I ride by the ballpark almost daily and the guys have been working out on their own for a couple of weeks now. Mostly stretching, throwing and running on the field and hitting in the tunnel. Oct.12 is start of scrimmages. Any word on open scrimmages?
Week One Schedule Tuesday, Oct. 12 2:30 - 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 13 2:30 - 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14 OFF Friday, Oct. 15 2:30 - 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 16 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 17 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Practices are open. Gators to Open Gates for Fall Practice, Oct. 23 Exhibition Game - Florida Gators Go GATORS! ,WESGATORS
I removed Cal Greenfield from the page 1 roster. His name did not appear on the one posted from today's practice. I did not notice any other surprises with the returning players I already had listed.
I also made changes last night to my line up on page 1 with ST and KA now at 3rd. Either of those may not last but if you have followed my off season remarks I'm not surprised to see ST at 3rd. I figured it would go to either ST or Fabian 2.0. With DF backing up SS it seems he is the heir apparent for SS after Rivera is done, assuming after this year.
Should be an interesting season, as the team is loaded with talent. Pitching will be the key, though. Barco & Sproat seem to be slated as the top 2 starters and apparently Kevin O made positive comments about Nick Pogue possibly being ready to step into a more prominent role. Then it's a matter of which freshmen and returning pitchers are ready to make the leap to major contributor. And hopefully, we can find a true closer in there somewhere.
Notes from today's practice.... (I'm not starting a new thread because there was no scrimmage.) I got there at 3:30 and the team was working on pitch outs and run downs. Then they took infield grounders and finished with batting practice. Done by 5:30. Player that surprised me the most...Kris Armstrong had no errors playing third and had accurate throws. Player with the strongest infield arm....Colby Halter threw a rope every throw playing second. All other infielders had some fall off on their throws. Players with the most pop in their bats....Jud Fabian of course and Sterlin Thompson, both seemed to be more aggressive and both were working on oppo. Freshman that stood out...Pierce Coppola of course standing 6-8. No chance to see him pitch but going to keep my eye on this guy. Quirky looking dude. Best catcher on the day...BT Riopelle was very accurate with his throws but Guscette was still placing his hits better. Side notes...Most hitters were just trying to put the ball in spots. While Rivera was hitting I kept wanting to yell out "Hit the ball will ya!"....Langford did hit 3 homeruns in a row in consecutive swings. Jud hit 3-4 out, 1-2 oppo.... Sterin Thompson had one bobble at third and got extra attention on his approach....It looks to me that either KA or ST wins the spot at third and the other will be the DH...Fabian 2.0 and De Goti seemed to still be trying to settle in, lots to learn....Nothing to report on the outfielders or the pitchers from today. Looking forward to seeing more than 9 other people at the exhibition next week.