Hurricanes have rotation set for opening series against Gators
The Miami Hurricanes baseball team has its weekend rotation set as UM’s season-opening series at the top-ranked Florida Gators begins on Friday.
Miami coach Gino DiMare announced junior Daniel Federman will be the Hurricanes’ starter on Fridays, with two freshmen following him up: Alejandro Rosario on Saturdays and Victor Mederos on Sundays. All three are right-handed pitchers.
“I was fired up,” Federman, an Archbishop McCarthy grad, said of getting the opening day start in a 3 p.m. first pitch in Gainesville on Friday. “It’s been a goal of mine ever since I committed to Miami. I remember going into my freshman year, had a goal sheet and I wrote on a paper years ago that I wanted to be a team captain and I wanted to be a Friday night starter. I’m glad I’m getting the opportunity, and I’m grateful for it.”
Federman, who starred as a starter at McCarthy and had spot starts as a freshman in 2018, will go back to that role after serving as the team’s closer in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and setup man out of the bullpen in 2019.
“He’s obviously a veteran guy who’s been kind of a jack-of-all trades for us,” DiMare said. “I think he feels much more comfortable as a starter and, of course, has always wanted to start but has done whatever we’ve asked of him.”
Rosario and Mederos will be the first UM freshmen to earn opening weekend starts since Bryan Radziewski in 2011.
“The first thing that jumps at you is that they’re very physically talented,” Miami pitching coach J.D. Arteaga said. “Both guys are mid-to-upper 90s [mph with their fastball]. They throw strikes, which for young pitchers, they’re a little bit ahead of their time there. They’re efficient.”
The freshmen don’t shy away from the opportunity, getting thrown right into the fire against a potent Gators lineup for their introduction to the college game.
“I’ve been in a lot of pressure situations,” said Rosario, a Miami Christian graduate. “I’ve faced against a lot of good teams. I’m a competitor. I don’t care who’s on the mound or who’s in the batter’s box or what team it is, I just go out there and compete.”
Rosario and Mederos, who hails from Miami Westminster Christian, are two of the top players the Hurricanes signed from a standout recruiting class.
“They’re elite talent,” said Norberto Lopez, UM assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. “Them standing out is not that hard to see. They’ve always been the best players in the nation, those two guys. The thing where we got lucky, is that they wanted to be ‘Canes. Since they were little, they wanted to be ‘Canes. … They came to our ballpark to see games, and we were very blessed to see talent like that in our area that really wanted to be here.”
What stood out to DiMare with both is their power arm and how they pound the strike zone. He also highlighted Mederos’ breaking ball.
Outside of the top three starting pitchers, DiMare is not yet stressing over finding a fourth starter. The Hurricanes don’t play a midweek game until March 9 against Florida Atlantic, so candidates
for the midweek starter role will be available out of the bullpen for series against Florida, Virginia Tech and North Carolina State.
DiMare said the closer role is coming down to left-handed freshman Carson Palmquist and righthanded grad student Ben Wanger, although Arteaga seemed to indicate Palmquist had the upper hand to finish off games.
The Hurricanes, in a poll of ACC coaches, are projected to win the ACC Coastal Division. After bringing in Baseball America’s No. 1 recruiting class, their preseason rankings range from No. 6 by Collegiate Baseball to No. 7 by Perfect Game, No. 10 by the NCBWA, No. 11 by Baseball America, No. 15 by the USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 21 by D1 Baseball. The roster has 20 newcomers and 15 returning players from 2020, including much of a loaded lineup that returns catcher Adrian Del Castillo, first baseman Alex Toral and third baseman Raymond Gil, among others.
While DiMare did not have official word on fan attendance at UM baseball home games after the opening series at UF, athletic director Blake James said the school is “in the process of finalizing” a setup that allows 20 percent capacity at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.