Miami Baseball Coach J.D. Arteaga Opens up About the New Season

Originally posted on Miami Hurricanes on SI
By Justice Sandle | Last updated Feb 13, 2025 4:09 PM ET

A new season and a new oppurtinty for the Miami Hurriacnse and coach J.D. Arteaga.

His first season did not go to plan. Finishing below .500 for the first time in 50 years and lack of talent to get this team to where it needed to go. Somehow, they still had a chance to win the ACC Championship with those limitation.

Arteaga as retooled the roster and is excited for the new season.

"It's an exciting time no matter what level you're at," Arteaga said. "Opening day is always a special time whether it's little league, or high school, or college, or professional baseball, it's a start of a new beginning. And it's exciting, especially not just for us as a staff, but we've got 29 new players on our roster. So I'm sure that's been talked about quite a bit."

The Hurricanes brought in a top 10 class in recruiting and from the transfer portal to try and fix every issue from last season. New arms in the bullpen, surrounding star third baseball Daniel Cuvet with some great hitters, and just talent in general.

I" think we've got the largest number of portal transfers of any team in the country," Arteaga said. "We've got 15 portal transfers along with 14 freshmen. So that's 29 new players that this is gonna be the first time playing at the light and the excitement that that brings."

With the new players and the new season, everything is coming together at the right time for everyone. The culmination of a great offseason and a great team is about to commence and Arteaga is ready to go.

"So we're all very excited," Arteaga said. "We love the team that we've got right now, the chemistry. Day one, it really stood out how close they are in the clubhouse and how much they do together off the field, that's always a good sign. The more time teams spend off the field together, the better teams are gonna be on the field. So we're very excited about it."