Gator Baseball 2022 Roster/Lineup/Batting Order

As expected its Milchin on the mound tonight....
PROB. STARTER
RHP Garrett Milchin (1-0, 1.64 ERA)
RHP Carson Montgomery (3-0, 2.81 ERA)
3 29 FSU (PDF) - Florida Gators

 

After tonight's win against FSU I kept telling myself to not think of this as another win against our rival. Instead this team, of sometimes ragtag pitchers with plenty of potential, went to a neutral site and beat a Top 5 team using a Johnny Wholestaff approach in which no pitcher pitched more than 2 and 2/3 innings. Sure we had been a Top 10 team but everyone was doubting us after the last week. But we still have work to do. So I'm happy we got the win and hopefully started building some confidence back.

 

I've mentioned the hitting concerns of Colby and Jud as of late and I saw a few others bring it up in the game feed tonight. After LSU I posted our SEC batting averages that showed both of them were below .170 against Alabama and LSU. Certainly 6 games is not enough to say its a slump but only getting a few hits from your top 2 batters is a concern. So here is Colby's breakdown since the first SEC game.

Date------ Opponent---------- AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BB HBP K AVG
3/18/2022 at Alabama---------- 4- 0- 1-- 0-- 1-- 0-- 0-- 1--- 0--- 1 .382
3/19/2022 at Alabama--------- 4- 1- 1-- 1-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 2--- 0--- 2 .375
3/20/2022 at Alabama--------- 4- 1- 0-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 1--- 0--- 2 .355
3/22/2022 Bethune-Cookman- 4- 0- 1-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 1--- 0--- 1 .350
3/25/2022 LSU Tigers---------- 5- 1- 1-- 2-- 0-- 0-- 1-- 0--- 0--- 0 .341
3/26/2022 LSU Tigers---------- 3- 1- 1-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 1--- 0--- 1 .341
3/27/2022 LSU Tigers---------- 5- 0- 0-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 0--- 0--- 1 .323
3/29/2022 vs Florida State---- 5- 0- 0-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 0--- 0--- 3 .306
TOTALS------------------------ 34- 4- 5- 3-- 1-- 0-- 1-- 6-- 0-- 11 (.147)

The question was asked, should Colby be our leadoff hitter? My answer for now, it should be situational. If we are facing a starting LHP then Colby should lead off. His numbers have been far better against LHP last time I checked. Colby had 11 strikeouts against 6 walks in these 8 games. We faced a bunch of starting RHP in these last few weeks. That then begs the question, who should lead off against RHP? Sterlin would be my first pick because he has been one of our best hitters against RHP. Jud hits about the same against either arm, his numbers to follow. Rivera had the best SEC numbers with a .375 average but I need to check his numbers against RHP before I suggest the move but he would probably be my second pick for now. All that to say, I think Halter deserves the leadoff spot but Sully has to be thinking about making a move soon if he doesn't turn it around.

Correction - Rivera has been batting way better against LHP than RHP so he would not be my second pick for the leadoff for now against RHP. Its just recently that he started turning it around and I'd rather see another week or two of continued success before moving him to the leadoff.

 

Now for Jud.....

Date------- Opponent---------- AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BB HBP K AVG
3/18/2022 at Alabama----------- 3- 1- 1-- 2-- 0-- 0-- 1-- 1--- 1-- 1 .311
3/19/2022 at Alabama----------- 4- 0- 1-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 2--- 0-- 1 .308
3/20/2022 at Alabama----------- 5- 1- 1-- 2-- 0-- 0-- 1-- 0--- 0-- 1 .300
3/22/2022 Bethune-Cookman--- 5- 2- 3-- 2-- 1-- 0-- 2-- 0--- 0-- 1 .320
3/25/2022 LSU Tigers------------ 4- 0- 1-- 1-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 0--- 0-- 1 .316
3/26/2022 LSU Tigers------------ 4- 0- 0-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 0--- 0-- 1 .301
3/27/2022 LSU Tigers------------ 4- 0- 0-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 1--- 0-- 0 .287
3/29/2022 vs Florida State------ 3- 1- 0-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 0-- 2--- 0-- 0 .278
TOTALS-------------------------- 32- 5- 7- 7- 1-- 0-- 4-- 6-- 1-- 6 (.219)

Certainly Jud has hit and produced better than Colby, especially if you consider 6 walks against his 6 strikeouts. Jud has continued to maintain a consistent approach at the plate showing good patience, even though he has not got a hit in the last 3 games. But Colby only has 1 hit in his last three games as well. Even though Jud only has 2 more hits he has driven in more runs because of his 4 HRs. On the opposition side, Jud did get 3 hits and 2 HRs against BC so his numbers are a but skewed to keep that in mind. For now, I say leave Jud at the 2 spot because his production is not lagging as much.

 

Georgia's starting batting order from last Friday at Kentucky with current Batting Averages
Anderson (cf) .369
McAllister (ss) .296
Collins (dh) .309
Tate, Con. (lf) .344
Harber (3b) .213
Rogers (1b) .247
Gonzalez (c) .231
Acton (2b) .274
Allen (rf) .217

It looks like Georgia has had to shuffle their lineup and are missing SS Cole Tate (.356) and DH Cole Wagner (.321) in some games recently. They do move around their infield players depending on the game's progress. My guess we see them start Cole Tate at SS and later on move McAllister over from 3B to SS. Both teams have infielders that have made 3 to 4 errors each and struggle at times. Kentucky started a RHP on Friday so they may shuffle the lineup depending on the arm faced.

 

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!
The Gators have announced their Saturday starter. Here's what's in the Game Notes.
PROB. STARTER
Thursday LHP Hunter Barco (5-1, 1.41 ERA)
Friday TBA
Saturday RHP Garrett Milchin (1-0, 2.03 ERA)
Big question, with no name in the Friday night slot, will we see someone else besides Sproat, maybe NesbitT? Could Sully be dropping in two new names in one weekend? That would be quite the shakeup for Sully in one weekend.

 

More on Milchin....
MILCHIN IT
In his six seasons at Florida, right-handed pitcher Garrett Milchin has made 10 starts on the mound for the Gators – but Saturday will mark his first-ever weekend and SEC start. Milchin has made two prior appearances vs. Georgia – on April 28 and 30, 2017 – pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings with two hits allowed, one walk and one strikeout.
Top-25 Florida vs. Georgia Faceoff Begins Thursday - Florida Gators

 

Barco getting the recognition he deserves.

 

Here's some interesting batting numbers I found for Georgia. They seem to not like hitting against LHP later in the order. Data was taken from their last game against Ga So.

UNI NAME ----------- AVG LHP RHP
44 B. ANDERSON ----- .356 .583 .270
15 C. TATE ------------ .344 .321 .354
6 C. COLLINS --------- .313 .367 .283
23 C. TATE ------------ .351 .214 .409
19 C. WAGNER -------- .321 .231 .349
8 P. HARBER ---------- .203 .217 .196
20 C. ROGERS -------- .247 .227 .255
28 J. MCALLISTER ---- .294 .348 .274
9 C. ACTON ----------- .266 .176 .298

Obviously you can see who Barco needs to be careful with in key situations. Anderson is a big red flag you don't want to see with runners in scoring position. Acton will be very interesting to watch how well he knows Barco's pitches just like Barco knows what Acton likes.

 

It has come to my attention that Brandon Sproat will still be our starting pitcher on Friday.