Gator Baseball 2024 OFFICIAL ROSTER/Transfer Tracker/Lineup???

His ABs have been frustrating to watch but after his post-game interview on Friday it makes a lot more sense knowing that he’s been batting with 9 (and previously 8) fingers. Hopefully this means he will become one of our best hitters as the season progresses and he recovers.

 

WOW! Some of the best discussion today that I've seen in weeks. All of these comments make good sense, even though some state the problems well without much in the way of solutions. It's not enough to recognize which players are not playing as well as we'd like, because we can only replace them with other players who also have struggled. The MSU weekend showed both growth among the young pitchers and also some limits on that growth. The young guys have had solid stretches, but oooo that lack of consistency hurts. I don't think any pitchers have fallen backwards with their performances, but the slow progress is killing me. Most of us share the fantasy that a big starting pitcher will appear midseason- now- to give the team a weekend lift. Fantasies can come true and that's a great one.

The position players are more experienced, but too many guys have cooled off against better pitching- Cjintjte- or whatever- pitched VERY well. If we run into that sort of performance, we're in trouble, but the same is true for anyone else in the SEC. We already have faced starters predicted win a lot and have beaten them and have beaten bullpens- every Gator SEC win has been a come-from-behind thing. Slumps are part of the game, but so are hot streaks and we need some hot streaks soon. CoMo as a good place to start some hot streaks, but a place where losses would hurt especially badly.

 

He still has a broken bone in his hand. Kinda hard to find fault no matter his results with that kind of fight and drive.

 

I don't know....last year he hit 297 with a 367 OB%, this year to date 290 with a 371 OB%. Pretty close and not bad given the hand injury. I guess "disappointing" that he hasn't improved his numbers, but still time for that as he gets healthier.
Now Heyman is the weird one. His batting average from last year is down 81 points, but his OB% is somehow up 14 points.

 

Nice to see that Luke McNeillie was named Freshman SEC Player of the Week for his efforts on the bump this past weekend. Tip of the cap to Luke!

 

I disagree. Kurland's struggles are directly related to the fracture in his hand. Kurland is now back to close to .300.

To me, the biggest disappointment is Heyman. Right now it's not even close. He's batting under .235 and has turned into almost an automatic out.

The biggest void in our lineup is 3B and LF. I told everyone before the season started that after we missed on Amick (NIL highest bidder won out) and Prevask transferred that we were in trouble. This was due to having to rely on Thomas at 3B. Why Sully was fooled by both Thomas and transfer Donay is beyond me. I was told by scouts that they had one type of swing that would never cut it in SEC. The only chance we have now is for Shelnut to move to 3B and Yost or Brookins take off in LF.

 

I’m still baffled by how we handled Prevesk last year. With all the non-Langford struggles we had with our outfielders’ offense I never understood why Prevesk didn’t get more playing time, especially over guys like Schiekofer. I thought Prevesk would be a shoo-in for starting LF this year. Hard to blame him for transferring and I’m glad he’s doing well at UCF.

 

Good discussion and warranted as… yes, we remain highly ranked and 6-3 in SEC action but we’ve been playing with fire of late. You can’t expect heroic endings every weekend… it will eventually catch up with us. In my view, MSU mostly outplayed us this weekend and we still won the series… in part because Cags is a beast and he got a center cut FB- crazy pitch call. Last weekend, the Saturday night win at LSU was aided by a pass ball on a strikeout. Playing with fire.

Sully has a bit of a blind spot in that he makes his choices pretty early on- on who is in and who is not and at times sticks with the decisions contrary to evidence. Prevesk a case in point last year but this year he’s stuck with veterans like Thomas, Guy and until recently Donay- when you have freshmen with talent riding the pines. Good to see Yost getting some reps, but Brookins has disappeared and Mummau who is a great fielder and contact hitter has been relegated. I saw Mummau yesterday in what I call the Tucker Talbot corner of the dugout - corralling between innings practice balls as they come back to the dugout. Sully may have to do some convincing to keep him and a few others from hitting the Portal.

On lineup: our best two hitters at this point are Cags and Evans. I like 87’s suggestion for the top half: Evans, Cags, Shelnut, Shelton…. After that whoever is hot but I’d play Shelnut at 3rd and add a LH bat in Yost in bottom half of order. Guy is less effective on D than Robertson in CF- and not sure if anyone saw it but yesterday, he threw home (with no chance) missing the cutoff man and allowing MSU runner to take second.

Weekend SP still being worked out but I’d let Peterson aim for four innings and with very short leash. On a very positive note, McNeilly coming into his own as he showed in scrimmages is great news. All still a work in progress but hey, we’re in the hunt.

 

77—

Great points throughout your post.
I agree, I couldn’t believe Cags got a middle-middle FB on a 1-2 count…

I’ll be the first to say I was demanding on Robertson defensively last year—when you see that kind of talent and it looks like it’s not selling out to make the play—well, he’s matured well past that now. Robertson is solid in the outfield and I also have to say when he looks middle-away he drives the ball better. When he pulls it then it’s generally a routine ground ball or a lazy fly ball.

I’m also all for giving Allen some starts at 3rd—a few more AB’s may wake his bat up.

I would make Heyman’s BP everything soft and away until he’s driving the ball that way—I think he’ll be fine when he sees FB.

 

Got some inside info on PC. Expect him to go two innings for a South Carolina game. They’ll be fresh innings, either a start or coming in to start an inning.

 

Appreciate the scoop! And hope we see him!

 

As of this morning, UF's team batting average is .267, next to last in the SEC. We have struck out 295 times, only South Carolina & Missouri have more. On base percentage is .384, next to last, also. We are 3rd in HR with 67. We've drawn the 3rd fewest walks with 140 and have the 2nd fewest stolen bases with 18. Our fielding is tied for 2nd best at .982. Pitching wise, we're now next to last (ahead of Auburn) in team ERA at 5.88. We're last in saves with only 3. We've walked the 2nd most batters with 144 and are 5th in K's with 344. So next to last in BA & ERA. Where do we go from here?

 

I heard a catchy song called Suicide is Painless. That seems the best option for those with hair on fire.

An alternative is to keep attending the games- the concern is from people who actually show up right? Keep donating to FL Victorious- they're doing what they can to help, right? Otherwise, keep cheering them on and see if the guys who have shown they can hit .300 or close to it start doing it again and the guys who have shown they have pitching talent do it again. I may light my hair on fire, too, someday, but it will take more bad stuff than what we have seen so far this year. I will- again- acknowledge my blind optimism, but during the 1979 FB season, I committed to never feeling bad about the Gators losing a game BEFORE they actually lose it. Their are a bunch of games left in the season that will make me feel bad if we lose them, but I'll wait to see what happens.

 

Up?

 

Hopefully. Lot of games left to play and this team has a lot of talent. We shall see, though.

 

Gomberg had surgery and is out for the season.