UConn Fall Ball/Alumni Game

[BaseballDog]

From the Alumni game:


Starting Lineup
#51 Bushling (2B)
#6 Hague (SS)
#34 P. Winkel (C)
#3 K. Fedko (LF)
#11 C. Winkel (CF)
#9 Gozzo (DH)
#22 Maycock (RF)
#21 Crawford (1B)
#19 Lucas (3B)

Also appeared in the game:
#27 Petersen
#49 Donahue
#2 Brodnansky
#13 Nucerino
#32 Brown
#1 Griggs

Pitchers (Innings Pitched)
#31 Wang (1-2)
#15 Johnson (3)
#54 Favieri (4)
#52 Krauth (5)
#46 Marrero (6)
#45 Haus (7)
#21 Crawford (8)
#34 Polonia (9)

 

[dbmill]

From the Alumni game:


Starting Lineup
#51 Bushling (2B)
#6 Hague (SS)
#34 P. Winkel (C)
#3 K. Fedko (LF)
#9 Gozzo (DH)
#22 Maycock (RF)
#21 Crawford (1B)
#19 Lucas (3B)

Also appeared in the game:
#27 Petersen
#49 Donahue
#2 Brodnansky
#13 Nucerino
#32 Brown
#1 Griggs

Pitchers (Innings Pitched)
#31 Wang (1-2)
#15 Johnson (3)
#54 Favieri (4)
#52 Krauth (5)
#46 Marrero (6)
#45 Haus (7)
#21 Crawford (8)
#34 Polonia (9)

Chris Winkel was also in the starting lineup, playing CF and hitting 5th.

 

[BaseballDog]

Hard to draw anything major from the game but here are some notes:

-Reggie Crawford looks the part of a ball player, good frame, throws from the mound with ease. Looks like a solid two way player based on the eye test. Should be a fun player to watch the next three years.
-Chris Winkel will reportedly move to being an everyday CF per Penders.
-Wang looks ready to take a step forward this year.
-Krauth looked the part of a solid JUCO California arm who can be leaned on early.
-Marrero works very fast on the mound .
-Alumni did not have any hits until the seventh.
-Griggs had a nice triple to right center late in the game.
-Petersen had a nice range to his right and throw from SS. Athletic play for a very tall kid.
-Johnson seemed to struggle with command hitting two and walking one in the third to load the bases, but got out of the jam.

 

[dbmill]

Penders and his coaching staff have always shown a tendency of wanting to get young talented players playing time. So it is with Reggie Crawford. As the lineups were being announced at the beginning of the game, I started thinking this is what it takes (the freshman Reggie Crawford) to get Penders to move Chris Winkel off of 1B and take his athleticism to the outfield. Have to figure things will stay this way as long as Crawford shows off some of his hitting ability.

By the way, I have heard that Chris Winkel took the summer off to work on his swing in much the same way that John Toppa did in the summer of 2018. Hopefully it will lead to less strikeouts and more contact. I would think he would need to be a more consistent hitter to keep the job in CF.

I had to leave after three innings, but I did get to see Karl Johnson load up the bases with no out, and then get out of it. If the guy ever gets a semblance of control over his pitches, he could be something, but that has been said before rather often.

I have this odd idea in my head based on pretty much no evidence that the weekend starting pitchers at the start of the spring season will come from the following four players: Simeone, Wang, Dunlop, and Krauth. I had heard that Krauth was a Kersten type pitcher, so that to me would fall in line with @BaseballDog's above comments.

Aside from Crawford, the freshman position player I'm most interested in seeing what they can do is Petersen.

 

[dantheman]

A. Marrero looked like he had the arm, secondary pitch and command to be a heavy contributor as a freshman pitcher.

R. Crawford is as physically imposing a UConn freshman as I can remember in recent years. I was very surprised by how fluid he was making plays at first base and was tight on the fundamentals- not something you should usually expect from a young two-way guy. On the mound, the arm is there as he was 94 from the left side. Control will be the issue and something that might end up tweaking his delivery. Similar to Okajima for the sox, he does not consistently pick up homeplate until after the ball is on the batter.

As mentioned above, the freshman Newtown SS Petersen is very interesting. At first glance 6’6, tall and lanky, not a guy youd typically line up at short stop. He quickly set the record straight making a play deeeeep in the hole followed by a hop throw across his body from basically the third baseline in left field. (Yes, probably wouldve been beaten out by an active college player, but still a great demonstration of his talent nonetheless)

Last notable from my perspective at the alumni game was Jimmy Wang. He started, and while he hasnt pitched summer ball its clear he was working out. Not a guy by any means that you looked at last year and would peg as out of shape, but he was noticeably leaner and more muscular last weekend. Also seems to have worked on maintaining consistent arm slot and speed from his fastball to off speed offerings that plagued him at times last yr.

