At practice the last few days, I got a chance to see and even meet a few of the new Illinois baseball players.
Matt Milroy will certainly be in Illinois’ plans for next year. A right-handed pitcher rumored to have a devastating fastball, Milroy was recruited from Marmion Academy High School in Aurora, Illinois. He made news earlier this year when he was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 35th round (Milroy obviously decided to stick with college ball).
Illinois is giving him a workout in practice. Of course, it’s so early to tell now but my guess is he’ll have a major role to play in ‘10.
These two gentleman graciously consented to have their photo taken on Tuesday. On the left is Kevin Johnson and on the right, Brian de la Torriente.
Johnson is a freshman coming to us from Mt Carmel HS in Midlothian, IL. He’s a righthander who towers at 6’3’”. Kevin was listed as having one the best off-speed pitches in the state.
Torriente, is a transfer from University of Northern Iowa. He originally hails from Illinois, though… St Charles, to be specific. Like Johnson he’s a righthanded pitcher. In addition to going 5-2 with a 1.90 ERA at St Charles North, de la Torriente hit .420 as a thirdbaseman.
Welcome to the U of I, guys!