Men UConn Baseball 2024
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BSB BIG EAST Favorites, Studley & Quigley Preseason Award Winners - University of Connecticut Athletics
NEW YORK - The UConn baseball team has been selected as the BIG EAST favorites entering the 2024 season as announced by the BIG EAST Conference on Tuesday morning.
<2024 Preseason Baseball All-BIG EAST Team and Awards
Preseason Player of the Year
Jake Studley, OF, UConn
Preseason Pitcher of the Year
Stephen Quigley, SP, UConn>
Garrett Coe also named to the Preseason All-Big East Team
BSB BIG EAST Favorites, Studley & Quigley Preseason Award Winners - University of Connecticut Athletics
NEW YORK - The UConn baseball team has been selected as the BIG EAST favorites entering the 2024 season as announced by the BIG EAST Conference on Tuesday morning.uconnhuskies.com
<2024 Preseason Baseball All-BIG EAST Team and Awards
Preseason Player of the Year
Jake Studley, OF, UConn
Preseason Pitcher of the Year
Stephen Quigley, SP, UConn>
Garrett Coe also named to the Preseason All-Big East Team
Garrett Coe has certainly come a long way since he arrived at UConn. He is now viewed as one of the best pitchers in the Big East. He was named as a starting pitcher on the Preseason All-Big East Team. It will be interesting to see what role he fills on the UConn pitching staff, either as a starter or getting a lot of innings coming out of the bullpen.
This should light a fire under players like Morton, Cookie, Tammarro, and Broadhurst. Morton finished up strong last year (All-tourney Gainseville regional) so I like the fact expectations are low and he can build off of that. Cookie had injuries but, if healthy, can outperform. Tamarro hit ~.390 with a limited sample size so that's a show-me story but I think he has it in him to have an all-league-type year. Viera from Seton Hall got the SS nod based off .319/5/46 (.963 fielding) and was first team last year. Good bogey for Tammarro to shoot for and he has it in him. Broadhurst had a big year going but struggled at the end of the season which happens due to facing better pitching in tournies. He'll learn from that. Once we get past New Year's it's downhill until the start of the season. And to dbmill's point, Coe is a great story who came to Uconn as a walk-on, earned the scholarship, and then captaincy. Good stuff.
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Since Oregon State is going Indy in baseball, what are the chances we schedule a series for 2025?
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I will start by saying, it is not a given that they are going Indy. They still have 30 days to decide to go to WCC. There is also talk of them potentially getting an affiliate deal with some other conference such as the big 12.
Regardless to address your question if this increases chances that Oregon State is on the schedule in 2025. I would say very remote. Most schools have a general framework of who they are planning on playing in the non-conference a year+ in advance. Being in the big east UConn plays the first seven weekends of the year in non-conference and the back seven weekends in noon conference play. For a series between UConn and Oregon St to work it would need to be one of three things to happen: a neutral site series somewhere down south (most likely), a 3 game series in mid to late March with a large guarantee to whoever is making the cross country trip, or a home and home.
However if Oregon State goes independent they will need all the help filing in the back half of their schedule. They will need to rely on scheduling weekends series with teams that are on a bye week from conference play. The big east does not have any bye weeks in the middle of conference play.
Just saw the Abbadessa news from earlier this month. This was a guy who was ready to break out in '24. This stinks but is sadly commonplace in today's game.
@dbmill - what is the roster situation for '24 in terms of how many guys still need to be dropped? And that needs to happen by when? Haven't seen much roster movement other than Welch is gone. Abbadessa would be redshirted I assume. Thanks
@dbmill - what is the roster situation for '24 in terms of how many guys still need to be dropped? And that needs to happen by when? Haven't seen much roster movement other than Welch is gone. Abbadessa would be redshirted I assume. Thanks
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The roster limit for the 2024 spring season is 40 players. Currently with Welch now gone from the roster there are 44 players listed on the roster, so 4 players need to be removed from the playing roster.
From what we have heard from postings on these threads, both Abbadessa and Galusha have injuries that may keep them out for the season. So one would guess that they would not be on the 40 man playing roster this spring. However, if they are getting baseball scholarship money, I believe they have to be included on the 40 man spring roster, so we will see what happens with that.
In addition to the official 40 man spring playing roster, UConn baseball usually includes on the their online roster a few players who are redshirting for the year but who are not officially part of the playing roster. In the past I have referred to these players as being part of a taxi squad. While they are not on the official 40 man roster, UConn baseball still considers them as being part of the team. This would include players who are injured and not on a baseball scholarship at UConn. We'll see if this includes Abbadessa and Galusha this coming season.
Some random thoughts as we are ~6 weeks out from opening day:
1) If Malcom embraces his role he can be a key player on the roster. Why? a) Provides quality pinch-hitting off the bench from the right side, b) Provides quality catching depth when wanting to rest Garbo or facing tough LHP (against teams who don't run a lot) and c) Provides quality DH if facing tough LHP, and want to rest Dalena and put Luke at 1B
2) Van Emon can also be a key guy on this roster by providing quality mid-week starting pitching. I saw him once and wasn't blown away but that's not a real sample size and I'm not a pitching expert. His resume at the D3 level was impressive. Would be nice to have him develop into that high-quality during the week starter to face BC, KSU, etc.
3) Offensively although I think 1-9 is not as strong as last year (lost Smitty, Ben, and Dom) the depth is better with more flexibility. See Malcom above, for example. Also, Shpur, Kron/TC (whoever doesn't start), Brini, etc. bring unique stuff to the table (e.g. speed) and can provide quality bench depth.
