Coming off an historic season, the Blue Devils lost a key member of its offense Wednesday when former first baseman and right fielder Chris Marconcini decided to play his final season of college baseball at Florida State.
Although the news may come as a surprise to those outside the team, Duke head coach Chris Pollard said he knew Marconcini would not be back long before Wednesday, as Marconcini had told the coaching staff of his intentions to play baseball in the professional ranks following his May graduation.
"It's no surprise to us that Chris is not going to be back at Duke," Pollard said "He intended to start his professional baseball career, intended to graduate. We revisited it this past fall, and he reiterated to me that he didn't plan to apply to grad school because once he graduated, he planned to move on playing baseball professionally."
After suffering an ACL tear during his sophomore year, Marconcini was granted a redshirt by the NCAA, allowing him an extra year of eligibility. Following back-to-back successful seasons in which he belted 16 total home runs and drove in a combined 84 RBIs, he decided to pursue his dream of playing baseball at the next level.
But the Brentwood, Tenn., native's lifelong desire did not pan out the way he had hoped. When the MLB draft rolled around, three Blue Devils heard their name called—marking the first time since 2010 multiple Duke players were drafted. Marconcini was not part of the group.
With the calendar already turned to June, Marconcini's chances of being granted admission into Duke's graduate school were slim to none, forcing him to look elsewhere for another opportunity to continue his career.
"When he didn't get drafted in the MLB draft, obviously he had to go with Plan B," Pollard said. "Duke's a very competitive university. So to get into a graduate program at Duke in June—versus some other schools that might be out there—is a much more difficult proposition."
Marconcini's departure from the program will make him the eighth senior to move on following their 2014 graduation, leaving Duke with quite a few holes to fill with young talent next season. But just as they were not surprised by Marconcini's departure, the Blue Devils are prepared to deal with their youth and will look to veterans like catcher Mike Rosenfeld and shortstop Kenny Koplove to lead the new batch of Duke players.
Pollard said the shift was something he knew was coming when he took the job in 2012. Rather than be an obstacle, he views it as an opportunity to instill a new culture—one of winning rather than losing.
"For a long time, there was a culture of losing here," Pollard said. "And we're trying to fully fix that. When you've got young guys in, it's easier for them to adapt to our system of play versus some older guys who had played under multiple coaches."
A regular-season meeting between Marconcini and his former team will not take place next year, as Duke is not scheduled to face Florida State in the 2014-15 season.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.