Hurricanes freshman Daniel Cuvet shows off power in first college series
Hurricanes freshman Daniel Cuvet had some Opening Night jitters when he took the field against New Jersey Institute of Technology on Friday night.
The young third baseman, who was slotted in Miami’s cleanup spot, was making his first college start, and his mind was racing.
“The first night my mind was going at least a million miles per hour,” Cuvet told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “I was thinking about everything possible.”
But the freshman infielder quickly settled down and went 2 for 4 in his first college game, notching a single that cued Miami’s game-winning, ninth-inning rally. Cuvet went on a tear in the series’ next two games.
“After how comfortable I felt in the box and how comfortable I felt in the field, I just felt comfortable playing and knowing that this is what I do every single day,” Cuvet said. “This is what I’m good at. Once I came to that realization and settled down, I knew the next day was going to be a good day.”
After the Hurricanes’ season-opening, three-game sweep of NJIT, Cuvet leads Miami with a .692 batting average (nine hits in 13 at-bats), a 1.308 slugging percentage and a .733 on-base percentage. He is one of three Hurricanes with a pair of home runs — including a 460-foot moon shot — and is second on the team with seven RBIs.
“It was a lot of fun,” Cuvet said. “I had a great time being out there and things just came together. A lot of work that was put in before coming in here and it kind of started to show. I think it’s just the beginning of what’s going to show. It was awesome. I had so much fun.”
Cuvet drew rave reviews from coaches and teammates before the season began. First-year coach J.D. Arteaga said Cuvet had as much power as any freshman he has seen. Starter Gage Ziehl said Cuvet had “some of the most pop I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“I think the first thing that you notice out of Daniel is the power,” Miami assistant coach Darren Fenster said. “He has the potential to really hit any pitch out of the ballpark to all fields, which is a very difficult thing to do. But with that said, we have to remember that this is still a kid. He’s still a freshman that is going to make freshman mistakes. I think he has the aptitude where he’s going to be able to learn from those mistakes, and his development since last August has been pretty impressive.”
Cuvet, who started his high school career at St. Thomas Aquinas and earned Sun Sentinel All-County honors as a sophomore before moving on to the Elite Squad Baseball Academy, was a 17th-round draft pick in last year’s MLB draft, but he chose to honor his UM commitment instead.
MLB Pipeline said Cuvet’s “raw power” was his top tool, and the Hurricanes got their first look at that with his two home runs over the weekend. They appear to be the first of many in a Miami uniform.
“That was awesome,” Cuvet said. “I’ve had those feelings a couple times, so just in a different stage now, which was nice. It’s a bigger stage and a better stage to do it, so doing it here was pretty cool.”
