Prep Baseball Report

Price Happy To Make D-I Commitment Near Home


Bruce Hefflinger
PBR New England Senior Writer

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Price Happy To Make D-I Commitment Near Home

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Trent Price

Class of 2021 / RHP

Player Information

  • Graduating Class: 2021
  • Primary Position: RHP
    Secondary Position: RHP
  • High School: The Taft School
    State: CT
  • Summer Team: Baseball U CT
  • Height: 6-2
    Weight: 175lbs
  • Bat/Throw: R/R

Statistics

Pitching
83
Max FB
(08/26/20)
81 - 83
FB
(08/26/20)
77 - 78
CH
(08/26/20)
70 - 72
SL
(08/26/20)

Price Happy To Make D-I Commitment Near Home

OXFORD, Ct. - Trent Price had a good understanding when it came to his recruitment.

“You have to have a lot of patience throughout the process,” Price explained. “As a kid you want it instantly. In our society you want instant gratification. That made it hard when I had to wait so long.”

It was three years ago that Sacred Heart first talked with the 31st-rated 2021 right-handed-pitcher in New England.

“They saw me pitch and they kept in contact with me,” pointed out Price, now a senior at Taft School. “Two months ago they offered.”

But the 18-year-old did not jump at it right away immediately. After all, why not be positive after waiting so long?

“I sat on it,” Price noted. “I had the offer, I just wanted to see if any others reached out before I made the decision.”

Holy Cross had shown interest in Price earlier in the recruiting process while Division III schools Ithaca College and Catholic University were also intrigued by the 112th-ranked New England senior.

“I’d taken a visit a year ago before the virus, so I knew what it looked like,” Price said of Sacred Heart. “The campus is pretty and I like that they have a good PA (Physician’s Assistant) program. The baseball kids also text me and that makes me feel at home which is nice.”

There is also a matter of the university in Fairfield being just 25 minutes away from Price’s home in Oxford.

“I wanted to stay close to home,” Price related. “I wanted to stay close to my parents. All my family lives in Connecticut and I want my mom and dad to be able to come watch my games.”

That was enough for Price to make a commitment to the college where his mother is an alum.

Fittingly, it was family that introduced Price to the game of baseball.

“My grandfather aspired me to put in the work,” Price said of Charles Kintzel, who passed away two years ago. “He started me on baseball. He took me out in the backyard to play on the first tee I ever hit on.”

Now 6-2 and 175 pounds, Price only recently considered taking his love for the game he first learned from his mother’s dad another step.

“I’ve known since freshman year I wanted to play college baseball, I just didn’t know what level I could play,” Price said. “I just knew I had to put the work in if I was going to be able to do it.”

Summer coach Pat Vigilio was influential in making it happen.

“I used to play football and baseball, but he had a talk with me and got me to the point of focusing mainly on baseball,” Price noted.

Improvement followed for Price, who at the New England Unsigned Senior Games II in late August drew compliments from PBR Connecticut Director of Scouting Trevor Brown.

“He’s a lanky right-hander with deception and feel for pitching,” Brown related after the invitational event.

Price points to one area of his game that has made strides.

“My control this year has improved,” Price said. “I’m able to spot my curve and change better. Now I’m working on getting more break on my change.”

Sacred Heart believes there is a bright future for Price, whose out pitch is a slider.

“They like my projectability,” Price noted. “They think my velocity will come and that I can be effective my freshman year and get some innings in.”

A 3.8 student looking to major in biology as an undergraduate, Price sees a lot he can provide a program that has won three Northeast Conference tournament titles in the past decade..

“I’m a bulldog on the mound,” Price said. “I have a different mentality, a different mindset than most kids.”

Making a commitment admittedly brought solace to Price.

“It was super stressful,” Price said of the recruiting process. “I could see all the kids around me committing and to finally get a D-I offer was a big relief. The burden was off my shoulders and I’m happy where I’m at. There’s still a lot of work to put in, but the stress is over.”

Now Price is going to play baseball at the Division I level

“I really don’t look at it as a D-I commit,” Price pointed out. “For me it’s fulfilling an opportunity to play college baseball. There are D-III teams that can beat D-I teams so it doesn’t matter there. But, one of my goals was to go D-I and I’m happy to make it happen near my home town.”