Wednesday, November 20, 2002

Three Top Miami-Dade Baseball Players Head an Impressive List of FIU Signees

he Florida International University baseball team announced the signing of eight players to National Letters of Intent for the 2003-04 academic year. Three top local high school players head the class for FIU.

Infielders Robert Valido and Sean Rodriguez both hail from Coral Park High School where they were each voted All-Dade last season by the Miami Herald. Valido, who was voted 3rd Team All-State by the Florida Sports Writers Association, hit .370 for his career with 21 stolen bases and 48 RBI. Rodriguez hit .316 last season with 6 home runs and 21 RBI. Baseball America ranked both players among their top 50 baseball prospects in the United States.

Outfielder O.D. Gonzalez from American High School is another all-county performer, named 1st team All-Dade by the area coaches last season. As a freshman, he led the team in every offensive category, and then followed it up by batting .460 as a sophomore. Last season, he batted .400, scored 32 runs, stole 32 bases, and set a school-record by notching 10 outfield assists.

Several other players in the class will be counted on to contribute as well.

Derek Antelo, a pitcher from Broward Community College, is the lone right-handed pitcher in the 2004 class.

Another high school player, catcher Cody Jacobs, joins the team from Santaluces High School in Palm Beach, Fla.

The rest of the class consists of left-handed pitchers from area junior colleges. Danny Collins comes to FIU from Indian River Community College, David Asher hails from South Florida Community College, and Denny Hernandez joins the Golden Panthers out of Miami Dade Community College.

"We are very pleased with this class," Head Coach Danny Price said. "These players are all fine individuals and we look for big things out of them."

List of 2004 FIU Baseball Signees

Robert Valido INF Coral Park High School
Sean Rodriguez INF Coral Park High School
O.D. Gonzalez OF American High School
Derek Antels RHP Broward Community College
Cody Jacobs C Santaluces High School, Palm Beach, Fla.
Danny Collins LHP Indian River Community College
David Asher LHP South Florida Community College
Denny Hernandez LHP Miami Dade Community College