This is sobering. I knew it was bad, but not quite that bad. We've dropped quite a bit from even where it was a few weeks ago which was already bad. The stats say we are a bad baseball team. The good news is I do think we can turn it around, but it has to start this weekend. Against a South Carolina team with their own issues. We desperately need to win this home series, and preferably sweep.
The problem is coaching. There is no other explanation. This team is sufficiently talented, as evidenced by the historical recruiting rankings. Further, this squad has not suffered significant injuries or loss of players due to injury or other reasons. Yes, this is a young roster, but youth is more common in college baseball than in other sports. Sully needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror first and then fire the entire staff in the off-season. One needs only to compare the pre-NC rosters and end-of-season stats to the post-NC years to see in black and white the differences. I'll never stop supporting my Gators but I might start spending more time on the boat, in the RV or across the street working on my golf game.
It's not remotely that simple. Certainly blame falls on the staff when things go bad....but the players have to perform, there are in fact injuries that have hurt(Rodriguez especially, McDonald maybe), NIL/portal have greatly altered the game (so you can shoulder some blame if you aren't helping buy players), the youth is a factor with the pitchers. Add it all up and you get the mess we see.
If that guy is helping any team, it’s the one in Knoxville. The only time he stopped by last year was to tell us about attending Utoothless games. No surprise he’s back to kick us while we’re down.
Agree - These are the same coaches that led the team to the SEC title and National Runners-Up last year, right?
I disagree. Sometimes, it really is that simple. It's up to the coaches to adjust to the new world of college athletics (NIL & TP) and, of course, coach (develop) the players, make better in-game decisions, play the players that gives the team the best chance to win, etc.
If you include the post season, this program has only played even close to its talent once in the last 6 years. Last year was a great run, but look at the three years prior. And this year, young or not, what’s happening is inexcusable. There seem to be systemic problems that aren’t being addressed, not that I expect Stricklin to do anything about it.
We have 10 freshmen pitchers trying to learn on the fly, it’s not that simple. They were in high school last year at this time and it’s not the same as pitching in the SEC!! It’s a rebuilding year, learn, improve and move on!!
I didn’t call for Sully to be fired. But SS could still light a fire under him. What’s interesting is that none of the assistants that were here for our long run of CWS appearances are here anymore. So it may be that we aren’t getting what we need out of the newer coaches. Or it could be that Sully just hasn’t changed with the times enough and hired guys who bought his philosophy. Our hitting approach for example still harkens to the composite bat era, swing really really hard at anything close and hope for the best, little concept of going with pitches, hitting behind runners, making pitchers earn outs with competitive at bats, strategic outs etc. And that has been the case for many years. Even in our NC year we hit under .260, which is I think the lowest or close to the lowest ever for a national champ? So we are reliant on pitching most years to carry us, when they have a down year we get what’s happening now. If we turn it around this year and they prove me wrong, great. If Sully cleans house this off season and things are better next year, good. But whatever the root cause, things aren’t where they should be. JMO.
For the record, UF hosted a regional in 2022, hosted a regional in 2021, and were ranked #1(16-1 record) in the country when covid shut the season down in 2020. One might argue Sully has our expectations out of whack if we are using those as examples of problems A year removed from game 3 of the national finals and you expect Stricklin to do something about the coaching? What do you suggest?
Which players have they not played that give us the best chance to win? Are you privy to some amazing practice performers we haven't seen? Again, adjusting to the new world requires money. Rest assured Sully will happily take your contributions and we will have Holman on the mound Fri night rather than facing him at LSU. We will have Billy Amick hitting in the middle of the lineup rather than for your Vols. Success in the portal is now heavily tied to fan support....so look in the mirror
Can someone explain why and how we got to a point where we're using 10 freshman pitchers?? There are programs that might not even have 10 pitchers on their entire roster, and we've used 10 freshman? How you get to the point where you need to use 10 freshman pitchers??
