'It's Scary to See What He's Going to Do this Year': J.D. Arteaga Raves About Star Cane
It's no sercert that the Miami Hurricane have one of the best hitters in the country for one final season.
Daniel Cuvet has been already named to many preseason first-team All-American teams for the upcoming 2026 college baseball season leading the underrated Canes team.
Head coach J.D. Arteaga knows that Cuvet is only going to be better and he is excited to see what continues to grow into after his struggles over the past few falls.
"I mean, defense will be continuers to approve every year," Arteaga said during an interview with D1 Baseball. "You know, he gets better and better defensively. Number one, as a hitter, you know, he really did not have great falls as a freshman or sophomore.
"He actually had an awful fall last year as a sophomore. He had a really, really good spring. And just the awareness of what pitches are trying to do and not chasing bad pitches, and again, when we had this conversation in North Carolina, you still, I think, he never dropped a little .330. fighting adversity, but the power numbers were not there, and it was simply because every bat was 0-2,1-2. And it was his fault, right?
"He was getting himself into those accounts by swinging at pithces that weren't unhittable. And he got himself into the counts. Once he started laying off those bitches, he got into favorable counts. That's when the power numbers started showing up, but that shows the qualityivator that is that you can hit, with two strikes. You can still hit for efforts."
These are the key areas that Cuvet had to work on during the season. He was forcing swings and pressing, but once he stopped, he became unstoppable. Now heading into his junior year and as a possible first-round pick in the MLB draft, his head coach knows that things can get scary for everyone facing him.
"And then at the same time, when he does damage and damage counts, that's what makes him special," Arteaga said. "So the more bets he get, the more reps he gets, the more experience he gets, he's coming up better, a better hitter, be more selective. understanding are certain pitches early in the count that he can hit, so he doesn't swing at him. So he's not getting himself out.
"Those are all the things that are part of the hitting development. You could have all the machines, all the technology you want, but at bats are so important in that aspect, you can't replicate that in BP, you can't replicate that anywhere.
"It's being in the situation, in the moment, and understanding, I don't have to hit every place thrown until I have to, until a two or whatever the count might be. So he's getting much better at that, so it's scary to see what he's gonna do this year. I'm excited about him."
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Justice Sandle is a graduate of Mississippi State University earning a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Communications with a concentration in Print and Digital Journalism. During his time in Starkville, he spent a year as an intern working for Mississippi State On SI primarily covering basketball, football, baseball, and soccer while writing, recording, and creating multimedia stories during his tenor. Since graduating, he has assumed the role of lead staff writer for Miami Hurricanes On SI covering football, basketball, baseball, and all things Hurricanes related.