UConn Baseball 2021 | Page 12 | The Boneyard

UConn Baseball 2021

huskymedic said:
Now you know the season is close...

Mac is very effusive on Casparius’ talent/potential.

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Here's a quick summary of the Coach Mac interview. The guys mentioned as possible starters:

Ben Casparius - Friday night guy. Coach Mac thinks he could end up being as good as the top guys who have been at UConn.

Joe Simione - Sounds like he is the Saturday guy.

Other possible starters include Jimmy Wang, Austin Peterson (who is coming back from a Covid issue), Will Lucas, and Pat Gallagher. Both Lucas and Gallagher saw extended inning stints out of the bullpen last season. Gallagher had a rough fall, but the coaches are really high on him.

Given the pandemic, four game weekends, midweek starts and such, others could work their way into starting as well.

Guys out of the bullpen:

Caleb Wurster is going to start the season in the back of the bullpen. So much for the moving to the starting rotation, but he has shown what he can do as a closer, so why mess with it. Kenny Haus got a big mention for the back of the pen as well.

In the fall the coaches were hoping Randy Polonia was just going to be okay in terms of recovering from his summer auto accident. The good news is, in preseason workouts, Polonia is throwing great, so look out for him.

Andrew Marrero is going to be special according to Coach Mac.

Devin Kirby and Justin Willis got positive mentions as well as guys to look for.

Freshman Bobby McBride has a super arm.

Sam Favieri was hurt last season. Looking back Coach Mac says that Favieri probably was the best freshman pitching arm in the fall of 2019.

As mentioned in interviews with coaches before, it sounds like Colby Dunlop is no longer going to be shuttled back and forth between starting and coming out of the pen. They like him better in short stints out of the pen.

Stock and Crawford also got mentions for possible spot use. As for Crawford, Coach Mac says he has the best arm on the team in terms of pure stuff.
 
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There go my weekends, not that I'm complaining. My wife certainly understands, as she is a baseball fanatic who loves listening to Chris Jones call games (just hope he gets to call a bunch of them on WHUS). However, our German Shepherd dog certainly doesn't understand. I yelled at the television the other night during a UConn women's basketball game when Christyn Williams shot an air ball that badly missed everything, with the result being that our dog got a very nervous look as a result of my scream.
 
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dbmill said:



There go my weekends, not that I'm complaining. My wife certainly understands, as she is a baseball fanatic who loves listening to Chris Jones call games (just hope he gets to call a bunch of them on WHUS). However, our German Shepherd dog certainly doesn't understand. I yelled at the television the other night during a UConn women's basketball game when Christyn Williams shot an air ball that badly missed everything, with the result being that our dog got a very nervous look as a result of my scream.
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My dog gets very nervous when I'm talking to myself during a sporting event. It's not just when I am enthusiastic after a score. If I'm even muttering to myself on who's on the court at the moment he gets very anxious. If he were a person, he'd tape the game, find out who wins and then watch.
 
businesslawyer said:
My dog gets very nervous when I'm talking to myself during a sporting event. It's not just when I am enthusiastic after a score. If I'm even muttering to myself on who's on the court at the moment he gets very anxious. If he were a person, he'd tape the game, find out who wins and then watch.
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I usually keep fairly calm during games that I watch on television, so the outburst that I mentioned previously is pretty unusual for me. However, my wife is definitely more consistently noisier and full of nerves and comments while watching games, whether in person or on television.

By the way, the dog we have now is the third German Shepherd my wife and I have had together. The most memorable television sports incident happened with the second one. My wife and I are New York Yankee fans. When Aaron Boone hit his well known home run against the Red Sox in the playoffs, my wife jumped out of the chair she was sitting in and let out a rather loud joyous whoop. Our German Shepherd immediately jumped into her arms. To me, seeing the dog do that was probably even more memorable than the home run. We've been laughing at that dog jump ever since.
 
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businesslawyer said:
My dog gets very nervous when I'm talking to myself during a sporting event. It's not just when I am enthusiastic after a score. If I'm even muttering to myself on who's on the court at the moment he gets very anxious. If he were a person, he'd tape the game, find out who wins and then watch.
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My dog used to be like that, particularly when I shouted. She’d be like “are we under attack? Who do you need me to bite?” Then she went through a period where she would give a long exasperated sigh and walk out of the room. Now she pretty much sleeps through it, but will come over and nudge me with her nose at half time let me know if she wants to go for a walk. I haven’t figured out how she knows it’s halftime.
 
dbmill said:
I usually keep fairly calm during games that I watch on television, so the outburst that I mentioned previously is pretty unusual for me. However, my wife is definitely more consistently noisier and full of nerves and comments while watching games, whether in person or on television.

