Wildcats Sign Five Players to Letters of Intent during Early Signing Period
FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
Villanova, Pa. – Fresh off having the current freshman class ranked among the top 100 recruiting groups in the nation, the Villanova baseball team has announced the signing of five players to National Letters of Intent during the sport’s early signing period. The Wildcats have added four position players and one pitcher for its 2010 recruiting class. All five players are expected to enroll at Villanova for the fall 2009 semester.
“We feel that these five players give us a very good group,” Villanova head coach Joe Godri said. “Coming off of last year’s very large class we felt we had touched on all our needs and going into this year looked to solidify a few offensive items and key defensive positions. I feel that we did that with this class.
Once again the assistant coaches did a great job with recruiting and I tip my hat to them for their efforts during the recruiting year. We hope that this class will be another one that receives national recognition. A lot of the guys in this class posted pretty high scores from various scouting services.
The five signees include right-handed pitcher Kevin MacLachlan (Matawan, N.J.), catcher Niko Gomez (Chicago, Ill.), shortstop/outfielder Daniel Parham (Broken Arrow, Okla.), first baseman/outfielder Chris Picyk (Park Ridge, N.J.) and outfielder Paul Rambaud (Chicago, Ill.).
“The position players we are bringing in are very much along the lines of the guys we have now, that are very athletic and can play multiple positions. As for pitcher Kevin MacLachlan, we fell that he can fit right into our staff along with the several pitchers that were part of the 2009 recruiting class.
We are continuing to build a pipeline to the Chicago area and add two more players from the region. We are excited about that as well as having two players from New Jersey. The states of New Jersey and Illinois seem to be our most popular out of state targets and I am also excited to sign our first-ever player in my tenure from the state of Oklahoma.”
Below, in alphabetical order, is a capsule look at each of the five Villanova signees with a quote from Coach Godri.
Niko Gomez (Catcher, Chicago, Ill. / St. Ignatius Prep)
“Niko is a high school teammate of Paul Rambaud, another member of this year’s class. We are going to look for him to compete for innings behind the plate almost immediately. He is an offensive type player along the lines of Wes Borden, and with Wes graduating after this season Niko is capable of stepping in with very good bat speed. We are excited about his catching skills and think he will be a nice addition to our program.”
Kevin MacLachlan (Right-Handed Pitcher, Matawan, N.J. / St. John Vianney)
“Kevin is a tall right-handed pitcher with velocity that gears towards the mid to upper 80’s. He has very good secondary stuff and we see him as being able to come in and help shore up the bullpen immediately. Kevin can also project as a potential midweek starter but initially will help to solidify the back of the bullpen.”
Daniel Parham (Shortstop/Outfielder, Broken Arrow, Okla. / Jenks)
“Dan is the first player during my tenure as head coach to sign with us from the state of Oklahoma. We have had success in a number of different states all around the nation and we are very excited about the addition of Dan to the team. He is an extremely athletic player who can play all four infield positions as well as the corner outfield spots. From an offensive standpoint we like his bat speed and see him as being able to be a very good hitter in the BIG EAST Conference. He will fit in well to our style of baseball. We see him as being an outfielder initially with the possibility to wind up getting time in the infield.”
Chris Picyk (First Baseman/Outfielder, Park Ridge, N.J. / Don Bosco Prep)
“Chris comes to us from Don Bosco Prep, which was ranked as the top high school team in the country last year. He comes from a very good high school program and we are excited to have him. He can play the corner spots in the infield and outfield and has a lot of power. During the periods I saw him over the summer he hit a number of home runs and when he is ready to take over a position is someone who can hit in the middle of the lineup and add some punch to the batting order.”
Paul Rambaud (Outfielder, Chicago, Ill. / St. Ignatius Prep)
“Paul is a center fielder/right fielder that was a high school teammate of Niko Gomez. He has the body type of a Joe Cotter or Justin Bencsko and runs as well as anybody we have ever recruited. Paul has a plus arm in the outfield and we see him as a guy that can eventually hit towards the top of the lineup and be a stolen base threat. He is another edition of the typical Villanova center fielder in the mold of Kris Molloy, Cotter and Bencsko. He is an excellent defensive player and will be vital to us given the nature of our ballpark. Paul comes from an athletic family and his dad played professional soccer in France.”
