UConn Baseball Recruiting and Commitment Thread

[Tmill15]

As @Tmill15 noted above - here is EC’s remaining schedule: East Catholic Baseball Schedule

I would imagine he pitches Monday considering he would be rested more for the state tournament. He’s been pitching most mondays too. I’ll share the state brackets once they come out next week

 

[kris1]

BONUS: Casparius listed at 160

 

[UConNick]

2021 MLB Mock Draft: Penultimate Edition

MLB Pipeline’s Top 200 Draft Prospects list dropped, which means we are getting towards the home stretch of the draft season. Considering…

medium.com

This mock projects Mozzicato as the last compensatory first round pick to the Twins. Highest I’ve seen him.

Had been holding out hope he could get to Storrs. But looking more and more certain he’s going to be, at worst, one of the first 60-ish names called.

 

[Magruber]

2021 MLB Mock Draft: Penultimate Edition

MLB Pipeline’s Top 200 Draft Prospects list dropped, which means we are getting towards the home stretch of the draft season. Considering…

medium.com

This mock projects Mozzicato as the last compensatory first round pick to the Twins. Highest I’ve seen him.

Had been holding out hope he could get to Storrs. But looking more and more certain he’s going to be, at worst, one of the first 60-ish names called.

Good News / Bad News kind of thing.

 

[The Viking]

Boston is lurking just past that compensatory range. If he falls to them, and they grab one of either Leiter or Kumar Rocker in the first round, that would be one hell of an infusion of pitching talent into the system.
The Red Sox haven't drafted/developed a good starter since who......Buchholz? Time to load up, Chaim.

That said it sucks he probably won't be with UConn, barring some kind of miracle.

 

[HCCForever]

Boston is lurking just past that compensatory range. If he falls to them, and they grab one of either Leiter or Kumar Rocker in the first round, that would be one hell of an infusion of pitching talent into the system.
The Red Sox haven't drafted/developed a good starter since who......Buchholz? Time to load up, Chaim.

That said it sucks he probably won't be with UConn, barring some kind of miracle.

I saw a mock draft of the Sox getting Leiter which would be fantastic. I love watching him pitch. But Kumar is no slouch either.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[scotty0330]

Couldn’t believe all the scouts there. Had to be 25 plus. South Windsor is horrid but man does that mitt pop on his fastballs. Was 88-90 on radar guns I saw there. His slider/curve is real deal too. Doesn’t even need it most of the time.

 

[Tmill15]

 

[huskymedic]

Kid’s on fire...

 

[Tmill15]

6 UConn Commits on here

 

[mustafa]

For those more knowledgeable than I, has this kind of thing been done before here in CT?

Multiple consecutive no-hitters? Just crazy.
Kid is major talent.

 

[huskymedic]

For those more knowledgeable than I, has this kind of thing been done before here in CT?

Multiple consecutive no-hitters? Just crazy.
Kid is major talent.

I think Mike Burrows had multiple no-hitters in a season but don’t believe they were consecutive.

 

[Tmill15]

 

[navery12]

 

[Guapo]

 

[mauconnfan]

Saw this on the MLB network with Heidi. Amazing 4 games in a row I don't care who's the opposition. 19Ks in the last one looks like Penders won't see him in a uni now huh?

 

[Magruber]

Saw this on the MLB network with Heidi. Amazing 4 games in a row I don't care who's the opposition. 19Ks in the last one looks like Penders won't see him in a uni now huh?

I'm still holding out for a miracle but it's getting less likely by the day.

 

[HCCForever]

Saw this on the MLB network with Heidi. Amazing 4 games in a row I don't care who's the opposition. 19Ks in the last one looks like Penders won't see him in a uni now huh?

Penders will see him in a uniform but without the UCONN across the front. Anybody that has Frank's best interests in mind has to recommend that he forgo UConn for the draft. Unfortunate for UConn fans but true.

 

[BuckleyNerd]

Penders will see him in a uniform but without the UCONN across the front. Anybody that has Frank's best interests in mind has to recommend that he forgo UConn for the draft. Unfortunate for UConn fans but true.

If I had to bet I would say he ends up signing, but it's not a no brainer in my opinion. I don't think anyone has him as a surefire first-rounder, so if he drops to like the 3rd round even an above slot offer is like 2-3 mill, after taxes/agent fees maybe 1.5. Obviously a ton of dough, but is it enough to make a kid who goes to a private school and is committed to his dream school sign? If I'm Penders, I'm saying hey, come here for free, play with your friends/in front of your family instead of random places in the middle of nowhere, by your junior year you're sitting 93-95 and a top-15 pick getting a 6+ mill bonus. It's a tough pitch but not unreasonable or unheard of.

