Boston College Athletics
The Baldelli Baseball Odyssey Fires Off Last Chapter
February 26, 2021 | Baseball, #ForBoston Files
Dante Baldelli went yard twice last week as Birdball swept Charleston Southern.
Boston College's season-opening trip to Charleston Southern felt like something out of a dream. The Eagles earned a three-game sweep on the road, and they crushed the Buccaneers with a 34-7 aggregate score. The offense exploded for double-digit run totals in each game, and the pitching's dominance stretched a long enough swath to earn time for almost a dozen different arms.
It was a perfect start to the 2021 season and a long way from the disappointing end to 2020, and it offered the first evaluation of BC's potential ceiling - or lack thereof - in a small sample size. For each player, their own individual calling card formed a team message, even as they got back to work this week before their trip to No. 11 Duke.
"Just working with the coaches the last couple of years has enabled me to become more aggressive in general," said graduate student outfielder Dante Baldelli. "I've been working with all of the coaches, especially (assistant coach John Murphy) on getting my hands back, and it's been a process. It's been going well, and we've been seeing (the improvement) through the fall and over summer ball."
Baldelli's two home runs against Charleston Southern bookended five consecutive scoring frames in Saturday's opener last weekend. In the third inning, his solo shot against RJ Petit, the preseason Big South Pitcher of the Year, marked his first bomb since the sixth inning of an April 20, 2019 game against North Carolina, which found the top of the UNC scoreboard on its way down. In the seventh, his two-run shot off Jordan Bridges closed the 12-run outburst by BC.
He followed it up with two more hits in the second game of the doubleheader. BC already led 6-0 when he scored the first run of the seventh inning, but it started another four-run frame against the Buccaneers that pushed the Eagles back over the 10-run mark. They finished that game with 12 runs in a 12-1 demolition that included 14 hits and four CSU errors.
"I knew (Petit) pounded the zone with fastballs," Baldelli said, "and in those first couple of games, I knew that hitting in the nine hole that I'd probably be seeing more fastballs than most batters. The biggest thing was just getting and being prepared for them as best as I could. On the first one, he had been about 75 percent fastballs (thrown) going into the at-bat, and the second one (off Bridges) was a reliever. At that point, I bet that he was going to charge me with a fastball, so I just stayed ready in case I had to adjust to an offspeed. It was honestly just staying aggressive, though."
In total, Baldelli finished the weekend with four hits, three for extra bases, and a team-high 11 total bases. He slugged a BC-best .846 and ranked highest among players from all three games with a 1.284 OPS.
It happened while he was hitting out of the No. 9 slot in the order. Baldelli's approach turned the nine hole into a spot for a second leadoff hitter and a way for BC to turn the order back over to its top-heavy meat, and it stamped a different kind of role. The charge against BC has always been that the order is capable of motoring through its entirety without a weak spot, and the graduate student in his fifth year all but proved it in one weekend's worth of work.
"I don't try and think of it as much about hitting in the nine hole," Baldelli said. "It's just more about getting ready for those pitches that we're looking for. I'm just trying to get on base as best as I can. Our top of the order has a power and speed, so if we can get three guys on base, it's going to be pretty dangerous when we're able to do it."
It left a lingering imprint on the depth of the BC lineup as it readies for its three-game ACC-opening series at No. 11 Duke this weekend. Baldelli would have graduated under normal circumstances last year and likely entered a professional career after the Major League Baseball entry draft. Instead, the COVID-19 pandemic, the cancellation of the 2020 season and the shortening of the MLB Draft conspired to enable him to finish his career with one more go-around in a Birdball uniform.
"I want to play, and I said that right after we were sent home last year," he said. "From that point, we were just waiting on the call from the NCAA that would make a decision on the fifth-year guys. It happened relatively quickly where we knew we could come back. I was ready to make that decision pretty quickly, and I was excited to do it."
As a result, Baldelli returned to Chestnut Hill to finish his college career on his terms. He arrived at BC after a standout career at Bishop Hendricken in Rhode Island in 2016. The year offered him inexorable links to his high school community after he was drafted in the 39th round by the Philadelphia Phillies; he would either head into a professional career like Hendricken and BC product Mike King or would join fellow Hendricken graduate Gian Martellini on the Birdball roster.
It was part of how the game filled his background. His older brother Rocco left Rhode Island for a career in the Tampa Bay organization, and he ultimately became a Devil Rays legend when he finished third in the American League Rookie of the Year voting in 2003. Various medical issues stunted his career as it was only getting started, but he helped the rechristened Rays clinch the AL pennant in 2008. He shifted into the coach's box after his career ended in 2010 and earned his first managerial position in 2019 with Minnesota, where he won AL Manager of the Year and the first of two consecutive AL Central division titles.
His two other brothers - Nick and Minh - also played college baseball at Trinity and Rhode Island, respectively, and created a passionate baseball background for Dante to grow. It taught him the dedication to the game and helped build a college career with nearly 130 starts entering this weekend. The longevity has him on pace to potentially crack BC's career number before the end of the season, at which point he's hoping a long run to Omaha ends with him ready to start his professional career.
"My family is so supportive," he said. "When I'm home from school, every night, my mom and dad are watching the Twins or, before that, the Rays. It's a cultural thing for our family where we're always watching and paying attention to MLB Network, and we're always paying attention. With Rocco and Nick, they both helped me so much in so many different ways. I can get some insight from Rocco just because he's done it on a day-to-day basis, and he can give me tidbits. Nick's been really influential as well. I know his story is a little bit different from Rocco, but they both are always ready to talk about stuff that's going on and see what the other one thinks."
