Rookies Bolster Baseball's Talent

Coming off an 18-24 season and fifth-place finish in Ivy League play, the Harvard baseball team will have to rely on a stable of talented freshmen if the group is to qualify for the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship for the first time since 2005.

The Crimson welcomes 12 members of the class of 2019 to the squad, a number of whom will be asked to contribute in various ways as the team looks to improve on last year’s 7-13 finish in Ancient Eight play.

Coach Bill Decker bolstered his core of pitchers during the most recent recruiting cycle, bringing in a couple of arms that he hopes can help get big outs and eat up innings for the Crimson.

Chief among them is hard-throwing Kevin Stone, a graduate of Fairfield College Prep. The three-time All-Southern Connecticut Conference selection was chosen this past week to feature in Harvard’s starting rotation, showing Decker’s confidence in the 6’4”, 210-pound freshman who hails from Stamford, Conn.

“I want to be a mainstay, a household name on the team,” Stone said. “When they think of Harvard baseball… I want people to say, ‘Yea, Kevin Stone is a big part of that team.’ I want to be a team leader.”

Stone was clocked in the high-80s during his high school career and is now throwing between 89 and 92 miles per hour. Relying on a two-seam fastball that runs in on righties, he uses a slider as his out pitch and mixes in changeups to keep hitters honest.

He was also one of the first members of this class to commit.

“I committed verbally the fall of my junior year,” Stone said. “I had done a Harvard winter camp my sophomore year, they watched me in the spring, and then they invited me back for summer camp, and I did really well at the summer camp. My velocity was up, [and] I had good results on the mound.”

Stone credits his Jesuit education for instilling intangibles in him, something he thought the recruiters found invaluable. They seem to have left an impression on his teammates, with fellow freshmen voting him as their representative on the team’s Captain’s Council, which includes two seniors and one member from each class.

This past weekend, Stone made his debut against Towson, completing four-plus innings with three strikeouts in a Crimson defeat.

Joining Stone, likely out of the bullpen to start, is fellow right-handed pitcher Simon Rosenblum-Larson. The Madison, Wis. native, who holds alma mater Madison West’s career records in innings pitched, earned run average, and strikeouts, was a two-year captain for his team and earned All-City honors as well.

A couple of freshmen will also see a significant portion of playing time on the diamond at other positions, notably first baseman Patrick McColl and center fielder Ben Skinner.

With a recent hand injury to projected everyday first baseman Matt Hink, McColl has been given first-team opportunities, and has already featured heavily for the Crimson early in the season. He collected six hits in 14 at-bats to start his career at the recent tournament hosted by Wake Forest. He also drove in four runs during this stretch.

“It’s fun coming in,” McColl said. “It was tough at first getting used to the high level of competition because you don’t see it all the time in high school. But once you get used to it, it’s fun to compete since it’s fun to be at the same level as these guys right away.”

With his 6’6” frame, McColl was brought in to command the infield and swing his powerful left-handed bat, one that produced a .431 average in his senior season at Los Altos High School.

McColl has gotten the opportunity to work with Hink over the course of the fall and winter and looks forward to the chance to continue to do so.

“It’s real nice,” McColl said, “We can kind of go at it but he can teach me things along the way, since I’m a new guy coming in and he’s been there for two years.”

Skinner, also hailing from California, is another one of the highly-touted prospects in the freshman class. Heading into the season, center field was a bit of a question mark, and the rookie seems to have played his way into this slot. During the team’s recent trip to North Carolina, he started all four games.

The speedy righty, Campolindo High’s defensive player of the year, led his team to two North Coast Section Championships in his four years.

Joining Skinner and McColl in the field will be former Harvard-Westlake infielder Chase Aldridge, infielder Trent Bryan, outfielder John MacLean, infielder Edwin Owolo, and outfielder Patrick Robinson.

Rounding out the class of 2019 are catchers Devan Peterson, Jake Allen, and Rey Pascual. With captain DJ Link and junior Josh Ellis the team’s first choice men behind the dish heading into the season, opportunities may be somewhat limited but there are still high expectations for all three going forward.

“We have a great clubhouse atmosphere, a great clubhouse vibe,” Stone said. “Getting even closer to my teammates, to play as a family, playing as a unit, will be key to our success. I want to look back at the end of the season and say, ‘Hey, this is our family, and I can’t wait to get back at it in the fall next year.’”

—Staff writer Manav Khandelwal can be reached at manav.khandelwal@thecrimson.com.