Winkel, Casparius set to begin pro careers
Pat Winkel was sitting at his home in Orange on Monday, still unsure of when he’d be selected in the 2021 MLB Draft, when his agent, Bobby Barad, called.
“The Twins are looking for this,” Barad said to Winkel, mentioning the signing bonus they’d be offering. “Does that work?”
“Yeah, I think that works,” Winkel replied. “That probably works.”
“Well,” Barad said, “they’re taking you right now.”
Sure enough, less than a minute later, an official from the Minnesota Twins called Winkel to inform him he was being selected in the ninth round, with the 279th overall pick of the draft.
Just like that, Pat Winkel, the former Gatorade State Player of the Year at Amity High and standout catcher at UConn, was a professional baseball player.
“It’s like a brand-new chapter,” Winkel said. “Like turning the page, basically. Couldn’t be more excited.”
The Twins are one of the more respected organizations in baseball, and for a catcher like Winkel, it’s encouraging to know that Minnesota developed Joe Mauer, one of the game’s best catchers of the last 20 years.
“The fact that he was there his whole career says a lot about the whole organization and the environment that they built,” Winkel noted.
Winkel will leave for the Twins’ spring training complex in Fort Myers, Florida on Monday to start writing that new chapter. He’ll take physicals and sign his contract, which will be for significantly more than his pick value of $150,500. Then, he’ll head straight into a mini-camp, which Winkel doesn’t know how long will last.
For the first time in decades, the MLB Draft was held in mid-July, rather than early-June. Also, minorleague baseball eliminated its short-season clubs, which recent draft picks would typically go to being their careers.
So, it remains to be seen where new draftees spend the rest of the summer. Ben Casparius, Winkel’s UConn batterymate, may not play at all until the fall or later. The former Staples High star has pitched about 140 innings pitched over the past year, between college-league ball last summer with the New Britain Bees and his first and only season at UConn this spring.
Casparius, also a former Gatorade Player of the Year, was selected in the fifth round by the Dodgers.
“I’m really excited it was them,” he said. “I know they had a lot of interest in me leading up to the season. They’re one of the few teams I met with at the combine. Obviously, the defending champs, as well, so, there’s a lot of talent in the organization. I know guys, especially pitchers, progress really quickly through their farm system. So, I’m excited about it.”
Casparius was slated to head out to the Dodgers’ spring training facilities in Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona on Sunday morning. He will undergo a physical, sign his contract (pick value is $318,200) and participate in a mini-camp beginning next weekend.
“It’s gonna be nice to be around the guys again,” he said, “and just get the ball rolling, honestly. It’ll be pretty cool.”
Casparius went 8-5 with a 4.03 ERA and was among the nation’s leaders in strikeouts with 127 in 912⁄3 innings for the Huskies this spring.
Winkel, in his first year back after undergoing Tommy John surgery, hit .284 with 11 homers and 42 RBI for UConn. Solid numbers, no doubt, but he was perhaps a bit affected by coming back from surgery. Winkel disagrees, but also believes there is much better baseball in his future.
“Once I get into the organization, being able to take what I learned from UConn and continue to build that over the course of my pro career,” he said, “it can only go up from there.”
Among other local draftees, New Haven’s Andrew Marrero left for Jupiter, Florida on Friday to begin his career with the St. Louis Cardinals’ organization, which picked him in the 18th round on Tuesday.
“It came down to basically knowing I could move up a lot quicker than I thought,” Marrero said. “The organization is a really great organization, and I know that it has a lot of great pitchers and players. I know that they’re going to give me the opportunity I need.”
Yale’s Rohan Handa, who made a meteoric rise up the draft rankings and wound up being taken in the fifth round by the San Francisco Giants, is ready to begin his career down in Scottsdale, Arizona.
“Honestly, I couldn’t be happier,” Handa said by phone on Thursday. “It was a perfect situation where they have a great development program, I also have a great friend in Simon Whiteman (the Trumbull native and former Yale infielder who’s now with the Richmond Flying Squirrels, the Giants’ Double-A affiliate) … I just couldn’t be happier.”
The Royals announced on Saturday that they have signed Frank Mozzicato, the East Catholic High lefty who was the highest local player drafted, taken No. 7 overall. Mozzicato had been committed to attend UConn.