the pen will help considering the departure of Ruotolo.

As many expect, the offense looks to be an area of concern due to so much power graduating last year. I anticipate this offense will be a small ball team this year. Aaron as of now looks to be the leadoff hitter, he hit great at the end of last year and was an all-star for Mystic this summer. Hopefully this will carry over. Toppa hit great last year, and I am optimistic this will continue. I just hoping his outfield play improve with more reps after being converted from a third baseman. Willy will be Willy. Prato seems to have received a lot of attention from the coaching staff, already committing him the Cape for next summer. Susi, who I think will be in for a breakout season, has bulked up quite a bit as well. He had a impressive pop time during scout day. It looks like he put himself in a position to be very successful this year. As Penders mentioned earlier this offseason, Feldstein seems to be the power bat in this offense. If we can get that result from him that will be huge considering the amount of on base potential and speed at the top of the order. Gnesda will be a huge X-factor this year, if we can get him to hit for power that will put this team over the top. Lastly, Kruger and Stefanski are the early favorites to fill the other two outfield positions, resulting in even more speed and on base potential.

This team has all the tools its just a matter of if they can play to their potential. Only two months away. Let's go!

 

[dbmill]

I cannot wait for the season to start. With Cate (who has bulked up a bit) and Wills leading the pitching staff we have to have one of, if not the best, 1-2 in the conference. It sounds like Doug, Feole and CJ are battling it out for the Sunday spot. Doug had a great year out of the pen last season and followed it up with pitching great as a starter in Mystic. Feole had a great summer for the Blues and seems to have good movement on his off-speed stuff. CJ had a very underrated season last year and pitched very well as a starter for, I believe, Brockton two summers ago. This competition will be a good one. Ronnie apparently will split the closer role with Randy. Ronnie pitched great in relief in the Cape this summer and he topped out at 95 last year so having heat coming out of the pen will help considering the departure of Ruotolo.

As many expect, the offense looks to be an area of concern due to so much power graduating last year. I anticipate this offense will be a small ball team this year. Aaron as of now looks to be the leadoff hitter, he hit great at the end of last year and was an all-star for Mystic this summer. Hopefully this will carry over. Toppa hit great last year, and I am optimistic this will continue. I just hoping his outfield play improve with more reps after being converted from a third baseman. Willy will be Willy. Prato seems to have received a lot of attention from the coaching staff, already committing him the Cape for next summer. Susi, who I think will be in for a breakout season, has bulked up quite a bit as well. He had a impressive pop time during scout day. It looks like he put himself in a position to be very successful this year. As Penders mentioned earlier this offseason, Feldstein seems to be the power bat in this offense. If we can get that result from him that will be huge considering the amount of on base potential and speed at the top of the order. Gnesda will be a huge X-factor this year, if we can get him to hit for power that will put this team over the top. Lastly, Kruger and Stefanski are the early favorites to fill the other two outfield positions, resulting in even more speed and on base potential.

This team has all the tools its just a matter of if they can play to their potential. Only two months away. Let's go!

I wrote about this before, but after struggling as a starter in his freshman year, and then having a big year out of the bullpen in the Cape League, I love the idea of having Rossomando getting late innings out of the UConn bullpen. He had success out of the pen in possibly the best summer college league around, so why not keep him in a spot where he has had success. With the departure of Ruotolo there will be a lot of tight late inning spots to fill.

Given Coach Penders track record of trying to quickly move young talented pitchers into the weekend starting rotation, it wouldn't surprise me if Mason Feole gets a good long look at the third weekend starting spot. Feole did very well in his starts with Worcester of the Futures League, so that is definitely encouraging. As for Doug Domnarski, I like seeing the lefty come out of the bullpen.

I find it interesting that after struggling last year, both Polonia and Nepiarsky are scheduled to play on the the Cape next summer. Nepiarsky did very well this past summer in New Bedford, but Polonia definitely struggled during the summer. Perhaps they both did very well during the fall ball season to help account for their Cape births this coming summer.

The pitching is going to be the strength of the club, and I expect the fielding will be there to support the hurlers very well. However, with the biggest guns gone from the batting order (Melley, Sundberg, DeRoche-Duffin, and Daniello), I expect offensive run production to be something of a problem at least early on. Because of this, until the offense shows it is really ready to produce, I expect that small ball will be the order of the day with Coach Penders.

 

[Baseballguy]

I wrote about this before, but after struggling as a starter in his freshman year, and then having a big year out of the bullpen in the Cape League, I love the idea of having Rossomando getting late innings out of the UConn bullpen. He had success out of the pen in possibly the best summer college league around, so why not keep him in a spot where he has had success. With the departure of Ruotolo there will be a lot of tight late inning spots to fill.

Given Coach Penders track record of trying to quickly move young talented pitchers into the weekend starting rotation, it wouldn't surprise me if Mason Feole gets a good long look at the third weekend starting spot. Feole did very well in his starts with Worcester of the Futures League, so that is definitely encouraging. As for Doug Domnarski, I like seeing the lefty come out of the bullpen.

I find it interesting that after struggling last year, both Polonia and Nepiarsky are scheduled to play on the the Cape next summer. Nepiarsky did very well this past summer in New Bedford, but Polonia definitely struggled during the summer. Perhaps they both did very well during the fall ball season to help account for their Cape births this coming summer.

