UConn Baseball 2015 | The Boneyard

UConn Baseball 2015

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So players from last year who played in games no longer on team:
Colletti - P
Mahoney - P
Niego - P
Sullivan - 3B

Can anyone take a stab at starters? My projections:
C- McDowell
3B - Daniello
SS - Hill
2B - Siena
1B - Melley
CF - Sundberg
RF - Davey
LF - Yavarone
DH - Darras/Testani

Pitching Staff: Starters
Tabakman
Cross
Kay
Zapata

Anybody have any clues on new guys who could crack the starting lineup? Olmstead?
 
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Much better depth with all the Calif. transfers. Tabakman could be relegated to weekday pitching if Zapata lives up to his pre-UConn hype.
 
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It would be a major surprise to me if Tabakman and Cross are not in the weekend starting rotation. From the Chris Jones preview article, Penders at this point is favoring Kay over Zapata for the third weekend starting spot. I would prefer Zapata over Kay for the third starting spot at this point, simply for the reason that Kay has shown he can be extremely effective in relief, and would make a dynamic lefty-righty tandem with Ruotolo in closing out games in relief, while Zapata showed great promise as a starter last season. If either Kay or Zapata end up in relief, making them both available to pitch the weekend conference games, then I would expect Nepiarsky and Callahan Brown to be the frontrunners for being middle of the week starters.
 
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Anybody have any clues on new guys who could crack the starting lineup? Olmstead?

At the beginning of last season I listened to an interview with Jim Penders where he talked about Olmstead. He said that when Olmstead was batting he had a lot of trouble making contact, but it was a beautiful sound when he did make contact, with lots of pop in his bat.

Taylor Olmstead played summer baseball with the Torrington Titans, so I checked his hitting stats. He hit .217 in 161 at bats, with only 9 walks. He did make some use of his speed, having 5 triples and 11 stolen bases. But the stat that jumps out at me was that he struck out 60 times, which is well over a third of his official at bats. It's hard to be a successful offensive player when you strike out that much. Until his strike out totals come down some, I doubt Olmstead will be a regular in the starting lineup.
 
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Can anyone take a stab at starters? My projections:
C- McDowell
3B - Daniello
SS - Hill
2B - Siena
1B - Melley
CF - Sundberg
RF - Davey
LF - Yavarone
DH - Darras/Testani

It's more a stab in the dark, but I'll give a comment or two. Hill will be the Shortstop at the beginning of the season, it is basically his job until he losses it. Hill played very well in summer ball at Mystic, so that is encouraging. If his bat returns to form, Siena will be at 2B, otherwise one of the newcomers could get a look if Siena continues to struggle with his hitting. The biggest question to me is who ends up at LF and DH. I really think those two spots could be wide open, especially given the new found depth and California transfers that Yonick mentioned.
 
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Looking forward to this season, going to see if I can attend some games as well.
 
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It's good to see that the roster is up, it was a long time coming. It would be even nicer if it told us which way the hitters batted, lefty or righty, like most baseball rosters do.
 

mets1090

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It's good to see that the roster is up, it was a long time coming. It would be even nicer if it told us which way the hitters batted, lefty or righty, like most baseball rosters do.
Let's just count ourselves as lucky that they posted the roster before opening day.

On a more serious note, at least they list Pitchers as LHP or RHP.
 
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I came across this Westerly Sun article from last October about Connor Buckley and Troy Stefanski, two of the newcomers to the UConn baseball roster. Here’s an excerpt:

Connor Buckley, a 2012 Stonington graduate and UConn Avery Point player, and Troy Stefanski, a 2014 Wheeler grad, just finished playing fall baseball for UConn. Huskies coach Jim Penders said both walk-on players are candidates to make UConn’s final 35-man spring roster.

“We make it very difficult for walk-ons to stick around as we put everyone threw a variety of demanding skill and fitness tests,” Penders said. “Connor and Troy held their own and in some cases opened our eyes.”

Penders, head coach at UConn since 2004, was aware of Buckley at Stonington when the former Bears shortstop-pitcher, who batted .328 and was an All-ECC Medium pick as a senior, attended UConn baseball camps. Penders said he didn’t think Buckley was a Division I prospect in high school. But he had second thoughts after watching him the last two seasons at UConn Avery Point.

Buckley battled through injuries as a sophomore last spring to hit .292, playing third base and second base for the Pointers.

“Connor was a little hurt last spring, so we gave him the entire five-week fall season to show us something,” Penders said. “Avery Point has been an awesome and reliable source of players for us, so we gave him a long look. I don’t want to say I was pleasantly surprised, but Connor can be a nice addition. He’s a big, strong kid who did a nice job producing with a steady bat. He still has a lot of developing to do, but he could back up at third base and second base.”

Stefanski was even more of a long shot to stick around with the Huskies, coming from Class S Wheeler High and without any junior college experience like Buckley’s. An outfielder, Stefanski batted .441 and .452, respectively, as a junior and senior at Wheeler. He elevated his profile by batting .490 this summer while earning Zone MVP honors while playing with Ledyard-Pawcatuck American Legion.

“Troy has the knack of putting his bat on the ball, and he’s a quick runner,” Penders said. “He also plays with a bit of a chip on his shoulder, which I like.”

Penders said Stefanski is battling a numbers game in his quest to make the Huskies’ spring roster.

“Troy is one of those players in limbo now,” Penders said. “We can only keep 35 so decisions have to be made of who sticks and who doesn’t. But if Troy continues to do what he’s been doing the last five weeks, he’ll make our decision very difficult.”

http://www.thewesterlysun.com/sport...-revive-areas-baseball-pipeline-to-uconn.html

UConn's baseball roster currently lists 37 players, so it seems that two more players will have to be cut.
 

mets1090

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For this year? Or is it a recruit for next year?
It makes it sound like it's for this year but I don't see how that makes sense. You can't pick up a Juco transfer mid season can you? My logical guess would be a transfer. If someone were to transfer mid season, I'm guessing they could be eligible next year.
 
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Does make it sound like this year, but like you said not sure how that is possible?
 

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Absolutely awesome move. Kudos to Penders and the team.
 
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