Duke Baseball Recruit Spotlight: Chris Dutra

DURHAM, N.C. – Head coach Chris Pollard and the Duke baseball program are excited to announce the signing of catcher Chris Dutra to a National Letter of Intent. Dutra is currently a senior at Iona Preparatory in New Rochelle, N.Y., and is set to join the Blue Devils in the fall of 2016.

One of the top prospects in the state of New York, Dutra is a strong defensive catcher with the ability to stop the run game. At the plate, he has gap-to-gap power that should continue to develop during his collegiate career.

“Chris Dutra has really advanced skills behind the plate,” said Pollard. “He’s a tremendous catch-and-throw guy with sneaky pop in his bat. We first saw him last spring on a recruiting tour of the Northeast and he jumped out to us. We feel he’s an advanced defensive player.”

A career .368 hitter at Iona Prep, Dutra was a New York State Sports Writers Association Catholic all-state selection in 2015. The Rye Brook, N.Y., native also pulled in Journal News Westchester/Putnam second-team all-state and MSG Varsity All-Hudson Valley/Westchester second team accolades.

Dutra is one of 10 incoming Blue Devil recruits rated by Perfect Game as one of the top 500 prospects nationally in the Class of 2016, joining Will Benson (No. 32), Chase Cheek (No. 130), Adam Laskey (149), Graeme Stinson (No. 183), Matt Mervis (No. 222), Coleman Williams (No. 227) and Cam Kovachik (No. 432), Bill Chillari (No. 500) and Erikson Nichols (No. 500).

In addition, Perfect Game rated Dutra the No. 90 catcher in the nation as well as the No. 11 overall prospect and top catcher in the state of New York.

GoDuke.com is set to release each of the Blue Devils’ 2015 recruiting class signees. Check back for more information on all future Duke players.

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Duke Baseball Recruit Spotlight: Chris Dutra

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