By the way, the dog we have now is the third German Shepherd my wife and I have had together. The most memorable television sports incident happened with the second one. My wife and I are New York Yankee fans. When Aaron Boone hit his well known home run against the Red Sox in the playoffs, my wife jumped out of the chair she was sitting in and let out a rather loud joyous whoop. Our German Shepherd immediately jumped into her arms. To me, seeing the dog do that was probably even more memorable than the home run. We've been laughing at that dog jump ever since.
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As a lifelong Red Sox fan I find nothing remotely humorous about the story.
 
My dog now knows if I say Liverpool is killing me he leaves the room. He is learning what dumb shot means too!!
 
hardcorehusky said:
My dog now knows if I say Liverpool is killing me he leaves the room. He is learning what dumb shot means too!!
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Tmill15 said:


I know we normally have a summer ball thread but I thought it would be good to get this out there!!! Great for Andrew, hopefully he has a great szn, he’s got some electric stuff
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If I were really on the ball I would have started that summer ball thread by now. I've seen several announcements for UConn players for summer ball over the last few months, but was too depressed by the potential Covid stuff to start a thread and post anything. I think I'll start something with this announcement.
 
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CL82 said:
As a lifelong Red Sox fan I find nothing remotely humorous about the story.
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While my wife and I were happy, this was hardly a leap of joy for our dog. She was quite startled, and acted accordingly.
 
It would seem that UConn baseball once again has a four player "taxi squad" of players being redshirted who are listed on the online roster but will not be on the actual playing roster this season. Matt Donlan and David Smith were previously reported as not being eligible to play due to their transferring from other schools. In addition, Bowling Green transfer Mason Kolean and freshman Leo Socci are not listed in the roster that is in the 2021 UConn Baseball Media Guide. All four of these players are listed on the online roster, but non of them have uniform numbers listed with them. With these four players on the "taxi squad", that leaves UConn baseball with 40 players on the roster right now.
 
dbmill said:


Having watched this rule in the New York Penn League for a couple of years before MLB picked it up, I really despise this rule. In my opinion it makes a mockery of the game. My wife refers to it as the cheater runner.
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It's even worse (hard to imagine anything worse) than 3-on-3 overtime hockey!
 
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Alternate access link here<<

-> “I believe this team has the potential to compete for a national championship,” he says. “It takes a lot of luck, a lot of breaks, but we have that potential.”

Is it the best UConn team since 2011, the team filled with future major leaguers that reached the NCAA Super Regional? “On paper,” Penders says. “I can’t say best team, but most talent, probably the most talent on the team since 2011.”<-
 
huskymedic said:



Alternate access link here<<

-> “I believe this team has the potential to compete for a national championship,” he says. “It takes a lot of luck, a lot of breaks, but we have that potential.”

Is it the best UConn team since 2011, the team filled with future major leaguers that reached the NCAA Super Regional? “On paper,” Penders says. “I can’t say best team, but most talent, probably the most talent on the team since 2011.”<-
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Another quote from this article. And yes, from what I've seen in the recent past, the UConn coaching staff certainly likes strikeouts from their pitchers. Anyway, Coach Penders talking about Ben Casparius:

“It’s impressive what he can do with the baseball in his hand,” Penders says. “Pinpoint control at 92 mph, four different pitches for strikes. His biggest self-criticism right now is, ‘Coach, I just don’t know how to get guys out in less than three pitches, too many strikeouts is going to drive up my pitch count.’ I said, ‘Well, [pitching coach Josh MacDonald] likes strikeouts. We’ll figure out the rest.’”<
 
Love the part talking about Crawford and how some of the guys on the Diamondbacks watched his round of batting practice!
 
dbmill said:
Here's a quick summary of the Coach Mac interview. The guys mentioned as possible starters:

Ben Casparius - Friday night guy. Coach Mac thinks he could end up being as good as the top guys who have been at UConn.

Joe Simione - Sounds like he is the Saturday guy.

Other possible starters include Jimmy Wang, Austin Peterson (who is coming back from a Covid issue), Will Lucas, and Pat Gallagher. Both Lucas and Gallagher saw extended inning stints out of the bullpen last season. Gallagher had a rough fall, but the coaches are really high on him.

Given the pandemic, four game weekends, midweek starts and such, others could work their way into starting as well.

Guys out of the bullpen:

Caleb Wurster is going to start the season in the back of the bullpen. So much for the moving to the starting rotation, but he has shown what he can do as a closer, so why mess with it. Kenny Haus got a big mention for the back of the pen as well.

In the fall the coaches were hoping Randy Polonia was just going to be okay in terms of recovering from his summer auto accident. The good news is, in preseason workouts, Polonia is throwing great, so look out for him.

Andrew Marrero is going to be special according to Coach Mac.

Devin Kirby and Justin Willis got positive mentions as well as guys to look for.

Freshman Bobby McBride has a super arm.

Sam Favieri was hurt last season. Looking back Coach Mac says that Favieri probably was the best freshman pitching arm in the fall of 2019.

As mentioned in interviews with coaches before, it sounds like Colby Dunlop is no longer going to be shuttled back and forth between starting and coming out of the pen. They like him better in short stints out of the pen.

