Landon Russell from Gulf Coast State College commits to UF

He played 2nd base.

 

He won't play 2nd base for The Gators...

 

Kurland is a candidate for SS. I worried about his arm all season through looping throws that got runners out on close plays... but he always got them out. Late in the year, at leastthree times in the post season, he had to make sharp throws to get the out on double plays and he got the out every time. I still doubt that he will be the SS next year, but he will work out there. None of the four IF positions are set for certain, but we do have proven guys on the right side, good possibilities on the left.

Halter won 2B as a frosh, but moved to 3B because he was the best fit, and even filled in a little at SS. When Halther went to 3B, Sterlin Thompson, All SEC Frosh RF moved to 2B. Potential star SS J.India ended up at 3B, the won NL Rookie of the Year at 2B. David Eckstein was a star at 2B with Mark Ellis at SS. Both had long MLB careers, Eck at SS, Ellis at 2B. Good players uften succeed where the team needs them to play.

 

Seems like a pretty good athlete.

 

Still hoping for a pitcher.

 

But all those examples were teams with options....as it stands now we are woefully short on infield defense options. I've never seen a Sully team with such limited numbers defensively (other than catcher which we addressed perfectly)

 

I wouldn't put money on this or anything, but I still say Dale Thomas had the best range of the guys that practiced at second last year. He had a good glove and a sure arm. That doesn't make him a SS but I still feel he could play SS very well if needed. Obviously his bat is the issue but if he could start at 3rd and bat he ought to get another look at SS instead. Unless its been promised to another transfer with a better bat.

 

IMO Sully miscalculated his position players with recruiting this season. Unless we bring in a few more we are gonna to woefully short. I'm sorry but any lineup that includes Shelnut and Thomas in it will not put us back in top tier of the SEC. I felt our team this season was short a hitter. Next year we could be short 3 or 4 hitters.

 

Think we have some good power and great catching from the portal. Recent JC transfer is a good hitter than can play short and 3rd. Good depth hire. Difficult to predict roster when you have players leave for MLB, depart via portal, or new kids that never make it in campus

 

Except in this instance we really had no surprises to the roster other than Russell signing. No real departures that were unexpected, and the inbound portal availability was really strong at one point

 

Rivera had a rocket for an arm at SS but I never thought he had enough range. With his arm and a lot of range we are talking HOF.

 

Huh? I'll disagree. So does mlb.

 

What do you all think was the reason for Rivera’s offensive explosion this year?

 

Personally I think his pitch recognition got a lot better and with that he was able to instill into himself more patience during his AB’s. Plus his weight room work paid dividends as he was obviously stronger this past season.

 

I dont know why Shelnut is not included in mix for 3B. I thought that was his natural position. If so, he could become a serious hitter in lineup. I didn't think he was a bad hitter. Players improve.

 

That is still a possibility. I think for now it's because we lack more outfielders than infielders. I'm fine if he ends up at third as long as we get a better player for the outfield.

 

My two things were Leadership and better patience at the plate. His leadership caused him to fully buy into the year and the result was a better focus in every detail.

 

I think the Baseball portal closes tomorrow. I have no access to see how many unsigned players are still in the portal. I did check on Alabama star pitcher Luke Holman and it's reported that he's down to 3 schools - Tennessee, LSU & Mississippi State. I was hoping we could land another stud pitcher and a big hitter for the offense, but have no idea if O'Sullivan is in contact with anyone else at this point.

 

D1Baseball keeps a portal tracker on which a huge majorit- hundreds- have not signed. Most of these are lower level programs implying Gators would not have looked at them out of HS, but now they are more mature and have college level credentials against more mature competition. Certainly there gold nuggets among that remainder, but spotting them is the hard part.