UConn Baseball 2018 | Page 4 | The Boneyard

UConn Baseball 2018

Guapo said:
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That's what I was guessing, but not hoping for. Up until last season UConn baseball would post a preliminary roster with a few extra players in mid to late January, and follow it up with the final cut roster a couple of days before the season would start. Looks like those days are long gone.
 
dbmill said:
That's what I was guessing, but not hoping for. Up until last season UConn baseball would post a preliminary roster with a few extra players in mid to late January, and follow it up with the final cut roster a couple of days before the season would start. Looks like those days are long gone.
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Of course, many college teams post a fall roster prior to any roster cuts. I wish UConn would do that.
 
huskymedic said:
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I always look forward to these preseason interviews with the coaches. They are always worth a listen, as in the past they really you an idea as to where various players stand on the team. Since this one focuses on returning weekend starters Tim Cate and Mason, it looks like that Chris Jones might be doing more of them in bite sized chunks this time around. Whether it is a 15 or 20 minute interview or just a bunch of interviews that last just a couple of minutes, I expect them to be just as informative.

The Sunday starter interview should be an interesting one. I've been expecting that Chase Gardner was the frontrunner for this spot, but Coach Penders has been singing the praises for freshmen Colby Dunlop, saying he has "dynamic stuff", or something like that. Penders has a history of pushing talented freshmen starters fairly quickly into the weekend starting rotation, with such pitchers as Anthony Kay, Tim Cate, and Mason Feole. It was attempted with Ronnie Rossomando, but it didn't work out. Is Gardner more or less holding down the fort until the decision is made on Dunlop? Only time will tell.
 
huskymedic said:
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So it sounds like for now the Sunday starter will probably be either Chase Gardner or Jeffrey Kersten, with the edge seemingly going to Gardner for now. While the edge seems to go to Gardner at this point, it sounds like the coaches are impressed Kersten's efficiency and the chance that he could go deep into games while not throwing a ton of pitches. Whoever doesn't get the Sunday start sounds like they will be penciled into becoming the main midweek starter. The coaches sound like they really like Dunlop, but want to start him in the bullpen to start the season, with it possible that he could emerge as a weekend starter down the road depending on what happens. Sounds like they like Dunlop's stuff enough that they want to keep him working at least the weekend conference games no matter what. Look for him to get looks out of the bullpen early in the season, and then we will see how things work out.

Stairmaster said:
Seems like a 2nd midweek starter hasn't really emerged yet.
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With the way the schedule is structured, a second weekday starter would be needed for four games. Of course there is always a chance that rescheduled games due to bad weather could change that. But the second weekday starter doesn't see that much work, so hopefully that pitcher would be getting some work out of the pen as well. The first time a second weekday starter would be needed would be on the spring break trip to South Carolina, which would be after the fourth weekend of the season. After that a fifth starter wouldn't be needed until the last two weeks of April.

If Dunlop does happen to emerge later in the season as the Sunday starter, then it would seem that Gardner and Kersten get the weekday starts.
 
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huskymedic said:
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Lots of arms that could come out of the bullpen. As you might expect, it looks like we'll be seeing a lot of PJ Poulin this season, even if he doesn't end up closing games out. Randy Polonia won't be available right away. Target time for Polonia to see from game time is early March. Also, it sounds like the coaches suspect Ronnie Rossomando might have been keeping quiet on a possible arm injury last season. As we've seen elsewhere on these baseball thread, Jacob Wallace has made a big jump in quality from freshman to sophomore seasons. Hopefully the PJ Poulin of this season in terms of improvement, Wallace could possibly end up as the closer. Also positive mentions for the two seniors on the staff, Trevor Holmes and Joe Rivera, as well as for redshirt juniors CJ Dandeneau and Dan Rajkowski. After Colby Dunlop, the freshman most likely to see some action out of the pen is Joe Simeone. Also possible Angus Mayock may see get some time out of the bullpen.
 
huskymedic said:
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So in talking about the relief pitchers, Coach Josh MacDonald mentions that Jacob Wallace as the one pitcher who is a great leap forward in quality of play from freshman to sophomore seasons. Coach MacDonald mentions that there are a few position players who are also making the great leap forward from one season to the next. That gets me to thinking who the others might be. I'm guessing that one of them must be Ben Maycock, who as a freshman didn't even make the team for the spring season. I'm not sure who the others might be.
 
huskymedic said:
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At catcher, obviously, big things are expected from Zac Susi. The coaches hope that Thad Phillips will be a quality backup catcher who can keep Susi fresh through the season. They think Phillips can be an excellent catcher, with good power at the bat, and while he is not fast, the coaches like Phillips skill as a base runner. Third string catcher is Kenny Bergmann. It would seem doubtful that he will start too many games with both Susi and Phillips around. The coaches still like Bergmann's bat potential. Bergmann is also getting looks in the outfield, where he has perhaps the second best outfield arm on the club.
 
huskymedic said:
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As expected, John Toppa and Isaac Feldstein are the starting corner outfielders. Both are coming off injuries and surgery in the fall. The coaching staff expects big things from both of them. They want some more consistency from Feldstein, and some more extra base power from Toppa.

Ben Maycock can also play the corner spots. As mentioned before, he could get time at Dan Hurley. A big power threat, the coaches at this point are looking for more consistency at the bat from him.

Center field sounds like a jumble with no absolute frontrunner mentioned. Chris Winkel, Troy Stefanski, Anthony Nucerino, and jack of all trades Mike Woodworth all get mentions as possible center field candidates. The coaches like Stefanski's arm and defense in the outfield. The JUCO Woodworth is a versatile utility guy with good fundamentals who is a good defender at several positions, including center. Redshirt freshman Nucerino is coming off an ACL injury from last summer, but he is back from it. As for Winkel, the coaches love his combination of size, power and speed, and they like how his bat is coming along. Given his potential, I expect Winkel will at the very least get a good look in center early in the season to see if he can handle the job in the field and at the plate.
 

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