Cutternation Podcast #99 - Pat Casey University of Minnesota Hitting Coach
Patrick Casey put a bow on his seventh season with the Gophers in 2020, after previously serving as the volunteer assistant from 2014 to 2016. Casey has been promoted twice during his tenure, most recently to recruiting coordinator in the summer of 2018. He is the Gophers hitting coach, oversees the development of the catchers and also serves as the lead in recruiting for the program. One of the bright young minds in college baseball, Minnesota has 202 wins since his arrival in 2014 with two Big Ten Championships, a Big Ten Tournament Championship in 2018, two NCAA Regional appearances and the program's first NCAA Super Regional berth in 2018.
Since Casey has donned the Maroon and Gold, Minnesota has turned into an offensive juggernaut which led the Big Ten in hitting, overall and in conference play, for three straight seasons from 2016 to 2018, and again in 2020. His offensive units averaged over 600 hits per/season and averaged over 7 runs per/game in that span while finishing nationally ranked offensively, No. 3 in 2016, No. 17 in 2018.
During the abbreviated 2020 season, Casey coached the Gopher offense into becoming one of the best in the NCAA by season's end. Minnesota's 171 hits in 2020 ranked No. 25 in the NCAA and paced the entire Big Ten Conference. Meanwhile, the lineup exhibited gap-to-gap power, evidenced by a conference-leading 33 doubles that also finished in the top 50 in the nation. Both of the aforementioned numbers translated to 237 total bases, a mark that was also tops in the conference. The Gophers batted .284, which ranked fourth in the Big Ten, with six players concluding the year with batting averages above .300. Eight players finished with double-digit hits in just 18 games, while another three Gophers produced double-digit RBI.
In April of 2020, Casey became officially certified under the IFPA as a Biomechanics of Sports Specialist.
Since 2015, Casey has helped develop some of the finest offensive performers in the Big Ten, helping 14 different players eclipse the .300 mark and notch All-Big Ten honors, including Michael Handel (2015 2nd Team All Big Ten), Matt Fiedler (2016 Big Ten Player of the Year), Toby Hanson (2017 3rd Team All-Big Ten), Micah Coffey (2016, 2017, 2018 2nd Team All-Big Ten), Alex Boxwell (2016, 2018 NCAA All-Regional), Connor Schaefbauer (2016 1st Team All-Big Ten), Dan Motl (2016 2nd Team All-Big Ten), Austin Athmann (2016 1st Team All-Big Ten), Terrin Vavra (2016, 2017, 2018 1st Team All-American), Jordan Kozicky (2017 All-Big Ten Freshman Team), Jordan Smith (2016 NCAA All-Regional), Cole McDevitt (2017 1st Team All-Big Ten), Ben Mezzenga (2018 2nd Team All-Big Ten), and Luke Pettersen (2017, 2018 2nd Team All-Big Ten).
Casey was instrumental in the development of Matt Fiedler, the 2016 Big Ten Player of the Year, and catcher Austin Athmann during the Gophers magical run in 2016. Fiedler was drafted in the ninth round of the 2016 MLB Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals after finishing his career with a .337 average in 130 games with 163 hits, 12 home runs, 32 stolen bases and 72 RBIs. Athmann was selected in the 14th round of the 2016 MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers, finishing his career with a .330 average in 117 games with 124 hits, 12 home runs, 22 doubles and 58 RBIs. In 2018, Casey once again oversaw one of the best seasons put together by a Gopher hitter when Terrin Vavra became the first Gopher position player since Derek McCallum to earn First Team All-American honors after leading the team with a .386 batting average to go along with 10 home runs, four triples and 59 RBIs. Vavra went on to be drafted in the third round, 96th overall, of the 2018 MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies. In the last three seasons alone, Casey has already sent seven hitters onto professional baseball.
