With six returning starters and eight returning lettermen from last season, Brooklyn enters the 2025 season loaded with potential.
The Hurricanes finished last season 6-12 overall and 1-7 in the Chagrin Valley Conference Metro Division.
“Our strength this season will be our experience playing varsity baseball,” said Brooklyn coach Kevin Sedlacek. “We know the speed and strategies of the game and it will help us to improve from last season.”
Brooklyn will lean on senior pitcher/shortstop Aiden Starr in many ways.
Last spring, Starr was named second-team all-district and first-team all-conference after batting .520 with six doubles, three triples, and a .954 fielding percentage.
“Aiden is playing his best baseball,” Sedlacek said. “He is confident and talented, making solid contact with pitches and rarely swings and misses. On the character front, he is taking on the team leadership role with no reservations. He is mentoring and making everyone better players. He is an overall winner. With Starr’s leadership and an experienced team, we hope to have an exciting 2025 season.”
Senior catcher Jadyn DeLuca returns behind the dish after throwing out 14 baserunners last season.
“Jadyn has a good arm and really slows the baserunners when he is behind the plate,” Sedlacek said.
Sophomore second baseman Gio Garst earned second-team All-CVC honors last season after batting .295 with a .927 fielding percentage.
“We are hoping that a year of maturity and knowledge can make Gio one of the top players in our division,” Sedlacek said. “He is one of the hardest workers on this team. He loves to play. He is the definition of a ‘dirtbag.’”
Junior Zander Rolon returns at first base, a position he’ll share with freshman Mason Vega, and senior Collin Flanagan is back at third base.
“Mason played varsity quarterback in football and played many minutes on varsity basketball,” Sedlacek said. “Mason is a strong kid but needs some fine-tuning work. With some time, he should be a strong contributor to this team.”
The Hurricanes have yet to settle on a projected starting outfield.
Starr, Garst, and Flanagan will chew up a lot of innings on the mound and the Hurricanes will look to develop several more arms to help the team compete.
“Our pitching and defense will be sound,” Sedlacek said. “Our concerns will be with the hitting. If we can get production from the bottom of our lineup we should have a better 2025 season.”
Hitting likely will determine just how much success the Hurricanes can have this spring.
“Our biggest question will be hitting, especially hitting when we have runners on base by the lower half of our lineup,” Sedlacek said. “If our returners can make improvements or if our younger guys can step up, we should have a solid season. We also have questions about our pitching. We don’t have fireball throwers. We are a pitch-to-contact team. If we throw strikes our defense should be able to make outs.”
