Sam Malec - Minnesota

 

PBR: Why did you choose the school you did? 

Malec: I chose the University of Minnesota because they gave me a pretty good offer but also because I have been a fan of the gophers my whole life and it is cool to become one. Also, it is only a 30–45-minute drive to get to campus from my home so it's nice to be close to my family and friends.

PBR: What other schools were you considering?

Malec:  I had offers from a few jucos out of Iowa and a few d2s from Midwest area and then for D1 schools I had offers from Central Michigan, NDSU, Indiana State, University of Illinois Chicago and more... I also had been talking with a bunch of people, but things never got to the "offer" stage.

PBR: Where did the coaching staff first see you? How did your relationship develop with him?

Malec:  I can't remember when exactly, but I went to a recruitment camp maybe early march or February at Minnesota and that's where they technically saw me first, but I think the first time they saw me, and we actually interested was when i had a tournament in Milwaukee during the summer.

PBR: Do you feel relieved now that the process is over and you can just focus on baseball and not deal with everything that goes into picking a school?

Malec: YES... 1000000% although it is such a great opportunity and everything, I did not like having to keep track of everyone and trying and having to sound happy on the phone. Also, they would ask literally the same questions as they were reading them from the NCAA recruitment handbook which just got boring after a bit.

PBR: Was there one deciding factor that put your choice over the top?

Malec:  Yeah, the fact that is it is my hometowns college and that I have been a fan my whole life really helps. It was enough for me to turn down some really good offers that some people made to me.

PBR: Who has helped you the most to get to where you are today?

Malec:  I really cannot choose. All my coaches obviously... I could go on and on about how lucky I have been with my high school coaches as-well as my club coaches. I have also been blessed to have some pretty awesome teammates. On my high school team, I have been playing with those guys for years and years and When I made varsity as a sophomore, I was really lucky that all of the juniors and seniors were really good leaders, and all took me under their wing. 

PBR: What were your expectations about the recruiting process? Was it easy/difficult?

Malec:  I kind of expected the process to be difficult but it really was not in my opinion. It was just nerve racking to meet a bunch of new people every day and doing zoom meetings and I did not enjoy that part much but after that it was not that bad. I just played baseball as best I could and if people liked what they saw they would contact me, and we would go from there.

PBR: What plans does the coaching staff have in store for you in your freshman season?

Malec:  The #1 plan for me is to gain weight. I hit 93.5 mph while weighing around 165lbs so if I could gain 20-30lbs then my velocity could go way up

PBR: What is your most memorable baseball moment to date?

Malec:  It is a super long story, but my favorite memory was my last fall ball tournament with my club team. We were in Kansas City and it was a really fun tournament. It is really hard to explain so I’ll just leave it at that. In person I can talk about it for a long time because it was not just the games it was the team and the entire experience.

PBR: Who is the best player that you have competed against?

Malec:  I don't know his name, but I remember in a tournament with my fall team we were in Iowa I believe, and I was pitching. We were facing a good team. I think they were one of the national Canes team or one of the higher up ones. I was doing pretty good considering their team. But they had one guy who wore #3. This dude was built like an NFL linebacker and as fast as a track star (obviously I am exaggerating but you get the point, this dude was the definition of an athlete) I’m he is definitely highly recruited, but I never found out his name. Every time he came up to bat, he would smash the ball. I was actually getting kind of mad because he was hitting good pitches. I was not missing my spots. He was also finding holes in the defense. It was kind of a humbling moment for me also and when I am working out all I have to do is think about him catching up to me 0-2 fastball to get those extra reps in.