Which Huskies are going to make the leap?

Who will see a jump in production in 2025?

Welcome to our 2025 UConn baseball preview. This is our 10th season covering the Huskies on a day-to-day basis and the third with this newsletter. We’ll have plenty of content all week leading up to opening day!

For the UConn baseball team, making a run to the Big East championship is predicated on a few things. Pitching? Offense and defense? Baserunning? The answer to all is yes, but every year, it seems that the teams that have the most success are the teams that unlock the most X-factor-type players throughout their rosters.

Players who might have played in a handful of games, hit their weight and stole a few bases. Pitchers who maybe came out of the bullpen and mopped up a blowout. Every year, as rosters turnover and more opportunities for playtime become available, these players step into elevated roles and produce at a higher rate as a result.

Obviously, we won’t know who those players will be until the season gets underway, but we can take a stab at who might emerge and how their contributions might stack up from one year to the next. UConn is set to take on Stetson, Missouri and Penn State in its first series of the year, traveling internationally to compete in the Puerto Rico Challenge starting Feb. 14 and moving through the weekend. Until the first pitch is thrown around 10 a.m. that Friday, the best we can do is guess what their opening nine might look like.

Among those nine, we’ll do our best to predict who is poised to take the metaphorical ‘jump’ and leap into an larger role with the team. We’ll take our best crack at it here, taking a deep dive into four of players that could potentially make a good Husky team great in 2025.

Tyler Minick (Infield/Designated hitter, Sophomore)

Minick’s freshman season in Storrs was certainly a memorable one. He played in 42 games, starting 35, predonimantely as a designated hitter. Fifteen of his 37 hits on the year went for extra bases, with a breakdown of seven doubles, nine home runs and one triple. His 28 RBIs ranked sixth on the team and his year-end slash line read .266/.304/.525.

The numbers themselves are eye catching on their own, but where Minick shined brightest – arguably earning his stripes and raising the argument that he should be a daily fixture in the lineup – was in the postseason. In the opening game of the Big East Tournament, a 3-2 loss to Xavier, Minick recorded two hits and drove in both the team’s runs. The next game, an 11-inning loss to eventual conference runner-up Georgetown, Minick again had two hits, including a grand slam that accounted for four of the team’s five runs scored. His efforts lead to him being named to the Big East All-Tournament Team. He was the only freshman named and UConn’s sole representative.

Minick has proved he can handle the bat as a true freshman and will likely have a full-time spot in the lineup in his sophomore season, whether it’s at third base or designated hitter. This will provide him the at-bats to make an even bigger impact in 2025 than he did in 2024.

Ryan Daniels (Infield, Junior)

Daniels is ready to return to form after playing effectively in a platoon his freshman year, but had his 2024 cut short after 20 games due to a hip injury. With Paul Tammaro and Luke Broadhurst departed, the second base spot is his for the taking in a more full-time role.

Through 42 games in his freshman season, his slash line read .273/.402/.409 with an .811 OPS. He struck out 28 times, walked 21 times and stole 16 bases on 17 attempts. In 2024, his batting average dipped a bit prior to his injury (.197) but his .329 on-base percentage and .377 slugging percentage still showed an ability to create runs. He cut his strikeout-to-walk differential to just to three (11 walks to 14 strikouts) and his five stolen bases ranked fourth on the team all year.

Now healthy, Daniels has a chance to use his keen eye and speed to be a more important player than he was as an underclassman.

Ben Schild (Right-handed pitcher, Sophomore)

Schild got off to a hot start in 2024 before an injury knocked his season off track. He made just eight appearances all season, but shined in his short time on the hill. He struck out 19 batters across 21 innings with a .227 batting average against, though he control could have used some work, walking 15. He started the year out of the bullpen and made his first appearance against Louisville on Opening Day. In 2 2/3 innings, he struck out three en route to a scoreless appearance. He was handed the ball for his first start about a month later, going as far as to carry a no-hitter into the sixth inning. In the end, he fanned nine hitters over six scoreless frames.

It is the start to a college career of which most freshman pitchers dream, but he was bit by the injury bug before he could improve on his weaknesses. While there were upsides to Schild’s early appearances, he was still a bit underdeveloped. His ERA inflated to 4.17 and his WHIP above 1.500, demonstrating a difficulty to keep hitters off the basepaths and strand runners on base.

Now that he’s healthy, Schild has a chance to re-establish himself as a key arm in the bullpen, or as a midweek starter.

Charlie West (Left-handed pitcher, Sophomore)

West only pitched in seven games in 2024, all of which came out of the bullpen and mostly to match up against left-handed hitters. Aside from a scoreless, two-strikeout inning in early April against Bryant, not much else went right for West last year. He registered 3 2/3 innings, facing 21 total hitters. He walked five, hit one and surrendered five hits for four earned runs. He finished the season with an ERA of 9.82.

The Long Island native showed some potential pitching for the Danbury Westerners in the New England College Baseball League in the summer. He made nine appearances, including one start, striking out 26 hitters over 21 innings pitched. West did walk 18 hitters, but allowed only 11 earned runs for an ERA of 4.71.

The numbers from the summer compared to the spring fare well for West, who comes into his sophomore season with more experience facing college-aged players under his belt. Given left-handed pitchers are almost always in demand, mixed with the fact that his confidence could be restored heading into 2025, West could play a big part for the Huskies’ bullpen this upcoming season.