Men UConn Baseball 2022

[huskymedic]

Quite a collection of former UConn players there.

So cool…

 

[huskymedic]

 

[dbmill]

According to this D1Baseball.com article, the roster limit for the 2022 college baseball season is 40 players instead of 35, and teams can have up to 32 players on scholarship instead of 27. This is due in part to the cancelled 2020 season from the Covid pandemic.

Rogers: NCAA Roster Relief Helps But Falls Short • D1Baseball

The NCAA Division I Committee on Legislative Relief gave college baseball some roster relief, but it didn't go far enough.

d1baseball.com

UConn's roster is currently at 42 players. I imagine it is possible that the Huskies may end up with a 2 player taxi squad, players who are being redshirted but who are not part of the official 2022 spring roster.

 

[businesslawyer]

According to this D1Baseball.com article, the roster limit for the 2022 college baseball season is 40 players instead of 35, and teams can have up to 32 players on scholarship instead of 27. This is due in part to the cancelled 2020 season from the Covid pandemic.

Rogers: NCAA Roster Relief Helps But Falls Short • D1Baseball

The NCAA Division I Committee on Legislative Relief gave college baseball some roster relief, but it didn't go far enough.

d1baseball.com

UConn's roster is currently at 42 players. I imagine it is possible that the Huskies may end up with a 2 player taxi squad, players who are being redshirted but who are not part of the official 2022 spring roster.

42 includes Crawford. I haven't heard anything that makes me think they would play him this year, even as a DH (although it would be great if his recovery was such that doing so wouldn't have any effect on his pitching arm recovering).

 

[dbmill]

42 includes Crawford. I haven't heard anything that makes me think they would play him this year, even as a DH (although it would be great if his recovery was such that doing so wouldn't have any effect on his pitching arm recovering).

The 40 man spring roster will have to include Crawford. Players who are on scholarship have to be included on the spring roster, even if they are unable to play due to injury.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[dbmill]

Hoping to start seeing interviews with the coaches on UConn's player personnel now that the college baseball season is a little over a week away.

 

[huskymedic]

Tad early but okay…

 

[businesslawyer]

Tad early but okay…

So the "one bid" prediction relates directly to the fear many had when we left the AAC and what happened last year. We look great from the moment we stop travelling south and west before conference play begins, but is our conference good enough to keep us sharp enough to then compete with teams from other regions come tournament time? That has yet to be seen and I hope I'm wrong. But even if the conference switch didn't have an immediate effect on recruiting, how long can we maintain our level of play in a one bid league?

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[dbmill]

From the reports in the fall, it would seem that the two freshmen pitchers to watch at this point would be Jack Sullivan and Ian Cooke.

 

[dbmill]

 

[dbmill]

Time is running short. It is definitely time to see Chris Jones interviews with the coaching staff about the players and what their roles might be in the upcoming season.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[dbmill]

Erik Stock at No. 42, Casey Dana at No 106. UConn certainly looks like they have the corner outfield positions covered. I believe they are the first UConn players to make the D1Baseball.com position rankings. Of course, pitcher rankings still to come.

 

[blackuc]

Anyone planning on going next weekend in Tampa. I can't do all 3 but thinking of getting my father Class of 57 and taking him to one game.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[dbmill]

 

[huskymedic]

-> Connecticut returned to its long-time conference home last year after a seven-year sabbatical in the American Athletic Conference and cruised to the Big East regular-season title, winning by two games. It beat Xavier two of three times in the conference tournament to make its third consecutive regional and seventh in the last 11 NCAA tournaments. The Huskies lost five draft picks, including Big East Player of the Year Kyler Fedko, off last year’s team. They then suffered an even bigger blow during the offseason when elite two-way talent Reggie Crawford — he of the 100-mph fastball and the light tower power (13 HR, 62 RBI) from the left side — had to have Tommy John surgery that will force him to miss the 2021 season. And yet, UConn remains the team to beat in the Big East and the preeminent program in the Northeast. That’s because the Huskies reload rather than rebuild.

