Ryan Daniels, a Division I baseball commit at 13, is powering St. Paul into the state tournament with UConn in sight

In a not-so-alternate universe, Ryan Daniels would be finishing his junior year at Avon Old Farms and preparing for a college baseball career at Stetson University in Florida.

A Meriden native, Daniels committed to Stetson — a Division I program that’s produced the likes of Jacob deGrom and Corey Kluber — at the age of 13. He enrolled at prep baseball powerhouse Avon Old Farms in 2020.

That once was Daniels’ reality. Not anymore.

Back at the high school where he began his career, Daniels — now committed to UConn — led St. Paul to an 18-1 record this season and the top seed in the Class S state tournament. He’s done so with abnormal power: He’s hit 15 home runs in 19 games, has a .540 batting average and is slugging 1.580 with 42 runs driven in.

Much has changed for Daniels in the last year, including a commitment flip, transferring to and from a prep school and a power surge that’s allowed him to hit a home run every 3 1/2 at bats. But now he’s where he wants to be.

“Now I’m here, and I’m going to a different college,” Daniels said inside the Falcons’ dugout Thursday. “But I think it was something that everybody could have seen coming.”

Daniels grew up playing T-ball in South Meriden and taking rips in the batting cage at his house from a young age. His father, Pete, played baseball at the University of Hartford for one year, was teammates with Jeff Bagwell and finished his college career at Eastern Connecticut where he won a national championship in 1990. Ryan said he and his father have the same exact swings.

Daniels was a slap-hitter growing up who would always take the first pitch of an at-bat and bloop the second over the heads of infielders for singles. Power was never the name of Daniels’ game — until middle school.

“Something happened,” Daniels said. “Something clicked.”

He hit 30 home runs in the spring of his 12-year-old season. He attended an All-American showcase at Stetson before his freshman year and, while he said the tournament itself wasn’t the greatest competition, he shined in an individual workout with the Hatters’ coaching staff and earned his first Division I scholarship offer.

Daniels, just 13 at the time, verbally committed to Stetson just two weeks later.

“Terrible tournament,” Daniels said with a laugh. “But it turned into one of the biggest parts of my life.”

He started at shortstop for St. Paul in 2019 and helped the Falcons reach the Class S state semifinals. Coach Vic Rinaldi knew Daniels was an impressive athlete but didn’t expect top-tier power off the jump for the freshman. On opening day at St. Paul, Daniels hit two opposite field home runs and proved to Rinaldi and the rest of the coaching staff that he was, indeed, the real deal.

Daniels showed early why Stetson was quick to offer him. The interest from the Florida powerhouse opened his eyes to what type of player he could be. But even while he was committed to the Hatters, another program always lingered in the back of his mind.

“I’ve always kind of liked UConn,” Daniels said. “It’s always been a thing of mine. [UConn players] Chris Winkel and Pat Winkel coached my summer team, so we’ve always been close. I always liked watching them play. I always wanted to go down south, but gradually I realized I wanted to stay close to home. But if I could have my dad come to every game, and once they came out with that new field blueprint, and now it’s finished, it was like, wow.”

Daniels took a gamble. He decommitted from Stetson in August of 2020 without a guarantee that UConn coach Jim Penders would take him in. He had attended a camp at UConn in eighth grade, and while the coaching staff had liked what they saw, they weren’t ready to pull the trigger on a scholarship offer that early.

Within three weeks of Daniels being a free agent, the Huskies came in with an offer. Daniels committed, choosing to stay home.

“I had some [other schools] call, but I called them off,” Daniels said. “There was no point. I wanted to go to UConn. Everybody knows it. There was no point in wasting my time, anyone else’s time.”

Daniels was drawn to UConn not just because it’s a perennial competitor and has a track record of sending players into the professional ranks, but also because of Penders’ ability to keep kids in state. Daniels is close with Gavin Greger, a Bristol native who plays at Avon Old Farms, and keeps in touch with Xavier’s Drew Kron and East Catholic’s Frank Mozzicato, all of whom are committed to UConn.

Mozzicato, a senior who has thrown four consecutive no-hitters, has risen up MLB draft boards this spring, but Daniels won’t let him forget the time when he successfully bunted for a single off the southpaw when he was a freshman.

“Just going in there, already having a relationship,” Daniels said. “When I was going to Stetson, I didn’t know any of those kids besides from texting or getting introduced at games. It was almost weird. It was like a fake relationship because we had to talk ... but it’s a real relationship I have [with Connecticut players].”

Stetson and UConn differ in more ways than just geography. The Hatters offered Daniels before he even reached high school. The Huskies wanted to wait. Daniels understands why Stetson did that. In Florida, recruiting is ultra competitive. Coaches need to take risks to retain kids before other Southern programs come calling. He’s learned, though, that the Huskies approach may have suited him more.

“The Southern schools will commit kids when they’re 13 years old,” Daniels said. “Penders preaches that he wants to make sure they’re right — he’s not going to take a shot on a 13-year-old. It doesn’t seem right for anybody, to be honest, to do that ... but it’s what they have to do to compete.”

The flip from Stetson to UConn wasn’t the only change Daniels made in 2020. He transferred to Avon Old Farms ahead of his junior season, heeding advice from Stetson coaches and others who promised better competition and more opportunities to grow and develop. After his second trimester at Avon Old Farms, he decided he wanted to return to St. Paul.

“It’s a great place, definitely,” Daniels said of Avon Old Farms. “It just wasn’t for me. There’s something special about St. Paul.”

He called Rinaldi in February and broke the news: The St. Paul slugger was back.

“Just coming off of a year when we didn’t have a season, it was a really good way to start off the season heading into March,” Rinaldi said. “Getting that phone call, having that conversation that he was coming back. I think it got the team in the right frame of mind heading into the preseason.”

Daniels and his dad set goals every preseason. This season’s mark for home runs was 10. His natural uppercut swing allows Daniels to lift balls into the air with ease. Groundouts are sparse. Daniels thought he’d come close, maybe hitting eight or nine.

Fifteen long balls and counting, Daniels has surprised even himself. Doing it at home is even sweeter.

“I can’t say I expected this,” Daniels said. “It’s a great feeling. It spreads for sure — my teammates have been hitting insanely well, too. My whole team has been hitting the heck out of the ball.”

Shawn McFarland can be reached at smcfarland@courant.com.