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My vote is weekend starter!
Men UConn Summer Baseball 2022
- Thread starter Tmill15
- Start date
I have always liked the idea of getting young talented pitchers into the starting rotation as soon as possible. That way you may have them in the starting rotation for at least a couple of years. However, with the number of transfers coming into the program (and others as well), this idea that Coach Penders practiced in the past may be changing. Very possible that transfers could end up filling the weekend starting rotation spots, but we'll see what happens.
As for Brady Afthim, I'm not sure when the last time he was used as a starter, but given Chris Jones mentioning the possibility during game broadcasts last season, it certainly could happen. For an indication that this might happen, we'll have to see if Afthim is used as a starter when fall ball starts up at UConn in September.
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The four returning arms most likely to start are Cooke, who will start, and then Coe, Sullivan and Afthim. Given that this year we didn't have regular weekday starters -- we just threw whomever we felt like it based on how much they had pitched the prior weekend -- whichever one isn't a weekend starter may again be a reliever/sport starter. The role Cooke had this year.
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Why does everyone forget about Braden Quinn?
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Didn’t forget about him. He did not have the year, or seem to have the staff’s confidence, in the way that the other four I named did. He will be a big piece of next year’s staff. But I’d be surprised to see him as a weekend starter
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2022 RHP Commit (it’s Abbadessa):
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Summer League seeing a few make major improvements: Morton- had to have reps with a wooden bat and has hit 8 HR’s 15 walks* SO are way down and he is more patient at the plate. He’s batting 314 and RBI’s are extremely high.
*Huber- is having a smashing Summer and getting his reps at the plate with the wooden bat.
NECBL- has done well with the Huskies.
*Huber- is having a smashing Summer and getting his reps at the plate with the wooden bat.
NECBL- has done well with the Huskies.
Just checked Korey Morton's stats with the Danbury Westerners of the NECBL, as the walk total mentioned above was a lot higher from the last time I had looked them up. Morton ended the regular season with Danbury hitting .300, and with 8 walks in 90 at bats, and 7 home runs. His walk total could be better in my mind, but it does show improvement over both his spring stint at UConn and his stint at Norwich of the Future's League last summer. Whatever the case, Morton certainly had a fine summer, with an on base percentage of .369 and a slugging percentage of .567. Curiously enough, with his speed he only stole 3 bases.
Braden Quinn had a solid summer with the Danbury Westerners, appearing in 7 games, throwing 29 innings and having an ERA of 2.48. He also had 36 strikeouts, and gave up 16 walks. Quinn did not give up a run in his last 15.1 innings. Also interesting to note that Quinn was used as a starter in four of his appearances with Danbury this summer. Always interested in seeing which pitchers are used in a starting role over the summer, as it could come into play during fall ball at UConn. I'm inclined that a young pitcher doing well as a starter in summer ball would mean he might get a look as a starter next season with UConn.
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Morton- 21 RBI’s looking forward to his starting role at UCONN with Hubbard and Padilla we have a good base Team.
Hubbard? I'm thinking you mean Huber. Simmons is going to be a big part of the base as well, to me with all the walks he gets he would be a good candidate to be the leadoff hitter.
Tom Ellisen was a redshirt freshman RHP for UConn last season. Even though he redshirted, Chris Jones said more than once during game broadcasts that the coaching staff was rather high on him and his talent. Ellisen is playing this summer for the Madison Mallards of the Northwoods League, from what I understand a rather well regarded league in the midwest (Ellisen is from Wisconsin, so in that way it is a good fit). The Northwoods League regular summer season has almost 2 weeks left to play before their playoffs start. Ellisen has gotten a goodly amount of pitching time this summer with Madison. Ellisen has appeared in 16 games, thrown 31.2 innings, and started at least 2 games. So far this summer he has a 3.69 ERA with 43 strikeouts and 17 walks. Quite a few UConn pitchers in summer ball this year have interesting strikeout totals.
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A bunch of UConn's freshmen and redshirt freshmen pitchers from the team this spring either had noteworthy freshmen seasons with UConn this spring, or have been doing fine playing summer ball. I'm inclined to think it is quite possible that about six of these players could form the core of the UConn pitching staff next spring. That would include Cooke, Sullivan, Afthim, Quinn, Pascarella, and Ellisen (of course, the last two still have to throw their first pitch for UConn in a spring game). We'll have to see what the various freshmen and transfer pitchers can add to the UConn mound staff in addition to this basic core. Of course, we shouldn't forget about returning upper classmen Justin Willis, Devin Kirby, and Garrett Coe and what they have already shown what they can do on the pitching mound for the Huskies.
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Love the K to walk totals for Ellisen. That translates into opportunities with the staff. Plus we have guys who come out of no where (Padilla) last year who can become key contributors when many of us would have never seen it coming. Maybe Ellisen is that guy this year…
Ellisen is not alone in terms of the K to walk and innings pitched totals this summer. It seems a goodly number of UConn returning pitchers and incoming transfers have interesting strikeout totals compared to innings pitched this summer.
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Brady Afthim continues his terrific summer. Including this playoff game and an appearance in the NECBL All Star Game, he has now appeared in 13 games and thrown 31.2 innings. Afthim now has an ERA of 0.57 with 54(!) strikeouts and 12 walks, plus 16 hits given up. Here is hoping this is something of a preview with how he does when he returns to UConn in the fall.
With summer league seasons starting to end, some players are moving up to the Cape League to act as reinforcements for their playoff run. Always an interesting time to see what players with UConn connections move on to the Cape. With the Danbury Westerners NECBL season now over, Braden Quinn has joined the Harwich Mariners of the Cape League. Will Quinn pick up a starting appearance in the next couple of weeks?
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Not sure how much it has changed but when I played in the NECBL 10+ years ago, Danbury's infield was pretty much sand. I hated playing there. It was so slow and hard to get a good push off. And if it was wet, it was sticky mud. Not sure if that contributed to his low SB total or maybe it just wasnt a team philosophy focus.
Don't know about the Danbury infield. As for Korey Morton, of course he has great speed. He did steel 9 bases during the spring season at UConn. I recall interviews with the UConn coaching staff or perhaps it was commentary by Chris Jones during game broadcasts that suggested that Morton still needed to improve certain aspects of his game, including his timing in steeling bases to take more advantage of that speed and his athleticism.
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Talk about timing, my post and the UConn baseball tweet about Tom Ellisen. One additional thing about the UConn baseball tweet on Tom Ellisen. It seems to me that it is pretty rare thing when UConn baseball tweets during the summer ball season include a comment about a specific player having a bright future with the HookC, especially a player who was redshirted the previous season. I don't recall too many comments like that, but it kind of shows you the confidence the UConn coaching staff apparently has in Tom Ellisen and his mound potential.