Brendan Rivoli 

What was your experience during the recruiting process? Is there anything you wish you knew back then that you know now?

I always like to say my recruiting journey was a unique one when compared to most of my former collegiate teammates. I was always one of the best players on my travel team, but wasn’t getting the attention and interest I thought I should have been. Freshman year, I spoke with Fordham and went to a recruiting camp. At the camp I hit a HR and did well yet never heard back. Same thing when I attended Penn State, Rutgers, and finally Monmouth started recruiting me. Every time a coach was present I would do very well. I did go on three visits, but never yielded any official offer.

Fast forward to my Junior year of HS spring (some would say late in the process for Power 5 institutions). Virginia reached out to me out of the blue. I received a call from one of the coaches spontaneously all by word of mouth. He heard about me from another travel ball coach who referred me to UVA. Within 2 weeks I played in front of, visited, and received an offer from UVA.

Moral of this adventure is never truly stop betting on yourself. Know your worth and don’t settle for anything less than that. I knew I was good; I knew where I could play, and I was honest with myself. The right person, school, or coach will come along at the right time and you never know when that will be.

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YOU NEVER KNOW WHO IS WATCHING!

How did you choose which college program you wanted to play at? Did you have multiple offers? What was your most important aspect when choosing a college program?

I chose UVA because it sells itself. Truly it is a top academic institution, baseball program as well as the community of Charlottesville. I have always been fascinated with governmental relations and Virginia/DC area was always a cool place to me. The most important thing I was looking for was a strong coaching staff that were proven winners, a community that I felt like I could belong to, and a relatively large undergraduate student population.

What was your favorite part of college baseball?

My favorite thing about college ball was my teammates. These were some of the craziest, funniest, talented, and caring people I’ve ever met in my life. Being with these dudes for 10 hours a day every single day to maybe even more if you hangout outside of baseball.

Lifelong friends that will do anything for you and a bond that no one can ever take away.

If you could provide advice to an amateur player looking to play college baseball and has dreams to play professionally, what would it be?

​This is a great question that I’ve thought about a lot over the years and my answer is this: just play the game. Everyone I play with in pro ball has had a completely different journey. If you have talent, they will find you. This sounds cliche but it is true.