UConn Baseball Recruiting and Commitment Thread

[huskymedic]

Connecticut High School Coaches' All-Star Baseball Teams
http://www.courant.com/sports/high-schools/hc-hs-coaches-baseball-all-stars-0618-20150617-story.html

UConn Commits - Zac Susi (Southington), Chris Winkle (Amity), Ron Rossomondo (Bunnell)

Missing Tim Cate (Cheney) and Zach Ardito (NDWH)?

 

[huskyblooz]

Randy Polonia also listed. Didn't see Liam Scafariello?

 

[huskymedic]

Randy Polonia also listed. Didn't see Liam Scafariello?

Dang... forgot about Polonia. I did see Scaf missing but got sidetracked.

 

[huskymedic]

Branden_Mello3:29pm via Twitter for Android
Prout junior left-handed pitcher Mason Feole has committed to play for UConn.

Class of 2016. LHP from Prout High School in Wakefield RI

 

[dbmill]

I mentioned this in another thread, but I thought I would mention it here as well. Last season Anthony Kay was the only left handed pitcher who played in any games for UConn, although they also had on the roster freshman lefty Jack Riley who was redshirted. From what I've seen from the various recruiting commitments that Coach Penders has received, it appears that the UConn pitching staff should be well stocked in southpaws in the coming season.

To my my knowledge, from what I've seen on the Boneyard, the following left handed pitchers recruits will be at UConn for the 2016 season:

Doug Domnarski - from Avery Point, with two years of eligibility
Alex Hintze
PJ Poulin
Tim Cate

The following lefty pitching recruits are due to arrive in 2017:

Nick Chiseri
Michael Schwartz
Mason Feole

Granted, some of these guys will probably be redshirted, and there is always a good chance that some pitchers will leave the program. Still, its a welcome change from the virtually all righty pitching staff UConn had this past season.

 

[dbmill]

Branden_Mello3:29pm via Twitter for Android
Prout junior left-handed pitcher Mason Feole has committed to play for UConn.

Class of 2016. LHP from Prout High School in Wakefield RI

Well, this sounds good. Mason Feole was named to the 2015 Louisville Slugger High School All American Second Team.

http://baseballnews.com/2015-louisville-slugger-h-s-all-americans/

 

[Yonick]

Here's another 2016 recruit, Anthony Nucerino a 5'10" 180lb. outfielder from Manulus, NY He bats & throws LH

 

[Yonick]

According to PG Crosschecker, Dylan Stimpson a 6'4" RHP from ND Fairfield will attend UConn. He is a high honorable mention AA for Crosschecker. He throws in the high 80's and, according to them, has unlimited potential.

 

[mets1090]

http://www.perfectgame.org/Players/PlayerProfile.aspx?ID=380357

This type of description makes me think he's a draft pick that may never enroll (assuming he is in fact in the high 80's now and still projects to add velocity - this description is from last year). Fingers crossed.

Dillon Stimpson is a 2016 RHP with a 6-4 195 lb. frame from Fairfield, CT who attends Notre Dame HS. Tall, strongly built, prototype, projectable pitcher's frame. Has a back turn in his delivery and hides the ball very well. Pitches from a mid to lower three-quarter arm slot and has moving parts in his delivery. Does a good job of repeating complex mechanics and maintaining his deception. Has running action and heavy life on his 84-87 mph fastball and misses bats with it. Very tough to square when he's down in the zone. Shows big fading action on his changeup and has confidence that he can locate it. Needs more consistency with his curveball but flashes late 10-4 bite at 71 mph. Potential for three pitches and command. High upside arm. Named to Top Prospect list.

 

[Yonick]

According to PG Crosschecker, Lliam Scafariello, of Southington, will be attending San Jacinto JC instead of UConn.
He didn't have a great senior season. I remember reading his coach saying he was pitched around.
Maybe he'll come here after a year, or two.

 

[mets1090]

I assume based on his size that Scafariello will be a 1B in college. He'd obviously be blocked by Melley this year so I wonder if he's just going to JC to get some playing time for a year. Or possibly work on grades or fitness? He's a big guy, no idea if it's well proportioned or if he could lose a few pounds.