This year, that starts with swiping transfer Casey Dana from conference foe Seton Hall after he hit .306, 7, 36 and was an All-Big East second-team member for the Pirates. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound Dana will provide some thump at the plate as will Division II Limestone College transfer Ben Huber. The 6-foot-3, 245-pound blonde bomber hit .439, 10, 48 last season. He’ll slot into the middle of UConn’s lineup, possibly batting cleanup, where he is expected to be a force. LaSalle transfer David Smith will be at the top of the lineup where he has good speed and can also load up and drive the baseball. Between Smith and Huber, you’ll find hit machine Erik Stock, who started his career at Old Dominion. Stock has slashed .381/.453/.560 in his two seasons with the Huskies. He showed some pop last season as well with 14 doubles, two triples and six home runs as he was named All-Big East first team. Stock also stole eight bases in nine tries. He just is a baseball player. He does everything above average and makes winning play after winning play, including with his defense in center field. He’ll be tasked with helping his fellow outfielders as Dana is making the transition to the outfield in right and Kevin Ferrer (.275, 1, 20) is a bat-first left fielder that is primed for a breakout campaign with a little more patience at the plate. Ferrer won’t have too many grounders to field with third-year sophomore third baseman Chris Brown (.296, 5, 38) playing in front of him. He’s a vacuum that continues to get better and better defensively. He has all the tools to be a true prospect at the hot corner on the next level. Fifth-year senior shortstop Zach Bushling hit a team-low (among starters) .250 last season but produces some of the best at-bats on the team. He was second on the team with 25 walks drawn pushing his on-base percentage to .372. When he gets on bases, he can cause some havoc as well (10 SB last season).

On the mound, UConn returns 6-foot-6, 234-pound Austin Peterson to front the rotation. The Purdue bounce back went 7-1, 2.58 while holding hitters to a .201 average. He was named to the All-Big East second team last season and is a preseason All-Big East selection this spring. He knows how to attack the zone, works with three pitches and moves his 88-93-mph fastball around the zone effortlessly. Peterson is the head of a pitching staff that amassed 151 more strikeouts than the next closest team in the Big East. The Huskies will have to replace 127 of those with the departure of Ben Casparius (8-5, 4.03), but third-year sophomore Pat Gallagher (5-2, 4.44) took his game to another level late in the season last year. He struck out more than a batter per inning in five conference starts, going 3-0, 2.85, including pitching 5.2 scoreless innings in the Big East Tournament championship game. Gallagher has a plus slider and changeup that aren’t always on at the same time, but when they are, hitters are in trouble. He was 2-0, 3.90 with 33 strikeouts in 25.1 innings this summer in the Cape Cod League.

Fifth-year junior Enzo Stefanoni is battling with freshman Ian Cooke for the final starting roles. Stefanoni should be fresh as he comes over from Harvard having barely thrown the last two seasons with the Ivy League cancelling the 2021 season. He throws a lot of strikes and mixes two diverse breaking balls — a slow loopy curveball and a sharp-biting slider. He was 5-1, 2.82 in 2019. Cooke has Friday night starter potential down the road. He has an 89-93 mph fastball with sink that he tunnels pretty well with a plus slider that gets a lot of swings and misses. Speaking of sliders, 5-foot-8 slider machine Justin Willis (4-0, 2.60, 1 SV), who began his career at Vanderbilt, returned from a two-year absence to become one of Connecticut’s most dynamic bullpen arms, allowing only eight hits in 16 appearances last season. Another likely high-leverage bullpen arm is Cole Chudoba, a transfer from Division II Assumption College. He struck out 40 in 35 innings last season and could be used as the Huskies’ closer with a fastball he can run into the mid-90s and a hard slider. Chudoba and some other newcomers will have to fill some important roles. UConn has a lot of depth on the staff but outside of Willis, Brendan O’Donnell (0-0, 13.14) is the only returning reliever that made at least 10 appearances. Finding the right roles will be key for the Huskies to avoid coming out of the gates slow like last year’s 4-10 start.<-

 

[CtBaseball]

-> Connecticut returned to its long-time conference home last year after a seven-year sabbatical in the American Athletic Conference and cruised to the Big East regular-season title, winning by two games. It beat Xavier two of three times in the conference tournament to make its third consecutive regional and seventh in the last 11 NCAA tournaments. The Huskies lost five draft picks, including Big East Player of the Year Kyler Fedko, off last year’s team. They then suffered an even bigger blow during the offseason when elite two-way talent Reggie Crawford — he of the 100-mph fastball and the light tower power (13 HR, 62 RBI) from the left side — had to have Tommy John surgery that will force him to miss the 2021 season. And yet, UConn remains the team to beat in the Big East and the preeminent program in the Northeast. That’s because the Huskies reload rather than rebuild.

