Gator Baseball 2023 Official Roster Tracker/Lineup???

Clete Hartzog needs to see more midweek game action (only 2 midweek games left) and more spot opportunities on the weekend games when the score allows it. I think he's an arm that could be developed for next year if he will come back and give us another try. It just doesn't seem like he's been given much of a chance this year.

 

Here are, as of 4/19, the current pitchers with ERAs under 5.0. I posted this weeks ago as a way to compare improvements. These are numbers on the full season so far. Tejeda, Arroyo, Purnell, Jameson, and Finnvold did not make it under the mark. 11 pitchers are represented even though Ursitti has only pitched 1.1 innings.

Player...................... ERA WHIP W-L APP-GS.. IP B/AVG
Waldrep, Hurston.... 4.15 - 1.31- 6-1 - 9-9 ---- 52.0 .216
Caglianone, Jac....... 4.74 - 1.42-- 4-1 - 9-9 ---- 38.0 .181
Sproat, Brandon...... 4.96 - 1.14- 5-1 -- 9-9 ---- 49.0 .181
Ursitti, Anthony....... 0.00 - 0.75-- 0-0 - 2-0 ---- 1.1 .200
Abner, Philip............ 2.41 - 1.45-- 3-0 - 14-0 -- 18.2 .225
Nesbitt, Tyler........... 2.89 - 1.29-- 1-0 - 8-3 ---- 18.2 .247
Slater, Ryan............. 3.34 - 1.11-- 5-0 - 11-2 -- 29.2 .212
Hartzog, Clete.......... 3.38 - 1.50-- 1-0 - 5-0 ----- 5.1 .158
Fisher, Cade............. 3.86 - 1.38-- 3-0 - 13-1 -- 21.0 .256
Neely, Brandon........ 4.68 - 1.44-- 0-1 - 17-0 -- 25.0 .250
Ficarrotta, Nick........ 4.88 - 1.25-- 0-0 - 14-0 -- 24.0 .263

Notes: Waldrep looks to be separating himself as a starter. These numbers keep going up and down but he's showing the most consistency by far. Slater is really the grinder of the relievers at 29 innings and the lowest WHIP, not including the unknown Ursitti. 29 innings in 11 appearances is almost 3 innings per relief which is huge on this pitching staff. He deserves the 5 wins as well. Hartzog and Ursitti look like good possibilities to continue to develop but we see very little of either. Ursitti was mentioned as warming up against FAMU but never took the mound. If anyone has any info on Ursitti I would greater appreciate it. Neely's number are a bit inflated because of the trouble on Friday against Georgia. Plus several of the games he has entered are not save opportunities, but only to close out the victory quickly, by throwing strikes and seeing how hard they can hit. That is he has given up some runs when the games didn't matter early in the season. A quick look at the In Conference stats shows only 4 pitchers (Slater, Nesbitt, Abner, and Waldrep) have ERAs under 5.0. We've got several guys that have been victims of bad outings that have elevated their ERAs. On the season our team ERA is 4.89 and In Conference its 5.54.

 

31-7 vs 23-15....

That's the difference from this year to last year. That's an 8 game improvement but a significant difference in the perception of this team. Yes we still have a few wrinkles to be ironed out and some keep on reminding us of last year. But if we continue to get better like last year's team, this team will have a much greater upside in the end.

The game is different. The ball is different and probably the bats too. Players are getting paid better. Private development has increased. Some of the coaching changes have helped. But these changes now seem to be in our favor. Not long ago that's what many people were saying about the advantages Vanderbilt had.

This year's team has a better collection of experienced pitchers in the bullpen, a few new healthy arms to sprinkle in, and even a couple of potential arms to help us improve next year. Most all the players are back that played the field from last year has helped tremendously, only 2B and CF needed replacements and boy how the freshmen have stepped up. We have better backups at every infield position and a few really good hitters that can't even make the everyday lineup.

Even more important, this team has better leadership and team chemistry thanks to Rivera, Riopelle, and guys on the bench like Tucker Talbott. I think of the relationship I see between Rivera and Fabian. It doesn't matter which one is out there they are still hanging out together and cheering the other on. That kind of chemistry will usually pay late in the season when you really need it. Last year when the chips were down the team seemed scattered. This year's team is probably setting records for late game comebacks.

The coaches are engaged better. Remember all that coach Sully went thru over the last year. Guys like Mike Rivera are coming back to lead this team on the sidelines. Other players are staying with the team to become coaches themselves. Remember a year or two ago when the pitching coach would make mound visits and Sully only came out to make changes. You haven't seen any of that this year.

So where will an 8 game improvement take us this year? Quite possibly to a super regional host if we can figure out how to survive weekends against South Carolina, Texas A&M, Missouri, Vanderbilt, and Kentucky. Just remember this year's schedule has a tougher second half than last year's late season run we were able to make. The unknown is can we step it up another notch later in the season when it really counts? Go Gators

 

I know I'm being picky and trying to get around the rules but every time I read something about Nelly's suspension it always says a 4 game suspension. But it doesn't say 4 consecutive game suspension. If that were the case he could pitch 1 or 2 games this weekend and sit out the Tuesday game and another game or two next weekend. I know it ain't happening but if it were Florida State they would claim Winston sat out games in another sport as his suspension. Maybe Neely needs to take up Golf or Tennis.

 

Hey @diamondguy what's with the disagree bacon. I'm just trying to point out a discrepancy in the suspension information. Do you not like the humor or are you just a Jameis Winston fan? I'm really not trying to be critical, only offering a possible work around if the rules are open to other possibilities. The golf or tennis idea is a slam on Winston taking a suspension in baseball games for infractions as a football player.

 

It's not a strike issue because Hartzog has 11 strikeouts against the 19 batters he has faced. That's the best ratio by any pitcher on the team no matter a starter or reliever. I think he could be a strikeout specialists down the stretch if needed. Then again he has given up 5 walks which is a little high. So maybe he can make the batter's miss but doesn't keep it over the plate enough.

Not to get long here that I'm known for, but Hartzog came in here with plenty of people saying he could be Florida's closer or even become a starter with high hopes out of Wallace JuCo. When I saw him at practice I said no he's not that and said he was overrated. Now I'm trying to give him a chance to find his niche to help this team even more.