- March 30, 2025
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I made my first rounds to the Sarasota-area high schools last week to highlight the top baseball players to watch for this season.
When I stopped at Cardinal Mooney, the Cougars were talking about state championship aspirations.
I must admit, I was skeptical.
Cardinal Mooney lost seven of its top players from last season. Three graduated, three transferred to Venice and one, Aidan McDonald, died this past fall.
That meant the Cougars were going to be forced to turn to some of their younger talent. That move usually doesn’t lead to winning records, let alone competing for championships.
However, Cardinal Mooney is proving its skeptics wrong — myself included — through a 4-1 start.
Four sophomore players — Brady Zaun, J.D. James, Colton Hyde and Michael Geaglone — have become fixtures on the field, and they’ve been playing as if they’re seasoned seniors.
For those on the outside looking in, there’s not much of a silver lining to losing talented veteran players.
Don’t tell that to these sophomores, who are up to the challenge of filling the void.
“I’m sure people were (doubting us) because we lost, you could say our best player, and last year we had a bad record, so people were like, ‘Oh, they’re going to be bad this year,’” said James, who has hit .421 with five runs, three RBIs and a stolen base. “I think we’ve shown them that, so what? We can still play and be a good team.”
Of the Cougars’ four impact sophomores, Zaun might have the most motivation.
His older brother, Eddie, was a star for the Cougars last year, hitting .431 with 11 extra-base hits, 13 runs and 16 RBIs in 24 games as the starting shortstop.
However, Eddie decided to transfer to Venice while Brady stayed with the Cougars.
So far, Brady has done a fine job of replicating that production as the leadoff batter and starting centerfielder. He’s hit .480 with a .519 on-base percentage, five runs and four RBIs.
“He’s definitely made me work way harder to get better,” Brady said of Eddie. “Seeing how good he’s doing, I want to follow his footsteps.”
Hyde is fueled by a different kind of motivation.
The son of Baltimore Orioles manager Brandon Hyde, Colton said he hardly played for Cardinal Mooney’s junior varsity team last year during a frustrating freshman year.
So far, he’s been one of the Cougars’ go-to arms and a much-needed backup catcher.
He’s taken just three at-bats, but has scored five runs. On the mound, he’s thrown the second-most innings on the team (10) with a 1.40 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 10 strikeouts thanks to a fastball that he said tops out at 88 mph.
“At tryouts, I didn’t know if I was going to make the team or not,” Hyde said. “I didn’t play much on JV last year, so I wasn’t expecting (to make the team), but when I found out, I was really excited.”
Allow me to use a cross-sport reference to drive home a point.
Every year during March Madness, there is a scrappy team that upsets a blue blood program in a way no one saw coming.
Those upsets happen for a few reasons.
One is that the underdog team is playing without pressure and expectations, and a hunger to prove the world wrong for underestimating them.
Another is that the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is a single-elimination tournament, and anything can happen in one game.
That scrappy underdog team could be Cardinal Mooney in the Florida High School Athletic Association single-game elimination tournament later this year, if it can make it that far.
Most of Cardinal Mooney’s most challenging games are ahead of them, and a hot start doesn’t mean much now if they can’t keep it up.
After talking to them and watching them on the field, however, I’m done doubting them.
“I think it gives us an edge against teams,” said Geaglone, who has struggled at the plate early this season, but hasn’t allowed a hit through four innings on the mound. “We have confidence in ourselves and we have a lot more to play for.”
