Gator Baseball 2023 Official Roster Tracker/Lineup???

Langford at leadoff has 2 negatives. First, to start here is nobody on base when he comes to bat in the first. Second, during the game whenever he bats, he is batting after #s 8 and 9 spots, not better hitters and OBP. So WL should bat 2nd or 3rd. He needs to bat when here is a better chance that someone is on base.

 

I agree with you....that us if we have someone who can fill the lead off spot and someone behind him to protect him. If we don't then i say leave him at lead off. The Langford and Thompson combo last year is what made our offense tick.

 

Yes if Halter stays hot ....he bats 1st then Langford 2nd. But what worries me is it puts pressure on him to "perform" out the gate. Maybe let him get 12 to 15 games in and work back to top?

 

I agree completely. It's why I hope the lineup starts with Halter, Wyatt, Jac, Evans, BT then Rivera. That is L R L R L R.
That's hard to pitch around.

 

I'll be interested to see how Richie Schiekofer handles SEC pitching. He's a veteran guy who wouldn't have come to Florida unless he thought he was going to start and be a major contributor. He's been productive everywhere he's been. Could he start out at #1 or #2 in the batting order, or will he be slotted down around 7 or 8?

 

There were some transfers from smaller schools that did very well last year. Sonny D obviously being a terrific example. BT being another. Between Thomas and Richie, I am very curious if the “trend” continues.

If Coastal Carolina can become the Gators’ farm team, I would be ok with that!!! You could have a far worse farm system.

 

Greg—

Back in the ‘90’s Chipola and USCe had several players moved back and forth between them. Good first year baseball players that were struggling in the classroom at USCe came to Chipola to get their grades up while playing a good brand of competitive baseball.

In turn Ray Tanner started taking a closer look at Chipola’s players ready to move on to the D-1 level. IMHO that took mutual respect between Coach J (Jeff Johnson) at Chipola and Ray Tanner at USCe.

 

I see alot of upside with Fabian II. And I can see why he got that to get his brother to stay. Let's see how it plays out. Still early. Sully does play the long game.

 

Jim Toman had a big hand in that. He was key to Tanner's success.

 

Yep, he was their head recruiter and a great guy to boot….

 

Agree - And I'm still thinking Deric will find a spot somewhere in this year's starting lineup. There will definitely be more competition this year, though, and several more options for O'Sullivan.

 

Per his parents Derec is a better hitter than Jud so....

 

it also has positives, 1. Langford sees better pitching to start game(how many homeruns did he hit first inning after move to top?) Pitchers have it drilled in them to not walk the lead off man so imagine what kind of pressure does the SEC homerun leader, a guy who gets on Base 50% the time and has wheels, put on opposing pitchers?? 2. Your BEST hitter gets more AB's in the course of the game and season.
yes in a perfect world he bats 3rd and there are two men on base and 0 outs or 1 man on 2nd or third with 1 out.......BUt you have to have the right players/line up. If Bradfield was on the Gators, no doubt he bats in the lead off and WL 2nd or third


and here are some #'s to back my point: last year WL (clean up) hit 13 homeruns and had 42 rbi. in first 40 games, thats .325 homeruns per game and 1.05 RBI per game

in the last 26 games he hit 13 HR and .807 rbi per game. thats a homerun everyother game... .5 per game. by my math if he hit lower all year he only gets 6 more RBI and less homeruns. By the way alot of homeruns in first 40 I remeber were solo hrs so thats not an argument. Seems we need a High on base % 9 hole and leave him at top

final note, pitchers and teams had no idea about him first half of season But were WELL AWARE of him 2nd half of season. I think pitching to him was more cautious as season went on, but being in lead off helped him see better pitches. So if you move him down without players ahead that can PRESSURE the pitcher, he sees worse pitching and his numbers fall for the chance for a few more rbi? put a good 9 hole in a problem solved

 

Simply put - I'd rather have power hitter Langford coming to bat with runners on base.

 

I don’t disagree with the vast majority of this. Thanks for putting the numbers out there.

My only response would again be A-Rod didn’t lead off. Nor did Junior. Or Trout. Or Judge. Etc. Wyatt is UF’s Trout (maybe the nation’s Trout). George Springer is the only “dude” I can think of that leads off and even he had Altuve/Correa/Bregman or Guerrero Jr behind him so there was always another comparable “dude” later. UF doesn’t have a 2nd Wyatt.

 

A rod, trout, judge, etc are pure power guys. WL hits for average, with power, and is a terror on the base paths. Different animals.

That being said, I would like him at 3rd or 4th in the lineup if we have some guys that can get on base in front of him.

 

I chose A-Rod and Trout specifically for that reason: They aren’t power only guys. Trout had 30 or more steals in 3 seasons. Led the league one year. He also has a career .303 batting average.

A-Rod had a number of seasons with 20+ and one with 46 stolen bases. His career batting average was .295.

Trout is now power only but he wasn’t for the first 7-8 years and A-Rod was the same. When you get beyond 30, SBs are rare unless your name is Rickey Henderson.

For context, Junior had 184 SBs and A-Rod had 329 SBs. Trout is currently at 204 but he has slowed down a ton recently. Alfonso Soriano had 289 career SBs despite 5 seasons over 30. A-Rod was a terror on the bases.

 

What I am saying is.... until someone steps up, I put the guy who Strikes out the least, has most hits, puts ball in play, most homeruns, most extra base hits and OBP% .100 higher than the rest, in my lead off.

Also by stats i showed above, WL hits like he did the last 26 games (in lead off) in the first 40 games....HE HAS 7 or 8 MORE HOMERUNS on the season! yikes

forget his power for a minute ..... If I tell you to make out a line up, and you have a guy who has more extra bases than anyone and gets on base more than anyone, strikes out the least and puts ball in play more than rest and can fly on bases............ are you not gonna put him in lead off?

BUT yes, if we have a player step up that can get on base .400 or better, hits some extra base hits and can run the bases some, move him down to 2 hole. If we small balled more then I would say 3 hole but we dont bunt.