Gator Baseball 2023 Official Roster Tracker/Lineup???

And the current In Conference batting stats....

Player ---------------------- AVG - OB%
Rivera, Josh --------------- .407 - .471
Caglianone, Jac ----------- .333 - .380
Langford, Wyatt ---------- .286 - .508
Heyman, Luke ------------- .281 - .395
Halter, Colby -------------- .273 - .349
Robertson, Michael ------ .268 - .369
Kurland, Cade ------------- .258 - .333
Prevesk, Matt ------------- .240 - .259
Riopelle, BT --------------- .234 - .455
Shelnut, Tyler ------------ .200 - .333
Schiekofer, Richie ------- .111 - .200
Evans, Ty ------------------ .093 - .170

Notes: Its interesting the drop off everyone is having except Rivera. The dude is doing everything except pitch. Langford and Riopelle continue to have lower numbers at the plate but are getting on base with more walks than hits. BT has the most strikeouts in conference but 2nd and 3rd are Robertson and Kurland. Perhaps their freshmen campaigns are getting more difficult for them. One disturbing number is Langford only has 3 RBIs in SEC games. I get that walks are not a good way to help your RBI numbers but we should be getting more out of our leadoff or second spot in the order getting runs across the plate. Sure he's 3rd on the team scoring runs but he's not producing runs. I mean even Matt Prevesk has 7 RBIs in the SEC and he doesn't play much. I'd still like to see a batting order this weekend like this...

Rivera - R
Langford - R
Caglianone - L
Heyman - R
Halter - L
Kurland - R
Riopelle - L
Evans/Prevesk - R/L
Robertson - L

 

Disagree all you want people but here goes. Its just one person's opinion like your own. If you want my advice I'll give it but if you don't then start your own thread that covers the last 10 months of Gator Baseball.

I took a deep dive to make sense of the changes needed in the batting order. I've been sitting back a week now pondering my own and watching plenty of you take the plunge. I tried to incorporate Sully's intentions and how the stats have evolved over the last month. Sully's lineup since day one has kept Langford/Caglianone/Rivera together no matter where they fall in the lineup because of the challenge they face to opposing pitchers. Most all SEC games have kept Langford in the leadoff as some here have pushed for. But the last two midweek games Sully has detoured with the leadoff putting Robertson there last week (FAMU) and Kurland there this week (UNF). Also several players have started in RF. So Sully is looking for some changes it seems. Cags looks to be the only good LHH we have but Sully keeps Riopelle batting after Rivera which has resulted in little productivity. But there may be another LHH that could step up.

I started by comparing SEC batting averages and On Base % of 5 Gator players (Langford, Rivera, Robertson, Kurland, and Halter) so far this season and narrowed that down to the last 3 SEC weekends. I'm trying to find any trends these players are showing why they should leadoff. Granted the smaller the sample size the less accurate the data becomes but it can show which bats might be hot right now or who is handling the tougher SEC games better. Recall the last three weekends we were at Tennessee, home Georgia, at South Carolina. To spare you the spreadsheets, they showed Kurland is the one with increasing numbers, up almost 80 points BA and 25 point OB%, the last three SEC weeks verses the SEC season. All four others have dropped.

I also took into account walks and HBP over the last 3 weekends since Langford gets so many walks (9) and Kurland gets the most HBP (3). They came out identical at .429 which was surprising to say the least. But again Kurland's number is going up and Langford's is going down from its lofty .473 on the season as expected. So many might say Kurland should leadoff and I'd be fine with either one, the hot bat or the experience of Langford.

Here's the biggest stat that no one has brought up, Langford's RBIs in the SEC. If you haven't looked Langford in SEC games this season has 3 homeruns and only 3 RBIs in 53 at bats. He has played in 15 of 18 games. He hasn't hit another Gator baserunner home in any SEC game yet this season. Sure you can say he's the leadoff so he's not going to get many RBIs. Okay but not every time he gets up as the leadoff. By comparison Luke Heyman has 41 at bats and 17 RBIs. If you need to know Kurland has 72 at bats and 17 RBIs. Matt Prevesk, for crying out loud, has only 25 at bats, less than half of Wyatt's, and 7 RBIs that more than doubles his number. So hopefully you see some evidence that shows Langford's bat has not been productive as we would hope, other than getting walks. And yes I have that number as well. He has 14 hits in SEC play as compared to 20 walks. Granted he gets on base as much as Kurland and even more than every one else the last three weeks. So leadoff isn't such a bad thing for Langford either. But he's not helping other Gators score either.

A quick note that Robertson's and Halter's numbers have continued to fall so they shouldn't even be in consideration for leadoff any more in my opinion. Also Rivera continues to be the most productive batter in the lineup coming in the top three on the team in almost every category. More on Rivera coming up. One point on Robertson here, two weeks ago I found that Robertson was our second best hitter with Runners On Base, with Rivera leading. Since then Robertson had the game winning hit against Georgia which was predictable by the stats. He has not become the base stealer I thought but he has become a key hitter.

So what becomes of Sully's terrific trio of Langford, Cags, and Rivera. Upon further review, the top three Gator hitters, in SEC play from their OPS numbers, are Rivera (1.140), Cags (1.121), and Heyman (1.091). Langford is number 5 after Kurland, interesting. Point is Cags is not protecting Langford's spot before him in the lineup. Possibly teams still remember he hit 26 last year and are pitching him away? But why do they put him on in front of Cags does not make sense. So in mine opinion Langford is just being more patient and more selective at the plate and allowing them to walk him if he can get it. That said it opens the door for Sully improve the lineup.

So here's my idea how Sully should adjust the batting order.

Kurland (R) 1A - (hotter bat .355 last 3 weekends) or Langford 1B (more experience but only .250 last 3 weekends) take your pick
Rivera (R) - let Cags start protecting his bat and he might end up even more productive instead of Riopelle
Caglianone (L) - homerun king batting third can lead to more 3 run homeruns hopefully
Heyman (R) - keep the 3 best hitters together and Luke can protect Cags
Langford (R) or Kurland - your choice but opposite of leadoff
Robertson (L) - team's second best hitter with ROB and bats left to replace Riopelle
Riopelle (L) - down in the order he goes
Thomas (R) - somebody other than Evans at this point, also wonder if Shelnut can play in RF, Evans in late as a defensive specialist
Halter (L) - back to last in the order like last year

So there you have it. I don't think Sully would like that 3 of the last 4 bat left but Halter, Riopelle, and Robertson are difficult to replace and if you keep them any higher it leaves holes in the order. Maybe by putting them together they can work at forcing an extra run across every once in awhile. In contrast the top 6 could really generate some big innings and cause opposing pitchers plenty of problems. But what do you care, its just my opinion people.
Go Gators!