What we're watching for this season
The trends that will define UConn in 2025.
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Trends to watch with the Huskies
Who will be the Sunday guy?
The Huskies have a clear and definitive one-two punch atop their starting rotation with Ian Cooke and Gabe Van Emon projected to handle the majority of the workload on the weekends. Who will take the ball after those two is a different question.
When UConn enters the thick of its season and plays four games weekly, it is going to need more than Cooke and Van Emon to step up. Ben Schild returns in 2025 after an impressive rookie season in 2024 was cut short due to injury. The right-hander is fully healthy and could eat some major innings for UConn.
Lefty Evan Hamberger (2.85 ERA, 96 strikeouts in 107 career innings) can be a prominent weekend or midweek starter if he can handle the jump from JuCo to Division I. Greg Shaw III, Thomas Ellisen and Hector Alejandro could all make a case as potential fourth-starter material if they can carry their summer league success with them into the spring. The Huskies will only go as far as their pitching will take them. Who will round out the rotation in 2025 will be something to keep an eye on as the season unfolds.
Can the Huskies be elite defensively without Paul Tammaro?
Elite defense was a core principle of the Huskies’ success last year. UConn made 46 errors in 61 games, the second fewest of any team in the Big East. With a team-wide .978 fielding percentage, UConn tied Creighton for the highest fielding percentage in the conference while playing more games than any other team. The Huskies routinely made the easy plays and the tough plays — anybody who watched Paul Tammaro play shortstop understands how often this team took away base hits.
However, Tammaro is gone. So are three other starters from last year (Korey Morton, Luke Broadhurst and Jake Studley). Penders will likely shift Tyler Minick, last year’s primary DH, to third base and move Bryan Padilla from second base to shortstop. The Huskies were the gold standard defensively last year, but with new faces all over the diamond, it remains to be seen if they can continue that trend.
Who is going to hit?
One could make the argument that UConn’s three best hitters graduated in Luke Broadhurst (.303/.408/.587), Korey Morton (.333/.382/.547) and Paul Tammaro (.310/.446/.418), with the also-departed Jake Studley (.276/.367/.477) not far behind. The Huskies hit .273/.374/.463 as a team and all three stats were outside the country’s top 100, with batting average and on-base percentage outside the nation’s top half. That’s a lot of production Jim Penders needs to replace on a team that didn’t count hitting as a strength.
The corner infielders, Maddix Dalena (.242/.358/.511) and Tyler Minick (.266/.304/.525) will serve as power threats in the middle of the lineup, while Caleb Shpur (.265/.372/.383) can take a walk, steal a base and serve as a leadoff hitter, but a lineup needs to be longer than that to be successful.
A now-healthy Ryan Daniels (.197/.329/.377) should have a better season at second base, while Sam Biller, a career .259/.378/.429 hitter at Loyola Marymount has impressed in fall practice and Aidan Dougherty, a one-time Oregon State recruit, is back in Division I. Pitching typically leads the way on great UConn teams, but the sticks will need to do some work if the Huskies want to accomplish their goals.
Around the Big East
Xavier has the best chance to have a loud opening weekend, as the Musketeers will open up against No. 7 Oregon State in the College Baseball Classic in Arizona. Indiana and UNLV are also in the field. Seton Hall will join them in the Grand Canyon State, participating in the MLB Desert Invitational with Austin Peay, New Mexico and San Diego State. Villanova is also in the other side of the Puerto Rico Challenge, facing off against Michigan, Rice and No. 4 Virginia in Ponce.
The other four programs in the league are playing a traditional weekend set on the road. Butler will draw Tarleton State for four games, Creighton is facing UNC Greensboro thrice, Georgetown looks to start 3-0 against Presbyterian and St. John’s has three contests against Liberty.
Bracketology
Baseball America
UConn is the 3-seed in No. 5 Virginia’s Charlottesville Regional, joining Alabama and Army. Based on pure bracket integrity, this puts the Huskies as one of the stronger 3-seeds and 37th in the S-Curve. They have the Big East’s automatic bid and are the only school in the league in the field.
No. 10 Duke, No. 12 North Carolina and No. 15 Vanderbilt will each play a single game against the Huskies, as will 3-seed USC and 4-seeds Army, Bryant and LIU. Northeastern is among the next four out, with no traditional weekend foes in the bracket or on the bubble.
D1Baseball
D1Baseball.com had not yet released its field of 64 as of Wednesday evening and it will be discussed in next week’s edition. In 2024, it came out on the Thursday before Opening Day.
The Week Ahead
Friday: vs. Stetson; (Caguas, Puerto Rico); 10 a.m. EST; ESPN+
Saturday: vs. Missouri; (Caguas, Puerto Rico); 4 p.m. EST; ESPN+
Sunday: vs. Penn State; (Caguas, Puerto Rico); 7 p.m. EST; ESPN+
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