Despite being the No. 1 third baseman in the 2023 class, the draft process didn’t work out how Daniel Cuvet desired. Instead of signing with the Pittsburgh Pirates after being a 17th-round selection, he enrolled at the University of Miami and immediately took the college baseball world by storm.

In his freshman season, Cuvet set the Hurricanes freshman home run record. His 24th blast of the season came against Duke in the ACC Tournament semifinals, passing 1998 MLB Draft No. 1 pick Pat Burrell’s 23 homers.

This summer, following multiple Freshman All-American accolades and a Second Team All-ACC selection, Cuvet is improving his craft with the Whitecaps.

Cuvet spoke with the Whitecaps media team to discuss his historic freshman season, experience on the Cape and more:

Whitecaps Media: You had a great freshman year at Miami. What did you learn from your time there in the spring and how do you think you were able to be so successful at Miami?

Daniel Cuvet: I just think it was a building process from early in the fall. I think it really started after the draft. It didn't work out the way I wanted and it was kind of like that driving factor for me, that extra push. It just led to all of it, from the very moment. After that, it was a grind every day trying to get better just working as hard as I could to do everything I could to get where I was and do what I did.

W.M.: What was the recruiting process like and why did you choose Miami?

D.C.: Miami was actually my first offer and I always wanted to go to Miami. It’s kind of my hometown school. I think that's a really cool opportunity to be able to play at the big hometown school and represent where you come from, find out who you are as a person and show out for your own people.

W.M.: What was your favorite part or best memory from your freshman year?

D.C.: There's a bunch. I guess maybe the first game in the ACC Tournament, being able to hit two home runs and help push my team to a win. That was pretty cool. I would give that one a big game that I remember.

W.M.: You had the opportunity to play for Team USA this summer. What was that experience like and what did you learn from that?

D.C.: That experience was first class. It was a great opportunity to get to know a lot of really good players around and create some good friendships. It was kind of more for all of us to get away from everything and away from all the noise around college baseball. It was a good opportunity for us to get to play baseball together and have fun.

W.M.: What has this experience been like in the Cape so far and what have you enjoyed about playing for Brewster?

D.C.: The Cape has been sick. The people you meet, the friendships you make, and even the host families. We have people like Jane [Sullivan] and how special they are. They take care of everyone and they're always looking out for the best of everyone. They take nothing for themselves, and yet they're out here doing it every day just trying to help other people and make other people happy.

W.M.: In Brewster so far, you’ve had some big home runs. Is that something you try to bring to the table, hitting long home runs and trying to get the fans into it and get the team into it?

D.C.: Well, I've hit the longest home run in my career. So that's pretty cool. Obviously, that gets everyone going. Myself, I don't get too excited about many things but those couple got me going. Just super cool to be able to hit them here.

W.M.: What do you like to do on the Cape outside of baseball and who are some of your closest friends on the team that you've built relationships with?

D.C.: I went to the beach a couple of times. We went mini golfing once. We’ve been just finding different things to do. I'm really close to [Jake] Clemente, I've known him for a while. Also, I really got along with Drew [Faurot] as I started to get to know him, along with [Ryder] Helfrick and some of the other guys.

W.M.: What's your mindset going into your sophomore season and how do you hope to build off your freshman success and also this summer experience?

D.C.: I just try and put everything in the past. I kind of look at it as a season of its own. I try not to base it off what the past was or what I did before. Take it as its own season, its own process and kind of separate it from the success I had before and almost start from a new beginning.

Editor’s note: Some questions and answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Photo credit: Julianne Shivers