UConn Baseball 2020

[dbmill]

A few questions for the group. Does anyone know when they usually post the roster? Are all the players who transferred this year eligible (vandy, NC, Old Dom)? And is there anyway I can get an official hook C baseball hat, like where can I buy one (if possible)?
Thanks

Based on stories that were posted to the UConn baseball thread, the Vandy transfer Justin Willis is eligible to play for UConn this season. However, Coach Penders in a November interview said that Willis had been shut down during the fall ball season due to an ACL injury, so who knows if he will be healthy enough to pitch this spring.

As for transfers Ben Casparius (UNC) and Erik Stock (ODU), I haven't heard a thing about their eligibility. I believe in a November interview Penders said they were still waiting on that decision. I dislike being negative, but I am going on the assumption that they will not be eligible to play this season until news comes out that says otherwise.

The last few years the roster was posted a few days before the season started.

 

[scotty0330]

@dbmill doesnt CJ usually interview coaches to get their preview as well? Those would wet the appetite to hear what progress has been made in offseason and what newcomers have caught their eye.

 

[dbmill]

@dbmill doesnt CJ usually interview coaches to get their preview as well? Those would wet the appetite to hear what progress has been made in offseason and what newcomers have caught their eye.

I would expect the CJ preview interviews with the coaches to start showing up in February in the couple weeks before the season starts. Those interviews often contain some great nuggets of information.

 

[scotty0330]

Didn’t realize P Jake Sanderson transferred down to Eckerd. Was with team in fall for Halloween lift but according to IG page he is playing for Eckerd.

 

[dbmill]

Didn’t realize P Jake Sanderson transferred down to Eckerd. Was with team in fall for Halloween lift but according to IG page he is playing for Eckerd.

That's news to me. Sanderson had a few unimpressive appearances with the Huskies last spring, and then followed that up with a less than stellar stint in summer ball. Between that and the influx of JUCO transfers and a bunch of freshmen who seemed to have gotten some good notices, I figured Sanderson was in definite danger of not making UConn's 35 man roster for the spring season. So based on that, I don't consider this to be a really big surprise.

 

[scotty0330]

Adam Schwartz who redshirted last year also looks like he found a new home at UMBC.

 

[scotty0330]

 

[dbmill]

Adam Schwartz who redshirted last year also looks like he found a new home at UMBC.

A good job snooping, although Schwartz currently isn't showing up on the UMBC baseball roster. Of course, those things aren't always up to date. Schwartz was another 2019 roster guy who I figured was another candidate who might have been in trouble in terms of making the spring roster.

 

[dbmill]

@dbmill doesnt CJ usually interview coaches to get their preview as well? Those would wet the appetite to hear what progress has been made in offseason and what newcomers have caught their eye.

I would expect the CJ preview interviews with the coaches to start showing up in February in the couple weeks before the season starts. Those interviews often contain some great nuggets of information.

I'm especially looking forward to the the preseason interviews with the coaches. While Coach Penders in a fall interview indicated this team has a lot of potential, there are also a lot of spots in the lineup and jobs on the pitching staff that are pretty unsettled. I'm looking forward to see what the coaches say in order to get an idea how all this will settle out. In the starting lineup, from what was said during fall ball it sounds like that with Pat Winkel out we can count on Paul Gozzo at catcher, Reggie Crawford will get a long look at 1B, with Chris Winkel in CF. If healthy, Christian Fedko will be at 2B, or at Dan Hurley if his fielding doesn't please the coaching staff. That leaves five positions in the field or at Dan Hurley to figure out, and it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

As for the pitching staff, it seems that the only sure thing is Caleb Wurster somewhere at the back end of the bullpen late in the game. Hoping the interviews might shed some light on who might be joining Wurster in late inning situations. If healthy, Justin Willis is likely to join him. As for the starters, nothing seems to be really all that settled, although I would guess Jimmy Wang is likely to be a weekend starter. Not sure who the other starters will be, but my best guess for weekends would be Joe Simeone based on his great run during summer ball, plus JUCO Nick Krauth. Colby Dunlop would be my guess for the main weekday starter. That is all purely a guess on my part at this point, until I hear something from the interviews. All of this could definitely change depending on the development of various pitchers, especially with the crop of freshmen that the coaching staff seemed pleased with during the fall.

