D1Baseball does enough Gator reporting to hook me into subscribing. Their fall report has Sully's comments on Shelton and Donay that I was happy to read. Shelton: “His hit ability is better than I thought,” said Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan. “Obviously, he hit a bunch of home runs last year. But his ability, the bat-to-ball skills are way better than I thought.” “He’s proved that he that he can handle the shortstop position so that’s a huge plus for us,” O’Sullivan said. “He spent a lot of time this summer working on his body. And it wasn’t anything that was told to him. I think he knew that when he came here, we told him we’d give him every opportunity to win the shortstop position. He’s got himself in really good shape. He’s wanted to play the middle infield. So, obviously, he’s improved drastically defensively. He’s very sure-handed. He is really accurate with his arm. As far as I’m concerned, he’ll be our shortstop. “He’s got an internal clock defensively I didn’t know he had,” O’Sullivan said. “His arm is good enough to play short. He doesn’t show it all the time. Whether he plays short at the next level is up to them, but he’s certainly good enough to play it for us. We’ve had plenty of shortstops over the years that just make play after play. That is what he does. Everybody doubted he could play short, but he’s fine.” Donay: “He’s gonna be in the lineup, catcher, DH, first base, right field,” O’Sullivan said. “He’s so dangerous. He’s got as much raw power as Jac does. The raw power is real.” That's consistent with my impressions, the difference being that I'm guessing and Sully actually knows what he's talking about. There was a very general discussion of pitchers. I found the most important points to be that Peterson is likely to break through as a weekend starter and Neely may be the closer again: “Every team in our league, when they have a real guy at the end of the game, its daunting,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s like we are playing with seven innings when you have a guy like that.” Regarding young pitchers: “Eight of the 14 pitchers (vs. Stetson) were freshmen,” O’Sullivan said. “I think we are deep. We might have to rely on the three-run homer, but I think the middle of the order is gonna hit. I do think we’ll have some length in our lineup."
Very true about Shelton's bat. I was just telling a friend at the games on Sunday that Shelton might have power but he is more impressive putting the ball in play and getting on base. He will be a huge asset in the lineup at the 2 or 3 spot depending on the pitcher we face. He is a big hit kind of player. I could see Sully moving Shelton(L) and Kurland(R) back and forth between to the 2 or 3 as needed. That is as long as Robertson(L) is the 1 and Cags(L) is the 4. Lots of momentum out there for Peterson to be a weekend starter. Makes me worry about Neely and if he is okay with another year as a closer. That's if Fisher is as strong as everyone hopes.
Is Sheldon the guy that played for Bama last year? Didn't he hit like 25 HRs last year? Glad he's working out to earn a spot in the infield for the Gators... Players that are great at both fielding and hitting are always welcome. I loved last year's team, but I think we'll be good again this year. But it's nearly impossible to get to the World Series... yet, I won't bet against Sully and his team.
87— This is just MHO but anybody that’s in the know has to know Neely’s real chance in pro ball is going to be coming out of the bullpen-might as well work on it in a favorable surrounding.
Going to be really hard to replace the leadership and talent from last year's team - Langford, Rivera, Riopelle, Halter, Sproat, Waldrep. But I believe the talent is there. Some freshmen pitchers have to come through and prove themselves from the get-go, like Logan Shore did several years back. O'Sullivan always brings in as much talent as anybody. It's just a matter of staying healthy, getting the right leadership and then having the guys step up and consistently perform at a high level. I like our chances and since there are so many unknowns I'm looking forward to watching how it plays out.
Yep, and they worked together like a well oiled machine... I will miss that team. I just hope we jell (gel) like that team did. And I agree that collection of talent will never be replaced. I just hope we play better than most other teams do this coming season. They were fun to watch and I saw ever game they showed on TV and the internet. I think I only missed the FSU game/s? One of our games was not telecast for consumers.
When Sully mentioned "Three run homers" I am thinking that he thinks we don't have a complete shutdown starting pitching staff. And that is OK as long as we hit some three run homers.
Yep, that comment stuck out to me and reflects a different approach to the game than Sully usually has - one of pitching and defense. But he knows what he has better than anyone.
