University of Connecticut Athletics
Freshman standouts make immediate impact with Hook C
4/29/2020 10:59:00 AM | Baseball
by Danny Barletta
When it comes to college sports, it's usually the upperclassmen who are the most important players. They are more mature, more experienced and they've had more time to improve their skills. But that doesn't mean that freshmen can't come in right away and make an impact.
The UConn baseball team had three players who did just that in its shortened season this year: first baseman Reggie Crawford and pitchers Andrew Marrero and Pat Gallagher.
"It's like they can kind of skip a rung on the ladder," head coach Jim Penders said about his freshman standouts. "I think after the first few appearances, first few games that those guys were out there, they quickly became sophomores, and that's the best compliment a coach can give you."
Crawford probably made the biggest impact by emerging as one of the top hitters on the team. He secured the starting first baseman job going into the season and quickly became the team's cleanup hitter, something that Penders said is nearly unheard of for a freshman.
"Just to crack the lineup as a freshman is a major accomplishment," Penders said. "He did it for opening day, which is an even bigger accomplishment nowadays. The conference in which we did play, you just don't see freshmen in the everyday lineup. It's very odd."
Crawford is from Frackville, Pennsylvania, and he was drafted directly out of high school by the Kansas City Royals, but he decided to come to UConn because he didn't feel he was quite ready for the leap to pro ball. But he came to UConn with the expectation of helping the team right away.
"I felt as if I had the skill set to [start], and it just came down to me putting a lot of work in outside of practices and stuff," Crawford said. "I came in with confidence."
Crawford exceeded even his own expectations, though, batting .365 through the team's 13 games. He was second on the team with 19 hits, including seven doubles and a home run, and he led the team with 16 RBIs.
Penders said that Crawford has a very advanced approach at the plate and is also one of the hardest workers on the team. He expects big things from Crawford as he becomes a leader on the team in his future seasons.
"I think the biggest thing that he could potentially bring us is a real dynamism, not just to our lineup or to our pitching staff, but his personality is very intriguing," Penders said. "He's a very dynamic personality. He's got a magnetism that guys like George Springer have … I'm really looking forward to having him become a leader of our team and of our program. He's got that ability and that potential … If he stays on this track, he could be one of the best players in the country."
Marrero and Gallagher also made a big impact as freshmen, but their impact came on the mound. Marrero, a Connecticut native from New Haven, made four appearances and didn't allow a single earned run in 4.2 innings of work.
"I think he established that he was going to be an immediate impact pitcher for us and be able to get really big outs later in the ball games," pitching coach Josh MacDonald said about Marrero. "He certainly showed that he wasn't afraid of any bright lights at all. He was excellent."
Marrero was thrown right into the fire during his first collegiate game against Cal Poly, and he delivered with a solid inning in which he allowed just one hit and an unearned run.
"I remember the rush of going into the bullpen and knowing that this was actually gonna be my first appearance in college baseball," Marrero said. "Once I went out there, I was still a little nervous. I got the butterflies out of my stomach and then actually tried to just focus on playing my game that I know how to play and just do my thing."
Marrero continued to do his thing in all his appearances, and MacDonald believes he will be a big piece of the Huskies' bullpen moving forward.
For Gallagher, he was coming off an injury in the fall that resulted in an abbreviated offseason, but once he got going, he was pretty special.
"He has really high poise for a kid his age," MacDonald said about Gallagher. "You don't see a lot of college kids that carry themselves the way he does on the mound. Very calm, cool and collected. When he gets into a groove, it's like he rattles off outs in bunches."
Gallagher, another Northeast guy from Leominster, Massachusetts, also made four appearances, but he was more of a long reliever and ended up throwing nine innings, in which he had a 4.00 ERA and struck out 15 batters.
He also made his debut in the game against Cal Poly, but it didn't go as smooth. He let up three hits and two runs in the inning he threw, but he said he used that experience to get better throughout the season.
"I tried to look at the things that I didn't do very well, and I think once someone can do that — look at your own mistakes, accept them and move on from that — that can really lift a great pressure off your shoulders as a player," Gallagher said. "I was able to build off those things. I still make mistakes, but I definitely try to limit myself from making the same mistake twice. And I think I showed that, especially in my last outing against Presbyterian."
In that outing, Gallagher threw three shutout innings in which he allowed just two hits and struck out seven. MacDonald said he should be competing for a spot in the weekend rotation next season.
Due to the contributions Marrero and Gallagher made as freshmen, MacDonald has higher expectations for them now because he knows they will be the foundation of future pitching staffs.
"When you see that they can make an immediate impact pretty much from day one, you start to realize that not only are these guys gonna be able to help you go forward, these guys are what you're gonna be building off of going forward," MacDonald said. "These are guys that you build teams around … [Next year] and the year after, the staff is gonna be built around Pat Gallagher and Andrew Marrero and so forth."
So while it's unusual to have so many freshman impact players, UConn had that luxury this season and as a result, should be in a good place moving forward.
