CCSU’s Andrew Hinckley poised to reach potential

Andrew Hinckley can start to sound like a doctor the more he talks about his injury history.

There was the fracture in his growth plate during his junior year of high school just as he was starting to pop up on the radar of college coaches as a prospective recruit. There was the torn UCL during his senior year of high school that forced the East Haven, Conn., native to undergo Tommy John surgery. And there was the stress reaction to the L5 vertebrae last year — Hinckley’s second season with Central Connecticut State University after a two-year stint playing junior college baseball at UConn-Avery Point.

"It actually wasn’t a stress fracture," Hinckley said of last year’s injury to his vertebrae. "There were signs of fluid in the bone, which is a precursor to a stress fracture."

Fair enough. For now, Hinckley is preparing for the final season of his college career, and he’s starting to give off the vibe of a high-powered sports car that has spent a disproportionate number of hours in the shop. Hinckley has been sidelined for much of three of the past six seasons of baseball, stretching back to the growth plate injury during his junior year of high school.