 

[HookC22]

If I had to bet I would say he ends up signing, but it's not a no brainer in my opinion. I don't think anyone has him as a surefire first-rounder, so if he drops to like the 3rd round even an above slot offer is like 2-3 mill, after taxes/agent fees maybe 1.5. Obviously a ton of dough, but is it enough to make a kid who goes to a private school and is committed to his dream school sign? If I'm Penders, I'm saying hey, come here for free, play with your friends/in front of your family instead of random places in the middle of nowhere, by your junior year you're sitting 93-95 and a top-15 pick getting a 6+ mill bonus. It's a tough pitch but not unreasonable or unheard of.

Couple things - Yes, some places are putting him in the supplemental 1st round range. I think Baseball America had him at #51 in the last ranking. He is getting a ridiculous amount of national attention the past two weeks.

Also, school will not be free. No one gets a full ride when you have to split 11.7 scholarships around to 30 players. Even on a half ride, you are looking at maybe $15-20K a year instate out of pocket.

By all accounts, everyone regards him as a top notch kid, intelligent and super polite. I totally get the argument of playing locally with family watching vs traveling to MiLB small towns and maybe thats the only thing that steers him to UConn. Meaning he can spend 3 years growing up in a more transitioned environment vs getting thrown into the MiLB lifestyle of living on your own with teammates from all sorts of backgrounds fending for yourself but a pick this high will get some special treatment/oversight.

He's already low 90's with a 55 grade fastball and 60 grade curveball. With the risk of TJ, you have to take the cash now. The top draft prospect for 2022, pitcher from Alabama, just tore his ACL this week. With this amount of money and honestly as much as I hate to say it, our programs history with UCL tears in pitchers, you take the deal now. The increase from 2nd round money to 1st round isnt as much (unless you go top 10) because teams will over pay slot for a HS kid. Also, start that 7 year contract at 19 vs 22 and then if things work out as planned, that big time contract is at 26 right in the prime vs 29 when you may be on the down swing.

 

[BuckleyNerd]

Couple things - Yes, some places are putting him in the supplemental 1st round range. I think Baseball America had him at #51 in the last ranking. He is getting a ridiculous amount of national attention the past two weeks.

Also, school will not be free. No one gets a full ride when you have to split 11.7 scholarships around to 30 players. Even on a half ride, you are looking at maybe $15-20K a year instate out of pocket.

By all accounts, everyone regards him as a top notch kid, intelligent and super polite. I totally get the argument of playing locally with family watching vs traveling to MiLB small towns and maybe thats the only thing that steers him to UConn. Meaning he can spend 3 years growing up in a more transitioned environment vs getting thrown into the MiLB lifestyle of living on your own with teammates from all sorts of backgrounds fending for yourself but a pick this high will get some special treatment/oversight.

He's already low 90's with a 55 grade fastball and 60 grade curveball. With the risk of TJ, you have to take the cash now. The top draft prospect for 2022, pitcher from Alabama, just tore his ACL this week. With this amount of money and honestly as much as I hate to say it, our programs history with UCL tears in pitchers, you take the deal now. The increase from 2nd round money to 1st round isnt as much (unless you go top 10) because teams will over pay slot for a HS kid. Also, start that 7 year contract at 19 vs 22 and then if things work out as planned, that big time contract is at 26 right in the prime vs 29 when you may be on the down swing.

Yeah those are good points, I just don't know how much of a lock he is for the top two rounds, though. The curve is filthy, but is he really sitting low 90s every game, and is he sustaining that velocity? I though I saw a tweet earlier in the thread saying he was sitting 88-90 his last time out? That's a big difference from consistently 91-93 topping at 95 or whatever, even if he's projectable. How is his command? How much top flight competition has he faced? There's a long track record of pro teams preferring college arms, and being very bearish on New England prep pitchers. These are all factors that I could see pushing him more into 3rd round range, even if in a vacuum he is a late first/early second round talent.

 

[ToolzieFan]

Yeah those are good points, I just don't know how much of a lock he is for the top two rounds, though. The curve is filthy, but is he really sitting low 90s every game, and is he sustaining that velocity? I though I saw a tweet earlier in the thread saying he was sitting 88-90 his last time out? That's a big difference from consistently 91-93 topping at 95 or whatever, even if he's projectable. How is his command? How much top flight competition has he faced? There's a long track record of pro teams preferring college arms, and being very bearish on New England prep pitchers. These are all factors that I could see pushing him more into 3rd round range, even if in a vacuum he is a late first/early second round talent.

Presumably, organizations will do their research and draft him partially based on how likely he is to sign. If he is drafted within the first two rounds, then a team must know he is not planning to go to UConn. Your points are wrong, and maybe the median evaluation for him among teams is a third round talent. However, all it takes is one team who thinks he is worthy of being drafted higher. I don’t think being drafted in the competitive balance round between rounds one and two is out of the question.

 

[Samoo]

How hot is he? At the end of a local sports show here in Portland Oregon they do a high five segment where they praise 2-3 people in the sports world. One of the three was Mozz for the four no-hitters. They even mentioned that he signed with UConn but was unlikely to play for the Huskies.

 

[HookC22]

However, all it takes is one team who thinks he is worthy of being drafted higher.

This is the key. And in talking with a lot of people, it sounds like at least the Yankees are very high on him.