Gator Baseball 2022 Roster/Lineup/Batting Order

I think 74 is on it about Abner. Its a shame we haven't seen him like he was in the fall. I'm sure Sully is not giving up on him but with so many arms stepping up right now I think Abner is better during the week and just come in for an inning at a time on the weekend. Sully should help him get some command and consistency back and then the confidence will come. Wow Deja vu.

 

Notes from Sunday vs Ga State 2/27.....
1. I kind if feel like Georgia State was our weird uncle coming for a visit and you are happy when Uncle Earl has a short stay.
2. More important I must again admit I was wrong to not think of Halter as a lead off hitter before the spring. Did I ever miss that one! Sure he's not a guy that's going to steal many bases or get on with plenty of walks but man can this kid hit. I never expected this. Props to him.
3. If you haven't looked it up, our team BA is up to .292. I guess Ga St is going to fix many teams averages this year. We shall see. We were barely over 200 after last weekend it seemed.
4. The pitching staff is stepping up and then some. It seems the middle relief guys might be our strength, except for Barco. He could be the National Pitcher of the Week again. The team ERA is now down to 2.63 and heading in the right direction.
5. This weekend will be our first real trip for all of these freshmen. I hope they bring their best game yet. Their crowed as we know will try to rattle them so our hitters will need to step up and give us some cushion.
6. I'll revisit the batting order right after this. You know me I love to tinker but why fix it if it ain't broke. Halter, Thompson, Langford, and Riopelle all had huge numbers and deserve as many opportunities as we can get them.
7. Special note on Jud. I really enjoyed his homerun today because he did exactly what he was asked to do. We had a man at third with one out so I'm sure he was asked to hit a deep fly to score the run. For the first time this season I saw him adjust his stance for a higher swing plane. I told my wife watch this ball fly, not even saying it would leave the yard, but he was going to hit it deep enough. Well as you knw he got all of it. I was good to see he could adjust back when needed. Sure he is still low on the BA but he had a good weekend with or without the home, once again proving his patience is starting to pay off.
8. Manning got through it today and earned I believe another start this Sunday. He made it through 4 innings which was the goal I said. Sure Sully wanted him to get through the 5th but it was clear he was done. I was surprised he came back out to start the 5th but Nick Fic did another amazing job with the 2 batters he faced.

 

Now for the what if batting order. Obviously Halter, Thompson, Langford, and Riopelle deserve to be in the top 5. So what do we do with the rest? Keep in mind we go to Miami so throw caution and stay with experience as Sully would do. Then recall Jud had a better weekend than Rivera with one more hit and the homerun. Both had 1 walk. We keep Deric in the 9th to protect the freshman and combine him with the top of the order. Then its just a matter of what we do with Who's on First and the combo platter at DH. Calilao swung it well on Sunday and is our best defender at first on the road. That leaves us going into this week looking like this.....

Colby Halter - .429 hottest hitter going into Miami with 8 hits this weekend
Jud Fabian - .207 got 4 hits this weekend and his sac bunt got this team going, leads the team with 5 walks
Sterlin Thompson - .419 is he really the 3rd best hitter on this team?
Wyatt Langford - .276 a force with the bat in the 4th spot is exactly what we needed
BT Riopelle - .438 rocketing up the charts to number 1 (min. 10 AB)
Josh Rivera - .269 might be our future number 2 hitter after this weekend
DH Talbott/Lastres/Prevesk - combined they are 9 for 16 - any one of these could step in
Kenny Calilao - .143 at least he made it onto the interstate
Deric Fabian - .240 he's from Ocala so he must be okay

Guscette may start on Friday with Barco pitching. If so Rivera and the DH move up and Guscette bats 7th instead of Riopelle. I haven't look into Miami's rotation to see if that could change things for the better.
Alright alright I know I didn't really tweak it much but it is Miami week and this top half of the order is working quite nicely. I expect the Miami pitching will help distinguish our true hitters a little more. Then a week from now we could really start to narrow down any changes.
Special note as of now I don't know what to expect for our Saturday starter but I'm hoping the comments around the midweek will clear things up. I'll be watching to see long Sproat throws as my first clue. I have not seen any press conference video of Sully from today. On a good note Coppola was not wearing any back treatment device during the game today.

 

Special props to BT Riopelle....
In 16 ABs this season he has only struck out 1 time and has 1 walk. This tells you with such a high batting average at .438 he is a great opportunity for the hit and run which Sully loves. This is an experienced player that will put bat on ball and move the runners up while giving you the best chance of a hit. Plus he has RF power and is perfect hitting in the 5 spot. Even if Guscette were to catch, Riopelle could still be our DH.

 

I can't say I disagree. At times he seems a man playing among boys but other times he seems lost. I'm not sure what program he grew up in but Calvary Christian has had a bunch of good players. Now can he take that to another level? For this year and this team I'm banking on BT to take us to the Big Time. Sully is a catcher at heart and looks for experience first but isn't against taking a risk as well, ala Brady Smith. History shows he'd rather have experience that commands the plate and BT has the edge. Lastres has the raw talent and if he stays with Sully he will be very valuable in a few years.

 

Barco on Friday - certainly
Manning on Sunday - headed in the right direction
Saturday -TBD

 

Looks like they are throwing Rosario on Fridays who has struggled. Palmquist goes Saturday and Garland comes in on Sunday either as starter or long relief. If that continues they are giving Barco the win on Friday and hope to take the last two.

 

Yep it all should come down to Manning and our relievers against theirs on Sunday. At least if Friday goes according to plan we have a chance to surprise them on Saturday.

 

Looks like Sproat in the picture which makes me think he is the starter for Tuesday. If they keep him to a few innings then he could come back on Saturday to start against Miami if needed, like they had Manning do last week. It should be interesting.