 

[huskymedic]

According to PG Crosschecker, Lliam Scafariello, of Southington, will be attending San Jacinto JC instead of UConn.
He didn't have a great senior season. I remember reading his coach saying he was pitched around.
Maybe he'll come here after a year, or two.

I assume based on his size that Scafariello will be a 1B in college. He'd obviously be blocked by Melley this year so I wonder if he's just going to JC to get some playing time for a year. Or possibly work on grades or fitness? He's a big guy, no idea if it's well proportioned or if he could lose a few pounds.

Must be no room @ UC-AP?

SJJC is a top notch program > Pender's brother used to be an assistant coach there.

 

[mets1090]

This also just occurred to me. If he goes the JC route, can he be drafted after 1 or 2 years? Maybe he has been led to believe he's got a shot at the draft if he goes and puts up good numbers at the JC level. Purely speculation obviously.

 

[Stainmaster]

This also just occurred to me. If he goes the JC route, can he be drafted after 1 or 2 years? Maybe he has been led to believe he's got a shot at the draft if he goes and puts up good numbers at the JC level. Purely speculation obviously.

Juco players can be drafted after as little as one year, I believe.

 

[mets1090]

Juco players can be drafted after as little as one year, I believe.

I thought so as well. There was speculation he might be drafted out of high school correct? If he's going to play 1B maybe he's thinking about doing 1 year of JC (instead of sitting behind Melley) and taking his chances that he'll get drafted.

 

[Stainmaster]

I thought so as well. There was speculation he might be drafted out of high school correct? If he's going to play 1B maybe he's thinking about doing 1 year of JC (instead of sitting behind Melley) and taking his chances that he'll get drafted.

Yes, he was ranked as a Top 400 draft prospect by Baseball America. I'm inclined to agree with you on him itching to get drafted next year, but there's also another possibility that's a little less appealing to us as UConn fans; maybe he intends on using San Jacinto as a springboard to a national powerhouse program. As Medic said, SJ is a top Juco, so maybe he wants to use next year to show himself off to coaches from bigger programs in the ACC/Big 12 that wouldn't have been exposed to him while he was in HS. Granted I (and many of us here) are extremely pleased with what Penders has done to make UConn baseball appeal to the Northeastern US's HS crop -- but we inherently stand very little chance of competing with a Texas or a Clemson-type school head-to-head. Just my two cents.

 

[mets1090]

Agreed and it's pretty much the same principle. Hoping to use a year or two at JC to find greener pastures.

 

[huskymedic]

There was speculation he might be drafted out of high school correct?

He was drafted in the 38th round by the Braves and is currently playing ball on the same team as Garabedian in the Futures League.

http://fcbl_stats.bbstats.pointstreak.com/player.html?playerid=814368

Pure speculation but he could have been pointed that way for a variety of reason... biggest being getting substantial playing time in a competitive conference rather then being a RS up here.

 

[mets1090]

Oh right he was the one that was drafted. I remember it happening and the general thought was he wasn't signing so I didn't give it much thought. In any event, him heading to a JC may or may not be because of pro reasons. Wouldn't be the first time we lost a recruit for that reason and it won't be the last.

Hope to see him at UConn in a year or two but if not I'm sure we'll be ok regardless. Would have been nice to have such a talented player ready to take over for Melley though.

 

[dbmill]

I thought so as well. There was speculation he might be drafted out of high school correct? If he's going to play 1B maybe he's thinking about doing 1 year of JC (instead of sitting behind Melley) and taking his chances that he'll get drafted.

Bobby Melley would not have been the only competition for Scafariello at 1B. UConn has coming into the program Dillon Malandro and Chris Winkel as 1B candidates after Melley graduates.

It's disappointing to hear of this decision considering the apparent wide open nature of UConn's corner outfield positions. Interesting that this decision comes after a disappointing senior high school year. The idea that Scafariello is turning into more of a 1B instead of a corner outfielder in addition to the disappointing year would seem to lessen his value. That and the mention here of Scafariello being a possible UConn redshirt brings to mind another drafted player who was redshirted at UConn, Taylor Olmstead, someone who has certainly been slow in developing.

 

[mets1090]

Pretty rare to see all the scouts whiff on a player as badly as they seem to have whiffed on Olmstead. Went from being drafted in the 13th round out of high school to getting 5 at bats in his first two years on campus. You have to assume he has the tools to be a good college player so hopefully he'll surprise and put it together this fall.


