Gator Baseball 2023 Official Roster Tracker/Lineup???

Great comment about Cags really explains his troubles on Sunday. We should expect a much better representation of our SP this weekend.

 

Now that we can brush aside any FSU discussion today, Auburn used three LHP starters against Georgia last weekend. I'd love to see any updated stats out there when our hitters face LHP. If I recall that should mean Halter, Kurland, Evans, and Riopelle all hit better than average. Evans needs a good weekend and this should be the one he shows much improvement. Not many in-game stats include the pitching faced info as much. I'll try to look back last time I posted a batting comparison earlier in the year for some help.

 

Which speaks to why he hits LHP better because he has to stay with the pitch and forces him not to pull it so much when its coming from a lefty. Unless that lefty only throws him sweeping sliders in tight he can live on the outside part of the plate and drive pitches to RCF. Or maybe he will learn to take lessons from Cade Kurland.

 

On a positive note since we got rained out tonight, some of our upcoming midweeks will be against teams like BCU, FAMU, and N Fla. I'm hoping Sully will start getting some pitchers back in for longer appearances that we haven't used for awhile like Tejeda, Purnell, Jameson, Ursitti, Hartzog, and yes even Finnvold. If all goes well with a few of these and builds some confidence he might try them on a weekend or against FSU. Arroyo is a good example of this idea. He was a kid Ole Miss knew little about. He came in threw strikes and dominated his two innings, not giving up a hit or a walk, striking out 4, and even got the win. It was a big boost for the bullpen on a Sunday when Cags struggled. We are all wondering where has Ursitti been and if he is healthy. He has only pitched against USF and Jax for two outs each. Right now we only have 9 pitchers, starters included, that have totaled more than 10 innings pitched. We are going to need more experience than that to go into post season play and be ready for SECT and Regionals.

 

I am excited about this weekend to see if this team will show their readiness for SEC weekends going forward. By that I mean, do the starting pitchers stay in control for the first five innings giving up less than a few runs each and minimizing walks, does our defense cut down on errors that lead to unearned runs and stress the pitchers arms, and do we continually put pressure on Auburn getting guys on base and moving them over with timely hitting, aggressive baserunning, and sacrificial hitting. Wow that's a mouth full but all this to say can the Gators sweep or at least win the series.

I see that Auburn is flipping their pitching for the weekend and not starting their usual 3 LHP. Instead they seem to be loading up for Sunday and try to win at least one before getting on the bus. I must say that's probably a good strategy for what their record shows so far. It flips our attention who to watch for in our lineups. For instance guys like Ty Evans and Colby Halter usually hit LHP better but now Auburn looks to use RHP as starters on Friday and Saturday for short stays. Thus the bottom of our order might not support as many run scoring opportunities early in the games. But on the flip side look for Cags and Langford to have a big weekend at the plate, especially with the wind blowing out. Yeah I know that's a big reach right there Matherly (sarcasm).

As for Sunday, Auburn will probably try to put as much pressure on Cags as possible to support their chance of winning with their best pitchers. Auburn doesn't steal many bases, only 20 attempts in 25 games, but it will be interesting to see if they try some against Riopelle on Friday and Saturday to set up their approach on Sunday. If they do steal a few bases on Riopelle, I hope Sully will put Heyman behind the plate on Sunday to X-out a few baserunners for Cags. As for Cags this is a big weekend for him, not only to handle the potential pressure from Auburn, but to show he's over last weeks off performance from the schedule shakeup trying to play a doubleheader and then pitch the last game. Its important for him to settle in with control to minimize walks and build confidence while holding Auburn to as few runs as possible. Cags needs to give us a chance to win it late when Auburn starts looking for pitchers that can throw strikes late.

Sully and this team seem to be dialing it in this year and hope they make a late run. But this weekend will set the stage for the rest of the SEC season if they are still figuring it out or ready to try and win every series this season. As always its one game at time so let's go win Friday's opener before worrying about the rest.

 

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all who contributed to this year's roster thread. For me this only about increasing everyone's interest in Gator baseball. Once this season is done I'll rotate another one around to start it all over. For now I'm glad to see all the other threads that spring up the deeper we go into this season that helps build the interest level hopefully to greater things. Go Gators!

 

Time to shake things up for Saturday's game. I pretty much nailed the Friday lineup, other than swapping Halter and Robertson's spot in the batting order, but everyone else was dead on. The trouble was we played our worst game of the year almost getting run ruled. So I'm going way out on a limb and change everything we know for Saturday's game. Here's the current in conference batting averages and OB% after Friday's game. Starters in bold.

IN CONFERENCE
--------------------------AVG - OB%
Rivera, Josh -----------.379 - .419
Heyman, Luke ----------.375 - .500
Caglianone, Jac -------.321 - .387
Robertson, Michael --.308 - .419
Halter, Colby ----------.280 - .357
Kurland, Cade ---------.276 - .364
Riopelle, BT -----------.261 - .393
Prevesk, Matt -----------.200 - .182
Langford, Wyatt ------.143 - .400
Schiekofer, Richie ------.125 - .222
Shelnut, Tyler ----------.100 - .250
Evans, Ty --------------.083 - .185

Call me crazy but here goes. Keep in mind this is just shaking things up for one game.

CF - Robertson - tied for highest in-conf OB% among starters. His speed is starting to create good things, I said a few days ago this move maybe coming
SS - Rivera - Highest average batting second makes tons of sense. 2nd in HRs. 1st in stolen bases.
DH - Caglianone - nothing more to say
C - Heyman - highest OB% in-conf, highest OPS in-conf, 2nd highest average in-conf and overall, highest slugging % in-conf, give the kid a chance Sully.
LF - Langford - just a few games lower in the order to give him time adjusting back into the lineup.
3B - Halter - 280 making contact and doesn't strikeout much
2B - Kurland - 5th overall average, leadoff might not be the place for this key hitter right now. My guess he will see more productivity lower in the order.
1B - Riopelle - 261 not as much contact and strikes out a bunch
RF - Prevesk - 200 is better than 083. I respect Evans catch last night but Sunday might be a better day for Evans when they start a LHP.

I know Sully won't do hardly any of this but I wanted to get you thinking of what should we do instead of doing nothing.
Now pitching is a whole other category.

 

I certainly cherry pick a few of my stats to help prove the point. That's what stats are for, right? I agree Abner and Nesbitt are shining and we should feel good when they enter any game. Fisher seems to be on Sully's back burner since we started SEC play and keeping him to limited duty for some reason. I understand the Waldrep to Number 1 interests and I really can't argue against it. Sully has a tough decision up in Knoxville when he asks himself, who is going to give me the best chance at a win in Game 1 against Tennessee. Does he think Waldrep will handle it since he has never pitched there before or will Sproat stay under control better when the frat boys start hollering down? For now my guess is still Sproat for Game 1 but a change gonna come if things stays like it is.