UConn Baseball Recruiting and Commitment Thread | Page 3 | The Boneyard

UConn Baseball Recruiting and Commitment Thread

HuskyfanDan said:
Zach Braziller ‏@NYPost_Brazille
Poly Prep pitcher Andrew Zapata has committed to UConn, he told The Post. LSU, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Maryland also involved.#privatebaseball
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Great grab...

NYC's Top pitcher Zapata verbally commits to UConn

By ZACH BRAZILLER
Last Updated: 4:30 PM, August 19, 2012
Posted: 4:30 PM, August 19, 2012

Poly Prep's Andrew Zapata, the consensus top pitcher in New York City, has committed to Connecticut, The Post has learned.

Zapata picked the Big East school on Saturday, he said, choosing UConn over a swarm of top Division I programs, such as Kentucky, LSU, Stanford, St. John's, Ole Miss and Maryland.

He visited UConn Aug. 1 and also saw Maryland, which will have former Grand Street Campus duo Jose Cuas and Kevin Martir onboard this fall. UConn's starting rotation will have a local feel down the road, as former Iona Prep star righthander Matt D'Ariano is part of this year's recruiting class.

The flame-throwing righthander, The Post's Player of the Year as a sophomore and an All-City first team selection last spring, will receive a full scholarship, a source said, which is unheard of in college baseball.
Zapata has led Poly Prep to consecutive NYSAISAA titles, tossing one-hit complete games in the finals in back to back years.

"I chose UConn because it is a perfect fit for me and my family," Zapata said. "It has an excellent kinesiology program, which is what I want to study, and it has one of the best baseball programs around. Being only a few hours from campus, my family can easily come watch me play, and that means so much to me."

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/high_school/baseball/nyc_top_pitcher_zapata_verbally_k3O36UmG79Ksm9lI1Q8DTL#ixzz241tpBc5I​
 
So we have the #1 recruits from Mass, CT, AND NEw York City? Holy mole.....we look really good for years to come.
 
What are the odds he doesn't get drafted and actually makes it to UConn?
 
Penders could sell ice to an eskimo, but this kid better be really good. A full scholarship is alot.
 
johnhuskies95 said:
Penders could sell ice to an eskimo, but this kid better be really good. A full scholarship is alot.
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A full scholarship is serious business but if Penders thinks he can be the next Matt Barnes he had to do what he could to get him to commit and give him extra incentive to pass on the draft should he be taken.

Fortunately, if this kid is that good the team will be better for it which will make recruiting easier in the next couple of years while he is here. Instead of offering a couple kids in the future a half scholarship maybe you can get them for a quarter because you can sell them the idea of making a trip to Omaha. The same way we have to give this kid more to get him here now, hopefully we can get kids for less later.
 
Wow!!! Penders really can recruit. Probably makes sense for UConn to give out a full scolie on this guy. I believe Zapata is #7 for 2013. Usually UConn gives out 10-12 partials. This year it'll probably be 1 full and 8-9 partials.
Hopefully, we don't lose him to MLB in the spring.
 
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He was also recruited by Stanford...and he wants to major in Kinesiology...Article says he was offered a full scholarship..it does not say he was offered a full Baseball scholarship. Besides being a good player he is obviously very bright...I bet he received 1/2 baseball and 1/2 academic
 
BBall2012 said:
He was also recruited by Stanford...and he wants to major in Kinesiology...Article says he was offered a full scholarship..it does not say he was offered a full Baseball scholarship. Besides being a good player he is obviously very bright...I bet he received 1/2 baseball and 1/2 academic
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Good point on the half and half. Hopefully he really does value his EKIN education and the ability for his parents to watch him pitch because those are two things he won't get if he goes pro out of high school.
 
PG crosschecker has many of our 2013 recruits ranked highly. Zapata is listed as a 2nd team AA.
Sullivan is a 3rd team AA. Anthony Kay, a LHP from Stonybrook LI is a high honorable mention AA. While Pat Ruotolo a RHP from Peabody MA is an honorable mention AA.
No mention for Tom Milone from Masuk or Griffin Garabedian from NDWH. Both are reported to be quick with great OF arms. Milone supposedly has pop in his bat. While Garabediann is more of a leadoff type.
Don't know much about Sam Nepiarsky from Amity. He'll definately get plenty of coverage in the NH Register next spring.
 
Good stuff Yonick. And when you consider that a bunch of the 1st and 2nd team AAs will likely get drafted and never play in college, we will have some very highly ranked Freshmen next year.
 
mets1090 said:
Good stuff Yonick. And when you consider that a bunch of the 1st and 2nd team AAs will likely get drafted and never play in college, we will have some very highly ranked Freshmen next year.
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Thanks, we do have to keep our fingers crossed on Zapata & Sullivan. Although a different article in the NY Post seems to indicate Zapata wants to be close to home over the next few years.
 
