Despite struggles this season, FIU baseball produces two potential MLB draft prospects

Out of the ashes of FIU’s failed 2022 baseball season – which included a 16-34 overall record, 8-22 in Conference USA and the dismissal of coach Mervyl Melendez -- have come a pair of legitimate MLB Draft prospects.

Both of them are 23 years old -- older than most prospects – but there’s undeniable maturity that comes with right-hander Patrick Pridgen and center fielder Alec Sanchez.

Baseball America ranks Pridgen as the draft’s No. 141 prospect, which would place him in the top-five rounds. Sanchez is not among BA’s top-500 prospects, but he is coming off an outstanding individual season and could get selected in the 20-round draft.

Pridgen, who is 6-4 and 220 pounds, is a native of Minnesota who played three years at North Iowa Area Community College before enrolling briefly at the University of Oregon. He never played for the Ducks due to nagging injuries, and he spent one season at FIU.

He went 2-7 with a 4.77 ERA in 14 FIU starts, striking out a team-high 112 batters in just 71.2 innings. However, he allowed 44 walks, hit 14 batters and threw 14 wild pitches – all team highs.

“Early in the season, Patrick was hitting batters with his curve, and we took that pitch away from his arsenal,” FIU pitching coach Willie Collazo said. “The wild pitches had a lot to do with young catchers and a lack of communication, getting crossed up.”

Collazo said Pridgen pitches at 90-to-94 mph, touching 96. Pridgen uses his fastball and slider for strikeouts, and his cutter is employed to get ahead in the count.

In addition, Collazo said Pridgen was perhaps the most prepared pitcher he has ever been around.

“He pitched on Fridays,” Collazo said. “By Sunday, he already had a plan for his next start. He would break down the opponent’s hitters every day. By Thursday, he had written me a detailed scouting report on how he wanted to attack those hitters.

“You rarely see that in college baseball or even in the minors.”

Pridgen’s advanced baseball education started his freshman season. He suffered a left-knee ACL injury in April of 2018 while playing junior-college ball.

He didn’t pitch again until February of 2019, and he used that time to film all his throws and re-invent his game.

“Prior to that, everyone had told me that the way to get hitters out was to keep the ball down,” said Pridgen, who is a few courses shy of a double-major Bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology.

“My metrics showed I could pitch up in the zone.”

Pridgen also worked to simplify his approach.

“When you move up from high school to college, the tendency is to speed up,” he said. “I tried to slow things down.”

Meanwhile, Sanchez, a Jacksonville native who hits from the left side, played 10 games for Florida State in 2019, helping the Seminoles reach the College World Series.

He then transferred to FIU, where he had his 2020 season mostly wiped out due to the pandemic. In 2021, Sanchez said he had the worst year of his career, batting .214 in 32 games.

“I tore my oblique to start the season,” Sanchez said. “I played with that injury for two weeks until it was so painful that I couldn’t get out of bed.”

Sanchez finally exited the lineup for three weeks, resting his injury. But in his first game back, he tore the rotator cuff in his throwing arm.

Fortunately for Sanchez, he started all 50 of FIU’s 2022 games, leading the team in batting average (.274), doubles (10), triples (five), homers (10), OPS (.885), slugging (.528) and runs and RBIs (36 each).

He also went 9-for-12 on steals, had zero errors, nailed two runners with outfield assists and closed in on his sports-management degree.

“I was determined to have a big year,” said Sanchez, listed at 5-11 and 195 pounds. “I knew it was probably my last chance to play pro ball.”

THIS AND THAT

▪ FIU is likely about two weeks away from naming a new baseball coach. Associate head coach Jeff Conine has reportedly not expressed an interest in the job.

▪ Sanchez on what went wrong for FIU in 2022: “We had a talented team with good coaches, but it just didn’t click. The ball didn’t roll our way.”

▪ Pridgen on the day Melendez told FIU’s players he would not return: “We all knew this was potentially coming, but it was still shocking. I had never had a losing season.”