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Minucci still high on Division II College World Series experience

By Staff | Jun 27, 2012

Jon Minucci felt like he was in baseball heaven.

He was competing in the NCAA Division II College World Series a month ago and the atmosphere was unlike anything he had ever experienced.

“It was awesome,” he said. “The experience was tremendous. Going down there, and being part of a whole group of teams that were the best in the country – amazing.”

The event was held at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. It was the icing on the cake for Minucci, the Nashua Silver Knights starting right fielder this summer, and the rest of his Southern New Hampshire University teammates. The Penmen had an incredible 43-15 year, and Minucci and his nine homers were a big part of that.

“It was probably the best field I’ve ever played on,” Minucci said. “Besides Holman of course.”

Minucci had such a great spring, showing plenty of tools with his 6-foot-3, 220-pound frame, that many thought he could have an outside chance at being a low-round draft pick in the June amateur draft. It didn’t happen, but Minucci’s talents are valued enough by the Knights that they’ve made him the regular cleanup hitter this summer. That should give him even more exposure.

Where did the power come from?

“I just keep working hard, basically,” said Minucci, who hails from Madison, Conn. “My freshman year, I wasn’t very polished.”

But Minucci changed all that. Last summer he hit .238 with just two homers for the Knights but did drive in 22 runs. This past spring, he took things to a new level, hitting .295 with 47 RBIs.

“I hit the ball pretty well to the opposite field,” he said, explaining his rise in numbers. “I just kept swinging at good pitches, looking for the fastball.”

Unfortunately this summer, he’s not seeing many fastballs, or good pitches. That can be a struggle for a power guy, and Minucci through 13 games was hitting .255 with two homers and nine RBIs. He’d walked seven times, but has almost as many strikeouts (12) as he does hits (13).

“He’s been chasing some bad pitches,” Silver Knights manager B.J. Neverett said. “He knows it, we talked about it the other day. But he’s not seeing anything good to hit, either. It’s just a matter of timing. He’s a solid athlete, a really good player. He’s as solid a guy as we have.”

But oh, that World Series experience will carry him a long way.

“It just doesn’t get any better than that,” Neverett said. “He’s the same guy he was all last year.”

Yet the spring Minucci had is really responsible for opposing pitchers approaching him more carefully.

“Look, we played North Shore for the first time the other night,” Neverett said. “They had never seen him yet the first few pitches to him were all curveballs. I couldn’t believe it, but that’s how fast word gets around. They know.”

Minucci knows he’s in the midst of a great baseball experience, taking the CWS feeling with him everywhere he goes.

“I just want to thank all my seniors for working hard over the past four years to get there,” he said. “They didn’t have a good year their freshman year. We’ve worked hard, we all worked hard, the coaching staff and everybody. It was nice to get to the World Series. We didn’t get a win, but it was still great.”

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