Gator Baseball 2022 Roster/Lineup/Batting Order

Quick thoughts before I go get dinner.....
My number one comment for our hitting, I hope Sully tries the first five he started with in spring practice. The top of the order for many scrimmages was
Jud Fabian
Sterlin Thompson
Josh Rivera
Kris Armstrong
Wyatt Langford
These 5 seemed to work well together in the scrimmages. Sure it was against our problem pitching but at least they were scoring lots of runs. When Sully shuffled things up in the scrimmages the scoring went down to where we are now. I know Rivera and Armstrong struggled to get on base this weekend but Rivera ended with two good hits today. Armstrong will see better pitches with Langford behind him. Jud was robbed of another double but he also got 3 walks and a HBP and he's is tied for third in OB%. Jud actually has a better OB% (.385) than Halter (.286). Calilao has to drop down for now. Zero for eleven with 5 strikeouts is not a good start. Personally I prefer Langford batting 4th where he deserves to be but this first 5 was working the best in scrimmages. So let's give it a try when the lights come on.

 

As for the pitchers, here's the leaders out of the gate....
# ---Player ---------ERA WHIP
12 Barco, Hunter --0.00 .33
13 Slater, Ryan ----0.00 .75
28 Hartman, Karl --0.00 .50
41 Purnell, Blake --0.00 .00
18 Coppola, Pierce 4.15 1.62
8 Sproat, Brandon 4.50 1.50
Everyone else is over 7 ERA so let's give their numbers time to settle. Certainly Coppola feels like he pitched better than his 4.15 ERA looks. The positive is seeing Slater, Hartman, and Purnell off to a great start coming out of the bullpen. Shout out to @gator1977 for the good info from practices on these three. Maybe they will become what we need to win 2 out of 3 each weekend to go with Barco and Coppola. I know its just the first weekend and so much will change but the numbers will tell the story.
I guess my point here, it will be very interesting to see who Sully runs out there on Tuesday at Stetson. A road game probably means Milchin to start and then let the flood gates open with Neely, Jameson, Finnvold, and Ursitti. Then we turn them all around and get ready for Wednesday at home. I wouldn't mind seeing Hartman get a start at a midweek but we need him more for the weekends. Maybe start Sproat on Wednesday with the home crowd. Losing those six pitchers to the portal from last year might leave us wondering what do we have for this year.

 

Melching Field at Stetson is 335 to the corners, 375 in the gaps and 403 to center. Fairly similar to ours without the wall angles. Langford should find it easier to run down any high fly balls without trying to run through any walls. Not much wind in the forecast so hopefully bombs away for our hitters.

 

Here are some stats of interest after the Stetson game.
1. Two Gators are leading the team with 4 walks each, Deric Fabian and Jud Fabian. No one else has more than one.
2. Of the Gator hitters with more than 5 at bats the leader in On Base % is Deric Fabian at .500.
3. As a team the Gators are now batting .234, up from .183.
4. Two Gators lead in runs scored, Josh Rivera and Jud Fabian. These two also lead the with 2 doubles.
5. Sterlin Thompson leads the Gators in 7 stats of hitters with more than 5 ABs.
6. Sterlin Thompson leads the Gators with 8 RBIs. The second Gator has 3 RBIs.....and he is Deric Fabian.
7. The leading Gator in Walks to Strikeout ratio is (more than 5 AB).........believe it or not is Jud Fabian at 4 and 4.
8. Nick Fic dropped his ERA down to 2.57 after a great appearance against the Hatters.
9. As a team the Gators now have an ERA of 3.50 with 45 strikeouts to 19 walks and 8 batters hit.
10. And my favorite stat the Gators have yet to commit a defined error.

 

Based on the first 4 games let's play around with the batting order.

DH - Tucker Talbott (R)
2B - Colby Halter (L)
CF - Jud Fabian (R)
RF - Sterlin Thompson (L)
SS - Josh Rivera (R)
LF - Wyatt Langford (R)
1B - Kris Armstrong (S)
C - Mac Guscette (R)/BT Riopelle (L)
3B - Deric Fabian (R)

I sure hope T Squared gets in again on Wednesday night against UNF. Deric could move up some with his productivity but I doubt Sully moves him much if any. Jud has a low average but leads in several production stats. His patience at the plate will start to pay off here soon. I hope UNF throws a RHP so Big Time Riopelle can get back in for some swings. If Rivera keeps his hitting streak going I could see him back batting 3rd and Jud batting 5th.

 

Sproat has the start for tonight.

 

Word is Pogue is coming along nicely and plans are still for him to be back by SEC play. If all goes well he could still end up as a weekend starter. That would give us the L-R-L that everyone wants to see.

 

I'm starting to wonder if we have anyone else that could play 1st with a decent bat.....
Maybe move Thompson to first??? Only joking kind of.
I know its just 5 games but Calilao and/or Armstrong have to do better than .100. Sully will have to make a move if these two don't improve over the weekend. At least Jud has been robbed of a few base hits and he gets usually with a walk or two. KA has no walks, no HBP, only 1 hit and a OB% of .050.

Edit: Just wrote a great idea in the game thread that answers my own question. Sully could move Langford back to first like he was before which opens up LF for Talbott to move back to as well.

 

So here is a really weird stat. Most everyone knows how bad these guys are struggling as follows....
Jud has only 2 hits
KC has only 1 hit
KA has only 1 hit
Guscette has only 1 hit
Strange thing is everyone of these hits are doubles. Could it be another curse of the "I only hit doubles" kind of thing?