Pena's proving to be a Jasper Juggernaut

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Jim Duffy has been around the game of baseball for quite a while now, first as a star player for Seton Hall University before turning to coaching with the Pirates in 2001. There was a Big East championship in that first season, and he also saw nine players from Seton Hall move on to professional baseball careers.

When he arrived as Manhattan’s head coach in 2012, he immediately led the Jaspers to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title, and has clinched a berth in the MAAC Tournament in four of his six seasons at the helm.

So you can see the man knows his baseball. But even Duffy didn’t see what was coming from Fabian Pena last year – and what’s still to come for the Jaspers’ sophomore catcher.

“I don’t think anybody could anticipate the season he had last year,” Duffy said. “We had a good idea that he was a high-quality player. You can always tell that in the recruiting world by how many other schools are recruiting him.”

The Cuba native turned in a monster season in his first year in Riverdale. His .350 batting average was good for fourth in the MAAC, while his 22 doubles were both a school record and a conference best. His nine homers placed him third in the MAAC, and he also led the league with a robust 54 RBI.

Not bad for the new kid on the Jaspers baseball block.

“Everything he receives he deserves,” Duffy said. So far those accolades have included MAAC Freshman of the Year last year while also being tabbed a Freshman All-American.

This year Pena simply is picking up where he left off as he was named MAAC’s Preseason Player of the Year. And he’s only a sophomore.

“That doesn’t happen a lot,” Duffy said. “Usually those things are for seniors.”

But when you meet Pena, you can understand why he has enjoyed so much success early in his career. He is laser-focused on the game, on working at his craft, and making himself a better player day-by-day, game-by-game.

So how does a player who won back-to-back Most Valuable Player awards at Calusa Prep in Miami wind up in Manhattan to play his ball?  Part Jose Carrera, part Duffy’s South Florida pipeline.

“I had some offers from schools in Florida, but I felt like this was the best environment I would find,” Pena said. Manhattan teammate “Jose Carrera was here before me, and he told me about the school. When I visited the school, I met the coaches and I knew the school was the right fit for me.”

Carrera and Pena were high school teammates for a season in Miami.

The fact Duffy had five other players on his current roster from Miami and has had success with players from South Florida in the past also helped steer Pena to Manhattan. But his success last season came as a surprise even to the 5-foot-11, 205-pound catcher.

“To tell you the truth, yeah I was surprised,” Pena said. “When I came in here I just wanted to do well as an individual and for the team. But then the accolades started and some of the accolades I was getting, I didn’t even know what they meant. Every week (the MAAC) would come out with Rookie of the Week and the first time I won it I was like, ‘What is that?’ But as the season was going along and I was putting up good numbers my teammates told me if I kept on going I’d get a lot of accolades at the end of the year.” 

The biggest one, Pena said, was being named a Freshman All-American — something he called a “big deal.”

“I was expecting big things because that’s what I try to live up to, putting up big numbers and having a good year,” he said. “But looking back, I think I had a pretty good year.”

Pena would end up being named MAAC Player of the Week four times on the season while also earning spots on the First Team All-MAAC and the MAAC All-Tournament Team.

Baseball, you see, was something of a savior to Pena during his childhood in Cuba. His father, Jorge, left the family for America when Pena was just 10. Over the next four seasons he saw his father just twice by his own recollection. So he threw himself into baseball and success came early.

“I played baseball my whole childhood in Cuba,” Pena said. “I made two Cuban teams that went to Venezuela to play in a World Cup (tournament). I knew about the Major Leagues here. The Yankees and Boston Red Sox are the main teams that they know about in Cuba. So I definitely wanted to come here and give myself a shot to get to the next level.”

Pena and mom Daylin Torres eventually joined his father in Miami, and again baseball was there to smooth the transition to life in America.

“The big thing when I got here is I didn’t know many people, so being on a baseball team, you’re surrounded by people and you get to know them and like them and they like the way you play,” Pena said. “That helps you socially around school and stuff like that.”

Pena said he returned to Cuba just a single time since coming to America and has no plans for a return engagement anytime soon.

“I went back once about a year after I came here, and nothing had changed back there,” Pena said. “I thought, ‘There’s no future here.’ It was hard. But I don’t really have any family left in Cuba. I have some friends back there but I don’t miss much about it.”

Instead he now focuses on his class work and on putting together another stellar season with the goal of returning Manhattan to the MAAC Tournament in May.

“My main goal is to win a MAAC championship this year,” Pena said. “We all talk about that, winning a MAAC championship and going to (an NCAA) Regional somewhere.

“Individually, I just want to do my job. I’m not looking at numbers. I’m just trying to do the best I can in every single game.”

And down the road, after “winning a ring or two,” as Pena put it, he hopes to pursue a career in Major League Baseball, the goal he had as a kid growing up in Cuba.

 “I’m going to keep working hard to achieve that dream,” Pena said. “Playing professional baseball is a gift not many people get so if I can get there that would be my dream.”

And Duffy thinks his stud catcher has all the intangibles to make that dream a reality.

“It really comes down to his makeup,” the coach said. “At this point he really understands what he needs to do physically and he has the physical skills. I think what will separate him from the rest of the pack is his mental toughness, his continuing to deal with adversity and having a positive attitude.

“Guys who are in the big leagues, that’s why they’re there. His ceiling will be based on his makeup, and he has great makeup. He’s mature beyond his years.”

Jim Duffy, Seton Hall University, Big East, Atlantic Athletic Conference, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Fabian Pena, Cuba, Manhattan, Jose Carrera, South Florida, Jorge Pena, World Cup, Daylin Torres, Major League Baseball, Sean Brennan,

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