FULL STORY BY JASON SNOW-BROCKTON ENTERPRISE

Fresh out of Guilford High School in his Connecticut hometown, Matt Donlan had just one offer to play collegiate baseball.

"I went to a camp at Stonehill. I played well," he remembered. "Coach (Pat) Boen saw something in me and he gave me a chance, which I'm eternally grateful for because he was about the only one to give me a chance." 

A similar course of events following the MLB Draft this past week for Donlan, who most recently finished his redshirt junior season at UConn this spring.

His name wasn't called. Undrafted, the 6-foot-3, 22-year-old catcher prospect fell through the cracks of all 30 Major League Baseball organizations.

"Obviously, in an ideal world, you want to get drafted but it didn't work out for whatever reason," said Donlan. "It was a hectic couple of minutes (afterwards). There was disappointment of not getting drafted, there was some anxiety about what I'm going to do – Am I going to go back to school? Am I going to be offered a free agent deal? How much will the free agent deal be worth? Will it be worth it?"

Matt Donlan, formerly of Stonehill College and the University of  Connecticut, signed a free agent deal with the Red Sox last week.

After a handful of organizations reached out with interest in signing Donlan to a non-drafted free agent deal, the answer to a bulk of those questions was yes – especially when the Boston Red Sox called.

"In my college experience, I thought if I want to play professional baseball, it needs to be now," Donlan said. "I wanted an opportunity more than anything come draft day and I was afforded to get offered some opportunities post-draft, free-agent-wise, and financially the best fit was Boston.

"But also, I grew up a Sox fan my whole entire life. I've gone to Fenway Park hundreds of times. It was genuinely a dream come true."

That fun fact came as a surprise to some.

"I was worried – someone said that to me and I was like, 'I'm not sure if he's a Yankees fan,'" chuckled Boen, who wrapped up his 25th season coaching at Stonehill this spring. "Some of those Connecticut kids can go either way." 

Donlan becomes the fourth player in the Boen era at Stonehill to be linked with a Major League Baseball affiliate, joining 2014 20th-round pick Jimmy Duff of the New York Mets and the Shepard brothers, Brenden and Kyle. Brendan, a pitcher, was drafted by the Red Sox in 2011 and Kyle, an outfielder, signed a free agent deal with the Chicago Cubs. 

In 61 games played for UConn in 2022, Donlan hit for a .260 average, reached base at a .375 clip and launched 12 homers. 

He hit .234, had an on-base percentage of .351 and one home run during his two-year tenure at Stonehill. Donlan recalled his time playing for the Skyhawks as a chance to learn as much as he could and take advantage of his lone shot at collegiate baseball.

"I stepped on campus my freshman year, more as a get the feet wet playing college baseball and see how it happens," Donlan said.

Donlan approached the Stonehill tryout through a reference from one of his brother's friends, Ben Monte, a fellow Guilford native who played center field at Stonehill for four years between 2013-17. Boen saw some qualities in Donlan, who had never even played on an AAU circuit before, that other college coaches either disregarded or didn't notice.

Matt Donlan, formerly of Stonehill College and the University of  Connecticut, signed a free agent deal with the Red Sox last week.

"What stood out about Matt was his size and his arm. He had a Major League arm in high school," Boen recalled. "We said, this is someone who could compete right away and have an impact on our program, just for defensive purposes. We weren't sure how he was going to hit, run or things like that.

"And he really was more than I ever could've dreamed of, just because of his work ethic and his character."

Boen added that Donlan, though a scarcely-recruited underclassman at the time, emerged onto the scene in Easton with an influential leadership presence for the Skyhawks, who went 22-25 his freshman season in 2019.

Sometimes, scouting reports can't paint the full picture.

"We can go and do all the measurables we want: how hard a kid throws, how far he hits the ball and how fast he is. But we can't measure what type of person or leader he is," Boen said. "I think coaches missed the boat on that part (about Donlan). That's not really what I was expecting (from a freshman). It's kind of rare."

Shortly after a developmental freshman season, Donlan cherished a summertime stint with the Cotuit Kettleers of the Cape Cod Baseball League. When the pandemic scrapped the latter half of what turned out to be a 13-game sophomore campaign at Stonehill one year later, Donlan transferred back to his home state to join a stacked depth chart of catchers UConn had at the time (Pat Winkel currently of the Minnesota Twins, Zac Susi of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Max McDowell of the New York Yankees to name a few contemporaries in recent years). 

Matt Donlan, formerly of Stonehill College and the University of  Connecticut, signed a free agent deal with the Red Sox last week.

Donlan calls himself just as much of a UConn Huskies fan as he is a fan of the Red Sox. He was a part of teams that won Big East regular season and postseason titles.

"It was the best decision I've ever made," Donlan said of transferring to UConn. "As much as it helps develop guys to get the next level and win a ton of baseball games... the culture we built and the friends and relationships I made there, they were really awesome. It was everything I dreamed of it being."

Despite reeling in just one college offer out of high school, Donlan's Major League dream never died. He never stopped chasing it – a decision well-worth the sudden turns.

"I probably shouldn't have believed it when I was younger that I'd be able to do it, but for some reason I just did. I had so many people that believed in me and devoted time and resources and helped me get here," said Donlan. "Now, I feel like I'm supposed to be here. It's a dream come true, but it's not as much of a shellshock as someone could imagine."

Donlan will arrive Sunday in Fort Myers, Florida, the site of the Red Sox' southern headquarters.

"That's as much information as I have (about the next steps)," he said with a chuckle. "I know I'm going to be signing some papers, doing some medicals and doing some physicals. But yeah, we get our housing situation and I signed the contract electronically (on Wednesday) and doing some paperwork when I get there.

"It's going to be a fun couple of days."