Edit: Hadn't heard anything about him this summer but while he's hitting just .252 in the PGCBL, he leads the league with 7 homeruns. Evidently the power is there. Yahn is hitting .254 in the same league so it's possible that Olmstead is turning a corner. Or Yahn is just struggling in a relatively small sample size.

 

[dbmill]

Pretty rare to see all the scouts whiff on a player as badly as they seem to have whiffed on Olmstead. Went from being drafted in the 13th round out of high school to getting 5 at bats in his first two years on campus. You have to assume he has the tools to be a good college player so hopefully he'll surprise and put it together this fall.

Edit: Hadn't heard anything about him this summer but while he's hitting just .252 in the PGCBL, he leads the league with 7 homeruns. Evidently the power is there. Yahn is hitting .254 in the same league so it's possible that Olmstead is turning a corner. Or Yahn is just struggling in a relatively small sample size.

Considering how much Olmstead strikes out, especially last summer, "whiff" is a good word to use in talking about how the scouts seemed to have misjudged him. Anyway, probably because he was drafted and no doubt due to the Huskies need for corner outfielder answers, Olmstead is the one player whose stats I've been checking pretty regularly this summer. For most of the summer season his average had hovered around .200, but he went on a hot streak recently. As you mentioned he does have very good power numbers. In addition to the 8 home runs he has 4 triples, and to further indicate some speed, he has 8 stolen bases. Olmstead rarely takes a walk, but he has gotten hit by pitches 10 times, so that helps the on base percentage some. As for the strike outs I alluded to earlier, I seem to recall that Olmstead struck out in well over a third of his at bats last summer, and this summer he is striking out in less than a third of his at bats, so that would seem to indicate some progress in the right direction.

 

[huskymedic]

Considering how much Olmstead strikes out, especially last summer, "whiff" is a good word to use in talking about how the scouts seemed to have misjudged him. Anyway, probably because he was drafted and no doubt due to the Huskies need for corner outfielder answers, Olmstead is the one player whose stats I've been checking pretty regularly this summer. For most of the summer season his average had hovered around .200, but he went on a hot streak recently. As you mentioned he does have very good power numbers. In addition to the 8 home runs he has 4 triples, and to further indicate some speed, he has 8 stolen bases. Olmstead rarely takes a walk, but he has gotten hit by pitches 10 times, so that helps the on base percentage some. As for the strike outs I alluded to earlier, I seem to recall that Olmstead struck out in well over a third of his at bats last summer, and this summer he is striking out in less than a third of his at bats, so that would seem to indicate some progress in the right direction.

UConnBaseball 5:22pm via Twitter Web Client
Nice to see three #UConn student-athletes on the 2016 @MLBDraft watch list.

NE Baseball Journal‏@NE_Baseball 9h9 hours ago
.@UConnBaseball has 3 of top prospects from N.E. for 2016 draft: Aaron Hill, @taylor_olmstead, @patrickruotolo
http://digital.baseballjournal.com/nxtbooks/seamans/nebj_201508/#/36​

 

[dbmill]

UConnBaseball 5:22pm via Twitter Web Client
Nice to see three #UConn student-athletes on the 2016 @MLBDraft watch list.

NE Baseball Journal‏@NE_Baseball 9h9 hours ago
.@UConnBaseball has 3 of top prospects from N.E. for 2016 draft: Aaron Hill, @taylor_olmstead, @patrickruotolo
http://digital.baseballjournal.com/nxtbooks/seamans/nebj_201508/#/36​

It's a bit of a surprise to me seeing Taylor Olmstead on that list at this point, but the mlb draft is certainly built on potential. I recall Coach Penders talking about the special sound that Olmstead's bat makes when he does make contact with the ball. Anyway, let's hope both Aaron Hill and Olmstead live up to this sort of billing in their next season at UConn.

 

[huskymedic]

It's a bit of a surprise to me seeing Taylor Olmstead on that list at this point, but the mlb draft is certainly built on potential. I recall Coach Penders talking about the special sound that Olmstead's bat makes when he does make contact with the ball. Anyway, let's hope both Aaron Hill and Olmstead live up to this sort of billing in their next season at UConn.

Couldn't resist - the timing was just so right