The pitching is going to be the strength of the club, and I expect the fielding will be there to support the hurlers very well. However, with the biggest guns gone from the batting order (Melley, Sundberg, DeRoche-Duffin, and Daniello), I expect offensive run production to be something of a problem at least early on. Because of this, until the offense shows it is really ready to produce, I expect that small ball will be the order of the day with Coach Penders.

If I were to guess, Doug will start the season as the Sunday guy and Penders will work in Feole, similar to how he did with Cate and Ronnie early last year.

 

[dbmill]

If I were to guess, Doug will start the season as the Sunday guy and Penders will work in Feole, similar to how he did with Cate and Ronnie early last year.

And the same way with Anthony Kay before Cate and Rossomando. It would not surprise me to find Feole in the weekend rotation by mid to late March. As for Domnarski, he certainly seems flexible.

 

[dbmill]

The countdown to UConn baseball opening day gets a little more relevant once Christmas gets behind us. Also helps that the tweet includes a video of Willy Yahn.

UConn Baseball@UConnBaseball9h
51 days to cross off! Pass the time watching this Willy Yahn feature put together by @UConnVideo!

 

[dbmill]

Wills Montgomerie makes New England Baseball Journal's top 10 list of New England prospects for the mlb draft. Montgomerie clocks in at No. 7.

New England Baseball Journal - January 2017

 

[HuskyHawk]

It says in the story that the announcement was made at the graves of University founders Charles and Augustus Storrs. I just hope that the selection and announcement didn't involve the use of a ouija board.

You definitely don't want that. Not far from that location, in Towers, my freshman year I met a sophomore named Chris. He was the grandson of Ed and Lorraine Warren. They used to do college tours back in those days. Chris could scare the hell out of you.

On a baseball note, how is this team shaping up? Can we make another run to the playoffs?

 

[uconnbaseball]

The starting pitching will be strong, and the bullpen probably quite weak. The offense will determine how far this team can go...we really need Hill and Gnesda to play a lot better than they did last year.

The Texas series will be revealing. The longhorns are not that good, so if we want to be a strong, regional level team, we can take 2 down in Austin.

 

[dbmill]

You definitely don't want that. Not far from that location, in Towers, my freshman year I met a sophomore named Chris. He was the grandson of Ed and Lorraine Warren. They used to do college tours back in those days. Chris could scare the hell out of you.

On a baseball note, how is this team shaping up? Can we make another run to the playoffs?

I went to some of Ed and Lorraine Warren presentations in my youth, including their annual Halloween appearances at UConn when I was a student. If their son Chris put a good scare into you, then I would say that he is a chip off the old block. Lorraine in particular with her other worldliness was quite capable of putting a real good creep into you.

As far as what people think about the team and the coming season, I suggest that you go back and read the postings on the various baseball related threads from the past several months.

 

[dbmill]

UConn Baseball
@UConnBaseball
10h
#43 Carson Cross (2012-'15) continues the countdown! He is one of six #UConn pitchers to record 100 strikeouts in a season ('15).


So three UConn pitchers have had 100 strikeouts in a season the last two years. In addition to Carson Cross two seasons ago, both Anthony Kay and Tim Cate had over 100 last season. If Montgomerie had managed to stay in the starting rotation the entire season last year, he could have done it as well. Wills finished up with 87.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I went to some of Ed and Lorraine Warren presentations in my youth, including their annual Halloween appearances at UConn when I was a student. If their son Chris put a good scare into you, then I would say that he is a chip off the old block. Lorraine in particular with her other worldliness was quite capable of putting a real good creep into you.

As far as what people think about the team and the coming season, I suggest that you go back and read the postings on the various baseball related threads from the past several months.

He was their grandson. This was 84-86 when they were coming on campus. We got a special meeting with Lorraine who could quite accurately know things about people she'd never met. Creepy. But it went beyond stories, he went on a case for them during that time, which ended up on the Mike Douglas show.

 

[dbmill]

He was their grandson.

Oops! Still sounds like a chip off the old block.

 

[dbmill]

The starting pitching will be strong, and the bullpen probably quite weak. The offense will determine how far this team can go...we really need Hill and Gnesda to play a lot better than they did last year.

The Texas series will be revealing. The longhorns are not that good, so if we want to be a strong, regional level team, we can take 2 down in Austin.

I suspect Aaron Hill will be fine. He's had a good baseball run last year starting with very late in UConn's season, and continuing through summer and fall ball. Together with being named co captain, Penders has been singing praises for Hill in the interviews I've come across over the last couple of months. I'm more concerned with the offensive production that the team gets from outfielders not named John Toppa. Krueger and Stefanski started in the Alumni game, but I doubt that is totally set in stone for the coming season. It wouldn't surprise me if Chris Winkel or Isaac Feldstein get some serious outfield looks as well.

 

[dbmill]

Coach Penders was briefly on WTIC's sports talk show this afternoon. The most interesting thing player wise that he said was that Doug Domnarski is making a big bid to be the early season Sunday starter.

 

[Baseballguy]

Coach Penders was briefly on WTIC's sports talk show this afternoon. The most interesting thing player wise that he said was that Doug Domnarski is making a big bid to be the early season Sunday starter.

I figured this was the case. Between last year and his summer performances he pitched his way into that spot.

 

[dbmill]

I figured this was the case. Between last year and his summer performances he pitched his way into that spot.

And while Penders did not say it during the WTIC interview, the idea that Domnarski is being considered a leading candidate for beginning the season as a Sunday starter further solidifies the move of Rossomando to being a late inning bullpen guy.