 

[dbmill]

A. Marrero looked like he had the arm, secondary pitch and command to be a heavy contributor as a freshman pitcher.

R. Crawford is as physically imposing a UConn freshman as I can remember in recent years. I was very surprised by how fluid he was making plays at first base and was tight on the fundamentals- not something you should usually expect from a young two-way guy. On the mound, the arm is there as he was 94 from the left side. Control will be the issue and something that might end up tweaking his delivery. Similar to Okajima for the sox, he does not consistently pick up homeplate until after the ball is on the batter.

As mentioned above, the freshman Newtown SS Petersen is very interesting. At first glance 6’6, tall and lanky, not a guy youd typically line up at short stop. He quickly set the record straight making a play deeeeep in the hole followed by a hop throw across his body from basically the third baseline in left field. (Yes, probably wouldve been beaten out by an active college player, but still a great demonstration of his talent nonetheless)

Last notable from my perspective at the alumni game was Jimmy Wang. He started, and while he hasnt pitched summer ball its clear he was working out. Not a guy by any means that you looked at last year and would peg as out of shape, but he was noticeably leaner and more muscular last weekend. Also seems to have worked on maintaining consistent arm slot and speed from his fastball to off speed offerings that plagued him at times last yr.

Once Marrero got settled in, he did very well in summer ball in Bristol. Coe and Gallagher also had very good summers pitching in the Futures League.

As for Jimmy Wang, I think it is important to remember that except for the very brief time he spent with UConn baseball during the Fall of 2017, he hadn't done much in the way of baseball related activities since high school before rejoining UConn baseball during the 2018
fall ball season. Before last fall, Jimmy Wang pretty much dabbled in pitching on occasion. Wang has now been engaged in baseball related activities and training for almost a solid year now, no doubt under the watchful eyes and guidance of the UConn baseball coaching staff. The difference between last season and the current fall ball season is perhaps showing up in the observations of @dantheman.

 

[huskymedic]

First 7:44 on UConn Baseball

 

[BaseballDog]

First 7:44 on UConn Baseball

Decent sound bite, nice to see more interest in the program. However they really butchered "North Schuylkill".

 

[huskymedic]

Decent sound bite, nice to see more interest in the program. However they really butchered "North Schuylkill".

Yeah, as someone who spent many an afternoon muthering it for a few years... I got a laugh out of that.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

9-0

 

[huskymedic]

This has a calming effect tonight...

 

[huskymedic]

This has a calming effect tonight...

Going back and listening again today... two more “out of character” shout-outs for Marrero and Crawford by Penders.

 

[dbmill]

Going back and listening again today... two more “out of character” shout-outs for Marrero and Crawford by Penders.

Redshirt freshman Kevin Ferrer got a nice mention as well.

 

[dbmill]

Decent sound bite, nice to see more interest in the program. However they really butchered "North Schuylkill".

Yeah, as someone who spent many an afternoon muthering it for a few years... I got a laugh out of that.

We spent the last several days visiting my Dad who has lived in the Philly area since 1982, so we are rather familiar with funky Philly area words like Schuykill. Got to love the Dutch influence. Still, I consider it a plus that we haven't had to deal much with driving on roads called the Schuykill. Have done it a few times, but once is more than enough.

 

[dbmill]

This has a calming effect tonight...

Jones and Penders already sound like they are in midseason form with the interviews, including having to deal with the wind. However, despite the wind it was good that you could hear what they were saying.

 

[dbmill]

http://dailycampus.com/stories/2019/9/30/baseball-huskies-sweep-fall-ball-double-headernbsp

 

[dbmill]

No news or tweets on yesterday's game against Academie Baseball Canada. Oh well. I suppose Chris Jones might be traveling with the women's soccer team on their road trip this weekend.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[BaseballDog]

No news or tweets on yesterday's game against Academie Baseball Canada. Oh well. I suppose Chris Jones might be traveling with the women's soccer team on their road trip this weekend.

Starting Lineup:
#51 Bushling SS
#6 Hague 2B
#3 K. Fedko LF
#43 P. Winkel DH
#9 Gozzo C
#21 Crawford 3B
#11 C. Winkel CF
#1 Griggs 3B
#22 Maycock RF

Pitchers:
#44 Nielsen
#16 Cohen
#38 Coe
#21 Crawford
#46 Marrero

Also appeared:
Lucas
Petersen
Ferrer
Nucerino
Chiovitti
Brodnansky
Bonvicini
Brown
Bagdasarian
Donahue

Final Score was 12-3 (however one of the innings ended after UConn batted around putting up 6 Runs with only one out recorded)

Marrero looked good for a freshman again. Crawford was hit around on the mound. Petersen had some more nice range plays at short.