BC and No. 11 Duke kick off their three game series on Friday with a 3 p.m. game at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The series will continue on Saturday at 3 p.m. with Sunday starting at 1 p.m.Â
Friday's game can be seen on television on the ACC Network with Saturday and Sunday televised as part of the ACC Network Extra package on the ESPN online platform.
It was a perfect start to the 2021 season and a long way from the disappointing end to 2020, and it offered the first evaluation of BC's potential ceiling - or lack thereof - in a small sample size. For each player, their own individual calling card formed a team message, even as they got back to work this week before their trip to No. 11 Duke.
"Just working with the coaches the last couple of years has enabled me to become more aggressive in general," said graduate student outfielder Dante Baldelli. "I've been working with all of the coaches, especially (assistant coach John Murphy) on getting my hands back, and it's been a process. It's been going well, and we've been seeing (the improvement) through the fall and over summer ball."
Baldelli's two home runs against Charleston Southern bookended five consecutive scoring frames in Saturday's opener last weekend. In the third inning, his solo shot against RJ Petit, the preseason Big South Pitcher of the Year, marked his first bomb since the sixth inning of an April 20, 2019 game against North Carolina, which found the top of the UNC scoreboard on its way down. In the seventh, his two-run shot off Jordan Bridges closed the 12-run outburst by BC.
He followed it up with two more hits in the second game of the doubleheader. BC already led 6-0 when he scored the first run of the seventh inning, but it started another four-run frame against the Buccaneers that pushed the Eagles back over the 10-run mark. They finished that game with 12 runs in a 12-1 demolition that included 14 hits and four CSU errors.
"I knew (Petit) pounded the zone with fastballs," Baldelli said, "and in those first couple of games, I knew that hitting in the nine hole that I'd probably be seeing more fastballs than most batters. The biggest thing was just getting and being prepared for them as best as I could. On the first one, he had been about 75 percent fastballs (thrown) going into the at-bat, and the second one (off Bridges) was a reliever. At that point, I bet that he was going to charge me with a fastball, so I just stayed ready in case I had to adjust to an offspeed. It was honestly just staying aggressive, though."
In total, Baldelli finished the weekend with four hits, three for extra bases, and a team-high 11 total bases. He slugged a BC-best .846 and ranked highest among players from all three games with a 1.284 OPS.
It happened while he was hitting out of the No. 9 slot in the order. Baldelli's approach turned the nine hole into a spot for a second leadoff hitter and a way for BC to turn the order back over to its top-heavy meat, and it stamped a different kind of role. The charge against BC has always been that the order is capable of motoring through its entirety without a weak spot, and the graduate student in his fifth year all but proved it in one weekend's worth of work.
"I don't try and think of it as much about hitting in the nine hole," Baldelli said. "It's just more about getting ready for those pitches that we're looking for. I'm just trying to get on base as best as I can. Our top of the order has a power and speed, so if we can get three guys on base, it's going to be pretty dangerous when we're able to do it."
It left a lingering imprint on the depth of the BC lineup as it readies for its three-game ACC-opening series at No. 11 Duke this weekend. Baldelli would have graduated under normal circumstances last year and likely entered a professional career after the Major League Baseball entry draft. Instead, the COVID-19 pandemic, the cancellation of the 2020 season and the shortening of the MLB Draft conspired to enable him to finish his career with one more go-around in a Birdball uniform.
"I want to play, and I said that right after we were sent home last year," he said. "From that point, we were just waiting on the call from the NCAA that would make a decision on the fifth-year guys. It happened relatively quickly where we knew we could come back. I was ready to make that decision pretty quickly, and I was excited to do it."
As a result, Baldelli returned to Chestnut Hill to finish his college career on his terms. He arrived at BC after a standout career at Bishop Hendricken in Rhode Island in 2016. The year offered him inexorable links to his high school community after he was drafted in the 39th round by the Philadelphia Phillies; he would either head into a professional career like Hendricken and BC product Mike King or would join fellow Hendricken graduate Gian Martellini on the Birdball roster.
It was part of how the game filled his background. His older brother Rocco left Rhode Island for a career in the Tampa Bay organization, and he ultimately became a Devil Rays legend when he finished third in the American League Rookie of the Year voting in 2003. Various medical issues stunted his career as it was only getting started, but he helped the rechristened Rays clinch the AL pennant in 2008. He shifted into the coach's box after his career ended in 2010 and earned his first managerial position in 2019 with Minnesota, where he won AL Manager of the Year and the first of two consecutive AL Central division titles.
His two other brothers - Nick and Minh - also played college baseball at Trinity and Rhode Island, respectively, and created a passionate baseball background for Dante to grow. It taught him the dedication to the game and helped build a college career with nearly 130 starts entering this weekend. The longevity has him on pace to potentially crack BC's career number before the end of the season, at which point he's hoping a long run to Omaha ends with him ready to start his professional career.
"My family is so supportive," he said. "When I'm home from school, every night, my mom and dad are watching the Twins or, before that, the Rays. It's a cultural thing for our family where we're always watching and paying attention to MLB Network, and we're always paying attention. With Rocco and Nick, they both helped me so much in so many different ways. I can get some insight from Rocco just because he's done it on a day-to-day basis, and he can give me tidbits. Nick's been really influential as well. I know his story is a little bit different from Rocco, but they both are always ready to talk about stuff that's going on and see what the other one thinks."
BC and No. 11 Duke kick off their three game series on Friday with a 3 p.m. game at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The series will continue on Saturday at 3 p.m. with Sunday starting at 1 p.m.Â
Friday's game can be seen on television on the ACC Network with Saturday and Sunday televised as part of the ACC Network Extra package on the ESPN online platform.
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