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Olsen is smallish, only around 5'9" but he joins Kay as a PG high honorable mention AA.
We now have a 2nd & 3rd team AA. Two high Honorable mentions and 1 Honorable mention.
My guess is we have the makings of a top 25 recruiting class.
 
I am not an expert on baseball recruiting, but it seems we have signed a great class, maybe as highly regarded as any we ever had. i know there was a previous discussion regarding our new assistants and there ability to recruit high caliber players. For the people that know more than I about this, does this recruiting class satisfy your worries about our assistants. Or do you think this is more a reflection of the job Penders has done. I am not trying to flame, just a serious question.
 
ucjoet said:
I am not an expert on baseball recruiting, but it seems we have signed a great class, maybe as highly regarded as any we ever had. i know there was a previous discussion regarding our new assistants and there ability to recruit high caliber players. For the people that know more than I about this, does this recruiting class satisfy your worries about our assistants. Or do you think this is more a reflection of the job Penders has done. I am not trying to flame, just a serious question.
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Right now this is an amazing class! Obviously nothing is official until the players step foot on campus because of the draft and other things but on paper this is a very very good class. I think last year's class may have been a little bit deeper but this one has a few elite players so that makes up for it. I would say this class ends up in the top 40 for sure, but Im not sure if it would be in the top 25 simply due to numbers. There are a decent amount of schools that have to sign 16-22 players per class because half get drafted and don't make it on campus and because of pure numbers that puts them higher in the rankings.
Now the next step is developing the players which is where the coaches have to earn their money!
 
HuskyfanDan said:
did we offer?
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No offer and he committed over a month ago as this was far and away his best offer and it was felt nothing else was going to materialize. I have a feeling he might struggle at Seton Hall due to a serious lack of velocity (79-81 mph this summer) and little room to grow because of what I have heard is a lack of natural ("God given") arm strength. Daiss was the only one on that Shelton team that I think had any sort of interest from UConn at one point or another. One name that you might see pop up is Bobby Moretti, who has been rumored to be transferring to Shelton HS. I however think that there might be some rumors that will get floated around of UConn interest but I would be a little surprised if anything were to come from it.
Also on a side note, I think you will hear of Cam Stone committing to a school like a Northeastern or Hartford at some point if he hasn't already. That seems to be the level that he would fit in well at but I know his name had been mentioned here before.
 
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UConnHusky2012 said:
No offer and he committed over a month ago as this was far and away his best offer and it was felt nothing else was going to materialize. I have a feeling he might struggle at Seton Hall due to a serious lack of velocity (79-81 mph this summer) and little room to grow because of what I have heard is a lack of natural ("God given") arm strength. Daiss was the only one on that Shelton team that I think had any sort of interest from UConn at one point or another. One name that you might see pop up is Bobby Moretti, who has been rumored to be transferring to Shelton HS. I however think that there might be some rumors that will get floated around of UConn interest but I would be a little surprised if anything were to come from it.
Also on a side note, I think you will hear of Cam Stone committing to a school like a Northeastern or Hartford at some point if he hasn't already. That seems to be the level that he would fit in well at but I know his name had been mentioned here before.
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Two names of CT seniors to be that might be capable of playing at UConn, and there's mutual interest are Matt Albanese a pitcher /OF from Xavier, and Matt Baldino a pitcher from Bristol Central. Baldino has had good success during his jr year, He was quoted, in the spring, that he'd like to go down south. That was in the Htfd. Courant.
 
Yonick said:
Two names of CT seniors to be that might be capable of playing at UConn, and there's mutual interest are Matt Albanese a pitcher /OF from Xavier, and Matt Baldino a pitcher from Bristol Central. Baldino has had good success during his jr year, He was quoted, in the spring, that he'd like to go down south. That was in the Htfd. Courant.
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Actually spoke to his dad at a game that Matt was pitching at Muzzy Field. He pitched a no-hitter that night against Maloney. At that time his Dad said that St. John's was recruiting him the hardest. He did say they liked UConn, but at that time Uconn was not recruiting him as hard as other schools. He did not mention what other schools ( besides SJ's) were recruiting him. This was 4 months ago, so I have no idea his current recruiting status. Just figured I would share this info FWIW.
 
New commit! ... Taylor Olmstead , OF, Greenwich HS ... MSG Varsity loves this kid.
 
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Here's a recruit who is already enrolled (2012). His name is Jimmy Kopack a pitcher from Staples in Westport. He had over 60K's in 45 innings, last season, according to the Norwalk Hour.
 
Someone on TOS thought that Joe Zanghi from Foran is committed to play for UConn in 2013. He is a catcher described by the NH Register as argueably the strongest player in the state with a gun for an arm behind the plate. He did throw out 12 runners this past season.
With DeBellis leaving, catcher & 1b are shortcomings. Zanghi sounds like an ideal recruit.
Anybody know if this is true?
 
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