4) To add on to #3 above I'd like to see a guy like Minick get a shot to be a spot starter at 3B in Feb/early Mar. If Bry is starting at 3B you kind of know what you're getting offensively there so let's see if you have something with the young guys. And I like Minick think the ceiling is high so try to get him some playing time.
5) If starting pitching can stay healthy they'll surprise to the upside. Not hard to improve on last year but I think it has a shot to be servicable and an asset.
6) My travel plan is to catch the opening 3 games in Tampa as well as the 3 versus UCSB and the midweek game versus UCLA. Undecided on seeing UC Irvine as it's on ESPN+ and my schedule gets in the way.
Happy New Year
1) If Malcom embraces his role he can be a key player on the roster. Why? a) Provides quality pinch-hitting off the bench from the right side, b) Provides quality catching depth when wanting to rest Garbo or facing tough LHP (against teams who don't run a lot) and c) Provides quality DH if facing tough LHP, and want to rest Dalena and put Luke at 1B
2) Van Emon can also be a key guy on this roster by providing quality mid-week starting pitching. I saw him once and wasn't blown away but that's not a real sample size and I'm not a pitching expert. His resume at the D3 level was impressive. Would be nice to have him develop into that high-quality during the week starter to face BC, KSU, etc.
3) Offensively although I think 1-9 is not as strong as last year (lost Smitty, Ben, and Dom) the depth is better with more flexibility. See Malcom above, for example. Also, Shpur, Kron/TC (whoever doesn't start), Brini, etc. bring unique stuff to the table (e.g. speed) and can provide quality bench depth.
4) To add on to #3 above I'd like to see a guy like Minick get a shot to be a spot starter at 3B in Feb/early Mar. If Bry is starting at 3B you kind of know what you're getting offensively there so let's see if you have something with the young guys. And I like Minick think the ceiling is high so try to get him some playing time.
5) If starting pitching can stay healthy they'll surprise to the upside. Not hard to improve on last year but I think it has a shot to be servicable and an asset.
6) My travel plan is to catch the opening 3 games in Tampa as well as the 3 versus UCSB and the midweek game versus UCLA. Undecided on seeing UC Irvine as it's on ESPN+ and my schedule gets in the way.
Happy New Year
I have the same feeling regarding the starting pitching. It seems to me that Quigley, Cooke, and Coe are likely to provide a solid foundation for the starting pitching if they stay on the healthy side. I also think that it is also possible that a rising pitcher could supplant one of them. To me it would be nice if one of the weekend starting pitchers had another year of eligibility.
Yes, the pitching staff in February will most likely look different from what it will be in May. It seems as though they have a nice funnel of good young arms (quantity is better than last year). The issue is going to be whether can they construct a rotation and bullpen that can consistently get guys out at the D1 level. We'll see.
Last season UConn baseball had no returning weekend starting pitchers from the previous season, I'm sure that did not help the situation. The starters last season would show flashes of solid pitching, but we're not consistent about it. Hopefully this season the starting pitchers will be more consistently good in their starts with another year of experience under their belt.
hardcorehusky
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I am hoping for a big step up from Sullivan to return to the rotation and Brady Afthim on the back end.
We will see what happens. I also expect Brady Afthim to be the leading candidate for being the closer out of the bullpen. Also thinking that Braden Quinn after his terrific summer ball season with Danbury could challenge for a starting pitcher spot, as well as Gabe Von Emon, among others. It is always interesting to see how the pitching staff sorts itself out each season.
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6 lefties is nice to have. 5 with experience plus Sullivan, Carrea, Maher, Ellison, Alejandro who can all be real tough on righties before getting to Afthim should allow the coaches to mix and match and eventually ride the hot hands come May. Staff is definitely deeper this year assuming a freshman or two will also find their way in the mix. Offensively Delana needs to have a good year 280's 12+HR's 50 to 60 RBI's. Having 3 lefties in the lineup for balance would be ideal.
Yup, I noted before that UConn baseball has 4 new lefty pitchers currently on the roster, 3 of them being grad transfers. Anyway, definitely looks like the pitching staff appears to be deeper this coming season.
It would certainly help for Dalena to have a big offensive year. Have to figure that if Dalena struggles at the plate this coming season, we could end up seeing Broadhurst getting time at 1B. Still, I'm expecting Dalena will get a chance to prove himself.
I put Sullivan in the same bucket as Ellisen. They both need a step up in velocity and/or late movement to be effective at the D1 level. SQuigs has shown the velocity piece this fall. He is throwing noticeably harder than last spring and the gun confirms it. Has ace/Friday night starter stuff now. Very eager to see what he does this year. To be fair I didn't see Sullivan or Ellisen in the fall. It's disheartening when you get 2 strikes on guys and can't put them away. And that's where both of those guys were last year. If they can make that incremental step change the pitching staff starts to get very interesting and the depth will be top-shelf.
I'm very excited to see the pitching this year. Last year I had cautious optimism.
hardcorehusky
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I would prefer late movement to mph. If a ball is straight, 3 mph won't make a difference. Changing plane will make it harder to square up.
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I’m really hoping we see Cooke working out of the bullpen by May…i think on paper there are more options available to insert a wknd starter rather then a 3rd year guy who’s had some success in the bullpen. There’s some limited experience guys w high ceilings in place, but that’s all. Cooke, if he bought in, could take a hold of the pen. Just an opinion