Stock and Crawford also got mentions for possible spot use. As for Crawford, Coach Mac says he has the best arm on the team in terms of pure stuff.
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Went back and listened to this interview again. One other pitcher who got a positive mention was Brandan O'Donnell, who coach Mac says is going to have a heck of a career at UConn. It's always good to hear something like this about a lefty pitcher, especially since UConn has had some really good lefties on the mound during the Penders era. At any rate, I'm getting a sense from the various articles and interviews that I have seen and heard that there are three incoming freshmen who could get a chance to show their stuff this season if they get some playing time. That would be Bobby McBride and O'Donnell on the mound, and infielder Bryan Padilla, who has gotten some interesting mentions in preseason previews.

I'm guessing that Andy Hague, who had a terrific offensive fall ball season, gets the first shot at shortstop. If Hague's bat falters out of the gate in the coming weeks (which would be a bit of a shock considering how good he was in fall ball), then it is possible Padilla may be the guy who gets the next shot at an infield starting job. Of course, David Langer could possibly get a shot as well, but it would seem that among the incoming freshmen position players, Padilla is the one to watch. No doubt we will get a better indication on this sort of thing if and when the preseason interview with Coach Hourigan about the position players surfaces.
 
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huskymedic said:
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Quick summary of this Chris Jones preseason interview with Coach Hourigan.

The key thing that comes up in this review of the position players is depth. There are simply a lot of guys who can play and potentially find themselves into the lineup.

At catcher, very effusive in praising both Pat Winkel and Ciaran Devenney. UConn baseball fans definitely know about Pat, who is certainly the No. 1 catcher, but with a lot of four game weekends, including a scheduled double header in each Big East conference series, Devenney is going to be seeing a fair amount of time behind the plate as well. As for Devenney, the coaches love his power, his defense, and has a great throwing arm that comes into play on stolen base attempts. Previous interviews with the UConn coaches have indicated Devenney could get time at D.H. when not catching. Backup Ryan Hyde and David Christoforo have both have shown some ability as well. Hyde as a walk on has improved as time has passed, and Christoforo moves well for his size. At any rate, lots of depth behind the plate.

Reggie Crawford at 1B and Christian Fedko at 2B take care of that side of the infield. Christian has shown continued improvement with his defense and has gotten himself into better shape which has helped his speed.

Sounds like Zach Bushling is pretty much penciled in as the leadoff hitter. In this interview he is called an on base machine, a prototypical leadoff hitter. I'm inclined to think that he can be counted on playing somewhere on the left side of the infield, depending who else is playing over there. Bushling is described as having Woodworth type versatility. There are several candidates for the last spot in the infield, including Andy Hague, David Langer, and Bryan Padilla (who gets some comparisons to Anthony Prato). Todd Petersen and Chris Brown (nice preseason, although I don't recall him getting mentioned in any fall ball interviews or tweets) also get mentions as well, as all have been doing well either in fall ball or preseason. If someone is slumping, there are certainly other options to go to.

Plenty of depth in the outfield as it is a crowded place as well, where there are plenty of players who can provide offense and quality defense. Chris Winkel will be in CF and Kyler Fedko in RF, although it is more like having two excellent center fielders out there at the same time. Erik Stock's excellent hitting from last season gets him a big mention for the last outfield spot. Ben Maycock has apparently cut back on the strikeouts and is hitting to all fields without putting a dent into his power potential. Kevin Ferrer can certainly hit as well, and his defense has apparently improved over last season. Simmons also gets a mention as another excellent defensive outfielder candidate who also has a nice left handed stroke at the plate who potentially could see time. And Korey Morton may be one of the fastest players UConn baseball has seen. Hourigan just loves the outfield defense on this team.

No real mention of who may end up getting at time at D.H., although there would seem to be plenty of potential candidates, especially if someone is streaking with a hot bat. With the D.H., one of the spots on the left side of the infield, and in left field, there are basically three open spots with plenty of candidates to potentially fill them.
 
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huskymedic said:



Alternate access link here<<

-> “I believe this team has the potential to compete for a national championship,” he says. “It takes a lot of luck, a lot of breaks, but we have that potential.”

Is it the best UConn team since 2011, the team filled with future major leaguers that reached the NCAA Super Regional? “On paper,” Penders says. “I can’t say best team, but most talent, probably the most talent on the team since 2011.”<-
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Hartford is no longer the home opener. Hartford announced they are only playing a conference schedule.
 



->19. Ben Casparius, Connecticut

In 2018, Casparius was starting at third base for North Carolina in the College World Series. Three years later, after transferring back home to play for Connecticut, Casparius will find himself in a very different role—that of a Friday starter for a Huskies team that expects to be in a regional again in 2021. With a four-pitch mix headlined by a fastball that has been up to 95 mph, Casparius has the stuff to get the job done.<-
 
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