This would be a good starting point.... 3 went pro, 6 transferred, 1 retired, 1 was hardship, and 1 signed out of HS. You would have to ask them what reasons they left other than cash. Transfer Portal/MLB Draft/Seniors Wyatt Langford OF - Drafted 1st Round by Texas - Signed Hurston Waldrep RHP - Drafted 1st Round by Atlanta - Signed Brandon Sproat RHP - Drafted 2nd Round by NY Mets - Signed Josh Rivera SS - Drafted 3rd Round by Cubs - Signed Philip Abner LHP - Drafted 6th Round by Arizona - Signed Colby Halter INF - Drafted 17th Round by Oakland - Signed Rene Lastres C - Transferred to UNC-Charlotte Salvador Alvarez C - Transferred to Florida SW State Yoel Tejeda Jr RHP - Transferred to Florida State Anthony Ursitti RHP - Transferred to Florida Gulf Coast Deric Fabian INF - Transferred to Auburn Matt Prevesk OF - Transferred to UCF Tyler Nesbitt RHP - Transferred to UCF Clete Hartzog RHP - Transferred to Troy Carsten Finnvold LHP - Transferred to UCF Chris Arroyo LHP - TP Erik Blair OF - TP Transferred to Florida SW State BT Riopelle (Sr) Richie Schiekofer (Gr) Nick Ficarrotta (Gr) Tucker Talbott (Gr) Sam Sloan???? Max Brown - TP Steven Echavarria, Milburn NJ - RHP - Drafted #72 Round 3 - Signed for 3M Stone Russell, Bradenton FL - SS - Drafted #529 18th Round - Signed for 150K
Here's an interesting stat: Slater as a starter: 3 IP, 30.00 ERA, 5.00 WHIP, .600 BAA Slater as a reliver: 27.1 IP, 2.63 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, .208 BAA Go GATORS! ,WESGATORS
Thank you Thank you Thank you I've been imagining the same. Obviously Slater must have much better numbers as a reliever and these numbers prove it.
And just for those who think some of those who transferred out would be making a major difference with this year's team, here are some facts: 1. C Rene Lastres is starting for Charlotte and hitting .215 with 3 HR, 15 RBI and 28 K's. 2. C Salvador Alvarez has started 33 games for Florida Southwestern State College and is hitting .315 with 0 HR, 15 RBI, 25 K's. 3. Yoel Tejada P has pitched in 5 games, 1 start, 6 total innings at FSU, with a 4.50 ERA, 7 BB, 7 K, 2 HBP. 4. Anthony Ursitti P has pitched in 4 games with 4 starts for Florida Gulf Coast, 12.2 innings total, 0-2 record, 8.53 ERA, 14 walks, 5 K's, 3 WP, 1 HBP. 5. Deric Fabian 3B/INF for Auburn, is fielding .925, hitting .213, 5 HR, 21 RBI, 16 BB, 21 K's. 6. Matt Prevesk OF UCF is the 1 player who I wished had stayed at Florida. He's at 21-8 UCF, hitting .372, slugging .521, 3 HR 20 RBI, 12 BB, 25 K, .439 OBP, only 1 error in the outfield. 7. Tyler Nesbitt P UCF, has appeared in 5 games, 12 innings pitched, 8.25 ERS, 6 BB, 11 K's, 3 HBP, 3 WP 8. Clete Hartzog P Troy, has pitched in 9 games, 33.1 innings, 4-2 record, 4.05 ERA, 5 HR, 15 BB, 36 K's 9. Carsten Finnvold P UCF, has not made an appearance this season 10. Chris Arroyo P - Entered the transfer portal, but appears to be unsigned, out of the game 11. Erik Blair OF/P Florida Southwestern State College - Has not pitched, but is a starting outfielder who is hitting .286, 2 HR 10 RBI, 14 BB, 21 K's 12. Sam Sloan - P - Appears to be out of baseball In summary, except for Matt Prevesk and maybe Clete Hartzog, none of these players would have helped the Gator team this year.
