Wellington’s Peter Rivera Chooses University of Miami

Wellington’s Peter Rivera proudly dons his Miami baseball cap

Peter Rivera knew it was time to make an impression.

After struggling – by his standards – through the first several weeks of summer ball in the Police Athletic League, Rivera went into his final tournament of the season knowing University of Miami scouts were in attendance.

He didn’t want them to leave without seeing what he was truly capable of.

“I was playing very average. I wasn’t doing what I knew I could do or playing as well as what Miami would want out of me,” the Wellington senior said.

So in that final tournament, with a possible college career on the line, Rivera blasted six home runs in seven games, including back-to-back multi-homer games.

That got Miami’s attention real fast.

His Herculean performance grabbed the program’s attention and on Tuesday Rivera signed his letter-of-intent to play for Miami.

“He had other places he could have gone, but he’s always wanted to be a Hurricane. It’s been one of his dreams, so really when they made the offer there was no doubt in his mind that he was going to take it,” Wellington coach Scott Riddle said.

Rivera, a 5-foot-10, 190-pound third baseman, had a team-high four home runs and 20 RBI as a junior last season.

“Playing at Miami is going to give him an opportunity to be seen every day of the week by professional scouts, so this is a big step to his goal to play baseball professionally,” Riddle said. “Whether he’ll go right in and play we don’t know yet, but I think he’s certainly talented enough to. They got probably one of the top offensive players in South Florida. They’re lucky to have him. I’ve seen quite a few good players [in my 23 years of coaching], but offensively and defensively combined, Peter is as good as any that we’ve ever had here,” Riddle said.

Leave a comment using your facebook account!