Podcast alert: Prospect Dennis Colleran, UMass Lowell coach Ken Harring

North Attleboro senior Dennis Colleran is the top high school pitching prospect in New England. (Courtesy photo)

Our latest New England Baseball Journal podcast caps a summer that was unexpectedly busy from a baseball perspective, with plenty of showcase events and scouting opportunities for high school and college prospects around New England. One player who shined at those showcase events for high school seniors was North Attleboro pitcher Dennis Colleran.

Colleran impressed scouts with a fastball that topped out a 97 mph at events like the Area Code Games, East Coast Pro Showcase and Summer Rivalry Classic. In the New England Baseball Journal Podcast, he describes how he managed to stay in peak form through the stoppage during the spring. He also shares the key to adding velocity as a pitcher.

“My biggest thing is being very flexible in terms of the legs, arm and core,” Colleran said. “It all has to be flexible, but also strong and compact. You have to control your body. The biggest thing for me when I started seeing jumps in velocity was when I dedicated myself to a pitching program, and I was doing something every day and maintaining that through the baseball season. I’ve talked to dozens of pitching coaches and gone to lectures, and I pieced together something that works for me.”

The second guest on the podcast is UMass Lowell baseball coach Ken Harring. One of 19 Division 1 coaches in New England, Harring talks about what the fall will look like on the Lowell campus.

“The decision was made at a heck of a lot higher level than mine to not have anybody but winter sports back this fall,” Harring said. “We’re trying to keep the athletes safe. So, currently on campus is men’s and women’s basketball and ice hockey. If NCAA basketball doesn’t happen this season, we’re all in trouble. That funds all of our sports and the NCAA.”

Harring’s incoming recruiting class was ranked fourth of the 19 schools in New England, according to the NEBJ’s spring rankings. The coach shares his recruiting strategy now that his program is established in Division 1.

“We’re trying to keep the best players home,” Harring said. “We’re a state institution. Our home area is the Merrimack Valley up through Cape Ann, to Portsmouth, and out through Manchester and Worcester. If we keep the best players in that area, we’re doing a pretty good thing. Now that we’re eligible for the postseason in Division 1, we don’t have to convince anyone to come and sit for a couple of years. We’re getting more and more homegrown players.”

You can also listen to each show across a variety of platforms, whether it’s Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or TuneIn.

Check out the full episode above, and if you’re not a subscriber you can check out our plans here.