All three will be filling new roles for the Hurricanes, who are looking to improve on last year’s 27-30 record, and head coach J.D. Arteaga is eager to see how each responds to the challenges they now face.
“Nick Robert had a really nice year for us last year. I’ve always said he was kind of pitching out of position. He’s more of a starter, as far as his repertoire … We put him in a situation where it wasn’t probably the best situation for him to succeed, but he dealt with it with a great attitude and he [gave] us a great effort and did a good job,” Arteaga said. “But he’s more fitted to be a starter, and he’s got the most experience. … Griffin’s coming into a new league [after] he had some success at Cincinnati … And then Brian has never been stretched out past four innings. … His stuff’s there and the name Walters, you probably feel like he’s been around forever, but most of those innings were by [his brother] Andrew, not Brian.
“They all have their own obstacles to go with, but that’s just what we felt was the best rotation to go with in the beginning.”
Offensively, the Hurricanes will be led by one of the top young hitters in the country, sophomore slugger Daniel Cuvet, who last season, put together a record-breaking performance during his first year of college baseball.
Cuvet, who hails from Fort Lauderdale, hit a pair of home runs during the Hurricanes’ season-opening series against NJIT last year and never looked back.
He finished the season with 24 home runs, a new Miami freshman record, and led Division I freshmen nationwide with 75 RBI.
He earned Freshman All-American recognition from Perfect Game, D1Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and has already garnered his fair share of preseason recognition, with those same three organizations all naming him to their preseason All-America teams.
He’s also earned a spot on the watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, which each year recognizes the nation’s top player.
The sophomore expects opposing pitchers are going to do their best to limit his impact at the plate, but he’s confident he can rise to the challenge and continue being the dominant force the Hurricanes need him to be.
“I think it’s about handling the situations that come my way and understanding how the game’s going to change for me this year. People are going to game plan for me more and I have to figure out what other people are trying to do, so I…
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