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UConn Baseball 2021

huskymedic said:
www.baseballjournal.com

UConn coach Jim Penders on COVID impact, MLB liaison ranks prospects

For the latest New England Baseball Journal Podcast, host Dan Guttenplan connects with UConn coach Jim Penders.
www.baseballjournal.com www.baseballjournal.com
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>“We had nine of our nine freshmen contract (COVID-19) within the first couple of weeks on campus,” Penders said. “There was a situation with one dorm that was actually quarantined by the state. They happened to be in that dorm. It was running rampant through that dorm.

“Our guys luckily did not suffer any serious symptoms. A couple of guys lost taste or smell for a day or two, but it was never anything beyond that. We had one guy elect to go home and sit out this year. We hope to have him back next year. We had maybe 12 or 13 cases on the roster from summer until now.”<

Coach Penders also says in the podcast that the players will return to campus on January 3 to get ready for the spring season.
 
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Would someone be able to take the D1 Baseball preview article and paste into this thread please? I don’t have access to read it, not a member unfortunately. Thanks
 
Tmill15 said:
Would someone be able to take the D1 Baseball preview article and paste into this thread please? I don’t have access to read it, not a member unfortunately. Thanks
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Check DM...
 
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huskymedic said:
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A .380 on base percentage is nothing to sneeze at. I have to think Kevin Ferrer is in contention to get playing time in the outfield or at D.H. Of course, it has been mentioned more than once in interviews and such that this UConn team has a lot of quality depth, so it seems that some quality players will be coming off the bench.
 
huskymedic said:
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In a recent Coach Penders interview he stated that all nine freshmen on the team had Covid early in the fall semester. Considering the above referenced more than solid fall ball performance, it would seem that Bobby McBride has recovered very nicely.

Given the apparent quality depth of the returning players on the team plus the transfers coming into the program, I don't expect that we will see many of the incoming freshmen get much playing time in the coming spring season. However, perhaps someone like McBride can get on the field and help out the team in the coming season.
 
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dbmill said:
There is good information in this report. I will say much of it has already been reported this fall through various interviews with the coaches.
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I mentioned before that virtually everything in the D1baseball report on UConn had pretty much been reported in the various interviews with the coaching staff that have been reported in this thread. Basically, reporting much of that stuff from that article would just be a repeat of what had been previously reported. However, very little has been said about any of the incoming freshmen, so here are a few passages concerning the freshmen that got mentioned in this article. It isn't much, but it is something:

>True freshman righthander Bobby McBride shows great potential as he features an above average slider and a fastball up to 93.<

>Exciting true freshman Bryan Padilla played at Poly Prep in Brooklyn, New York which is also the alma mater of former Husky shortstop Anthony Prato. Padilla is a draft prospect with outstanding hands, a plus arm, and an advanced approach.<

>True freshman outfielder Korey Morton was a high school track star and he is the fastest player at UConn since George Springer.<
 
There is one veteran UConn baseball player on the fall ball roster who to my knowledge has gotten no mentions in the various interviews or in tweets that have been posted to this thread. That would be Randy Polonia.
 
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dbmill said:
There is one veteran UConn baseball player on the fall ball roster who to my knowledge has gotten no mentions in the various interviews or in tweets that have been posted to this thread. That would be Randy Polonia.
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Not sure how physically impacted he was from the burns he got in that accident back in July...
 
One other note on the D1Baseball article on UConn baseball. As did a recent interview with Coach Penders, there is a mention of Caleb Wurster being trained in fall ball to be a starter for the coming spring season. Wurster has been a terrific reliever the last two seasons. However, he was not selected in the MLB draft this past summer. While Wurster is extremely effective out of the pen, he lacks the huge fastball that professional baseball looks for in relief pitchers these days. Coach Penders and Wurster no doubt realize this, but it is still pretty obvious that Wurster is a quality pitcher. I'm thinking to move to being a starter is being driven to increase the attractiveness of Wurster being taken in the next MLB draft by showing that he can be effective as a starter. Because of this, I'm inclined now to think Wurster is probably the leading possibility to end up being the Sunday starter, assuming that he remains effective in that role.

Edit: UConn pitching staff seems to have plenty of quality depth, so the move of Wurster to the starting rotation shouldn't be a big deal, as the bullpen should have guys who can do the job. Also, it just remembered that Wurster was used as a starter during this past summer ball season, so this is does not appear to be a spur of a moment decision.
 
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justfacts said:
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It was reported in this thread through a tweet from UConn baseball that Andy Hague led the team in batting average in fall ball. Hague pretty much lost his starting job at SS this past season because of his lack of offensive production. If Hague keeps his bat going in the spring, have to figure that with his defensive reputation that he is very likely the leading contender to be the starting shortstop this coming spring.
 
huskymedic said:
As a quick aside... the multi-talented Chris Jones doing the highlight videos of the UConn Football Class of 2021 early signers.
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Never a bad thing to get a Chris Jones fix during UConn baseball downtime. By the way, earlier this fall he did some field hockey interviews, and I believe he also did women's soccer interviews as well.
 
dbmill said:
Never a bad thing to get a Chris Jones fix during UConn baseball downtime. By the way, earlier this fall he did some field hockey interviews, and I believe he also did women's soccer interviews as well.
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Chris is great with the baseball stuff. But his football highlights are C+ at best. It needs some work.
 
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HCCForever said:
Any idea who the four teams in the Top 30 are for the 2021 season? I realize it is fluid but I'm anxious to watch baseball if able.
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Penders has mentioned #14 UVA being on the schedule next year. It was supposed to be in a tourney but it will end up being @ Virginia or somewhere a little further South based on weather. I also seem to remember #23 Coastal
Carolina being on tap as well.
 
scotty0330 said:
Jim Penders interview

Nice interview and hey lets be honest any reminder or link to the baseball season scratches some of the itch we all have during this time of year. ;)
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Another interesting Coach Penders interview, which is pretty much always the case. He doesn't talk about any of the players on the current team, but he does talk a lot about what goes into the UConn baseball program, and how he approaches coaching and teaching the team. As is often the case, there is a lot of good stuff in this interview.
 
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