Harrison Didawick is returning for his senior season with the UVA Baseball program, according to Greg Madia at The Daily Progress.
The lefty hitter struggled mightily this spring after his breakthrough 2024, slashing .225/.327/.384, with six homers and 28 RBIs, and an OPS at just .711.
Didawick, in 2024, went into the MLB Draft part of the summer as a projected second- or third-round pick, after putting up a slash line of .292/.414/.642, with 23 homers, 68 RBIs and a 1.056 OPS.
He was a draft-eligible sophomore in 2024, but didn’t have his name called – we have to assume because he indicated that he wouldn’t sign unless he was offered a significant signing bonus – and then, after using his leverage there, had an unfortunate boner of a junior season.
I met his grandmother in the spring of 2024 at the airport in Boston, on our way back from the UVA-Boston College game in Fenway Park.
Nice lady, clearly dearly loves her grandson, and being honest here, I probably felt worse for her as Didawick struggled this year than I did for him.
His return gives him a chance to work toward completing his UVA degree, at the least, but also, he could be a big help to Chris Pollard, the new UVA Baseball coach.
Pollard is bringing with him from Duke his starting centerfielder, AJ Gracia (.293 BA, 1.007 OPS, 15 HRs, 54 RBIs in 2025), a projected first-round 2026 MLB Draft pick.
Outside of Gracia, the other two outfield spots are up for grabs.
I want to be excited about Didawick coming back, just because, we’ve seen his best, and if we can get anything near what we saw from him in 2024, I really like the core of the everyday lineup – with Didawick, Gracia, shortstop Eric Becker (.368 BA/1.070 OPS, 9 HRs, 52 RBIs at UVA in 2025), second baseman Joe Tiroly (.367 BA/1.198 OPS, 17 HRs, 64 RBIs at Rider in 2025) and first baseman/DH Sam Harris (.297 BA/.948 OPS, 9 HRs, 42 RBIs at Duke in 2025).
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Chris Graham