This year, that starts with swiping transfer Casey Dana from conference foe Seton Hall after he hit .306, 7, 36 and was an All-Big East second-team member for the Pirates. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound Dana will provide some thump at the plate as will Division II Limestone College transfer Ben Huber. The 6-foot-3, 245-pound blonde bomber hit .439, 10, 48 last season. He’ll slot into the middle of UConn’s lineup, possibly batting cleanup, where he is expected to be a force. LaSalle transfer David Smith will be at the top of the lineup where he has good speed and can also load up and drive the baseball. Between Smith and Huber, you’ll find hit machine Erik Stock, who started his career at Old Dominion. Stock has slashed .381/.453/.560 in his two seasons with the Huskies. He showed some pop last season as well with 14 doubles, two triples and six home runs as he was named All-Big East first team. Stock also stole eight bases in nine tries. He just is a baseball player. He does everything above average and makes winning play after winning play, including with his defense in center field. He’ll be tasked with helping his fellow outfielders as Dana is making the transition to the outfield in right and Kevin Ferrer (.275, 1, 20) is a bat-first left fielder that is primed for a breakout campaign with a little more patience at the plate. Ferrer won’t have too many grounders to field with third-year sophomore third baseman Chris Brown (.296, 5, 38) playing in front of him. He’s a vacuum that continues to get better and better defensively. He has all the tools to be a true prospect at the hot corner on the next level. Fifth-year senior shortstop Zach Bushling hit a team-low (among starters) .250 last season but produces some of the best at-bats on the team. He was second on the team with 25 walks drawn pushing his on-base percentage to .372. When he gets on bases, he can cause some havoc as well (10 SB last season).

On the mound, UConn returns 6-foot-6, 234-pound Austin Peterson to front the rotation. The Purdue bounce back went 7-1, 2.58 while holding hitters to a .201 average. He was named to the All-Big East second team last season and is a preseason All-Big East selection this spring. He knows how to attack the zone, works with three pitches and moves his 88-93-mph fastball around the zone effortlessly. Peterson is the head of a pitching staff that amassed 151 more strikeouts than the next closest team in the Big East. The Huskies will have to replace 127 of those with the departure of Ben Casparius (8-5, 4.03), but third-year sophomore Pat Gallagher (5-2, 4.44) took his game to another level late in the season last year. He struck out more than a batter per inning in five conference starts, going 3-0, 2.85, including pitching 5.2 scoreless innings in the Big East Tournament championship game. Gallagher has a plus slider and changeup that aren’t always on at the same time, but when they are, hitters are in trouble. He was 2-0, 3.90 with 33 strikeouts in 25.1 innings this summer in the Cape Cod League.

Fifth-year junior Enzo Stefanoni is battling with freshman Ian Cooke for the final starting roles. Stefanoni should be fresh as he comes over from Harvard having barely thrown the last two seasons with the Ivy League cancelling the 2021 season. He throws a lot of strikes and mixes two diverse breaking balls — a slow loopy curveball and a sharp-biting slider. He was 5-1, 2.82 in 2019. Cooke has Friday night starter potential down the road. He has an 89-93 mph fastball with sink that he tunnels pretty well with a plus slider that gets a lot of swings and misses. Speaking of sliders, 5-foot-8 slider machine Justin Willis (4-0, 2.60, 1 SV), who began his career at Vanderbilt, returned from a two-year absence to become one of Connecticut’s most dynamic bullpen arms, allowing only eight hits in 16 appearances last season. Another likely high-leverage bullpen arm is Cole Chudoba, a transfer from Division II Assumption College. He struck out 40 in 35 innings last season and could be used as the Huskies’ closer with a fastball he can run into the mid-90s and a hard slider. Chudoba and some other newcomers will have to fill some important roles. UConn has a lot of depth on the staff but outside of Willis, Brendan O’Donnell (0-0, 13.14) is the only returning reliever that made at least 10 appearances. Finding the right roles will be key for the Huskies to avoid coming out of the gates slow like last year’s 4-10 start.<-

Cooke is an exciting prospect. Would be awesome if he’s able to live up to the high expectations.

I find it interesting that there was no mention of Simmons. i know he’s a very solid defensive CF, which seems like an important piece of the puzzle for this team. If we field Smith and 2B and Simmons in CF, this could be an above average defensive team, which imo is often underrated in college baseball.

Also wondering what role Fedko and Garbowski (neither of whom were mentioned here) might play in this lineup.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[dbmill]

Cooke is an exciting prospect. Would be awesome if he’s able to live up to the high expectations.

I find it interesting that there was no mention of Simmons. i know he’s a very solid defensive CF, which seems like an important piece of the puzzle for this team. If we field Smith and 2B and Simmons in CF, this could be an above average defensive team, which imo is often underrated in college baseball.

Also wondering what role Fedko and Garbowski (neither of whom were mentioned here) might play in this lineup.

I'm inclined to think that David Smith will be in the starting lineup at either 2B or CF. If Simmons shows himself to be a consistent hitter, I think Smith could end up at 2B, which would end up moving Christian Fedko to D.H. This is all speculation on my part, but Smith had a very good summer and he seemed to continue it in fall ball.

I expect Garbowski will see some playing time off the bench. He looks like the back up catcher for now behind Matt Donlan (Donlan seems to be very well regarded for his defensive skills). I would think Garbowski likely to get a start in a game during each weekend series.. If he shows something with the bat, he could also see some time at D.H. (on days when Fedko plays in the field) or possibly in the field as well.