Still, it hardly seems any of this is set in stone, and I'd like to listen to the interviews to see how all this is settling out. For this team to be successful and make a run at the NCAA tournament, a number of players, whether they are new to the team or returning from last season are really going to have to have to step up their game. The injury to Pat Winkel really robbed this team of any returning big time star power in the lineup (Christian Fedko comes closest to fitting that bill).

 

[HOOK C FAN]

C'mon Jonesie give us a few crumbs! 16 days out!

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Riverballer]

Will games from the MLB4 be televised? Are baseball games during the regular season televised? If so, where do I find them?

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

Will games from the MLB4 be televised? Are baseball games during the regular season televised? If so, where do I find them?

MLB.com hasn’t announced which game(s) will be telecast on MLB Network and which games will be streamed on MLB.com yet (that I’ve seen).

 

[HOOK C FAN]

MLB.com hasn’t announced which game(s) will be telecast on MLB Network and which games will be streamed on MLB.com yet (that I’ve seen).

MLB network will not televise any of the UConn games, only the Vandy vs Michigan game. Is it a sure thing that the games will be on MLB.com? Or is it possible that there will be only audio?

 

[huskymedic]

MLB network will not televise any of the UConn games, only the Vandy vs Michigan game. Is it a sure thing that the games will be on MLB.com? Or is it possible that there will be only audio?

if you have better info feel free to post away...

 

[HOOK C FAN]

if you have better info feel free to post away...

Can't find streaming schedule anywhere but the MLB network schedule is on their website and the MLB4 coverage is limited to V vs M

 

[dbmill]

Will games from the MLB4 be televised? Are baseball games during the regular season televised? If so, where do I find them?

Anyone that is a UConn fan, even if they are watching a video feed, is doing themselves a disservice if they don't listen to Chris Jones doing the games on WHUS radio, which is also streamed on WHUS.org. There is much info to be had from listening to him that no one else will have.

 

[dbmill]

This was posted on the recruiting thread:

Haven’t looked through the thread to see if it’s come up already, but Gavin Kee is officially enrolled at Norwalk Community College per my younger sibling that attends there as well. Tough fall for a Norwalk player I really wanted to succeed the way Bryan did. Would’ve hoped someone at his caliber, able to be recruited to a school like ours, could have found a JuCo with a good baseball team, gotten everything together, and moved on to a four-year program.

The 46 man fall ball roster presumably added a player with the presumed addition of JUCO RHP Devin Kirby. It has been reported on these threads that Karl Johnson, Adam Schwartz, Jake Sanderson, and Gavin Kee have left the team. So until more transfers and roster cuts are found and reported, the roster apparently stands at 43. I'm guessing that there will be a 4 player redshirt taxi squad that will not count towards the 35 man spring roster. Assuming that this practice is correct, that would mean there are four more roster cuts to go.

 

[HOOK C FAN]

Anyone that is a UConn fan, even if they are watching a video feed, is doing themselves a disservice if they don't listen to Chris Jones doing the games on WHUS radio, which is also streamed on WHUS.org.

Jonesie audio + video feed on mute = best combo

 

[huskymedic]

... and away we go!

 

[dbmill]

... and away we go!

Don't often see one of the best players on the team be the one who gets a 4.0 in school. Not bad at all. Wurster also confirmed that he has been told he will be the closer this season, no real surprise there. The big question is who will also see time late in tight games out of the pen.

 

[scotty0330]

Engineering nonetheless. That makes it even more mind boggling

 

[huskymedic]

 

[dbmill]

C'mon Jonesie give us a few crumbs! 16 days out!

Last year the first preseason interview with coaches was posted on these threads on February 6, with the season starting on February 15. So if they keep to the same schedule, hopefully the first interview might drop late in this coming week.