Gator Baseball 2022 Roster/Lineup/Batting Order

SCOOP:@GaStateBaseball has hired @GatorsBB assistant Lars Davis as its hitting coach, sources tell
@d1baseball
Davis, who excelled in the volunteer role for the #Gators, spent the last seven seasons on Kevin O’Sullivan’s coaching staff. #FunBelt

 

I’m more inclined to think that the number of hits we gave up with two strikes ( a lot of times with two outs no less ) on opposing hitters in 2021 is as bad as it seems even though I have not seen any numbers tallied…….

It was almost unbelievable how many times we caved in while we were in pitcher’s counts.

 

Now that would be arduous to calculate. Historically, Sully is diametrically opposed to walks and thus continuing to pound the zone with 2 strikes has likely been a Sully trait. The problem I see is the fastball from Leftwich, Mace, Scott, Specht, etc just doesn’t have a ton of movement. All of them bring it at 95+ but it has no depth and in/out movement unlike Singer throwing at 92-94 with lots of movement.

I also don’t have the numbers but MLB has become incredibly reliant on offspeed. 50% of pitches or more are offspeed. I don’t feel UF uses secondary pitches at that level. I feel like they pitch off the fastball. You saw from Kopps that offspeed is just harder to hit even if you know he is throwing it.

 

Or Byrne. He didn’t throw anything fast, but everything moved and came in at different speeds.

 

Good points throughout Greg—

I know that Sully has no real place in his game plans or his system to tolerate walks. Truthfully, I don’t know anyone that does from the defensive side of the game.

I even understand his drive to “pound the zone” with two strikes—that said, our 2021 staff had a bad habit of making that pitch belt high in the heart…..I’m not thinking that was Sully’s intent.

No, you don’t gain anything from throwing a pitch so far out of the strike zone that the hitter can discount it as soon as it leaves the pitcher’s hand. Any pitch that’s traveling head high, to bouncing in front of the plate, to being caught in the opposite batter’s box falls into this category.

That leaves a lot of strike zone besides the “X” in the heart to work with. If our guys are going to be really successful they are going to have to learn how to pitch in that zone….Michael Byrne comes to mind if you’ll remember how he attacked the zone—rarely was he in the heart of the plate.

 

I saw far too many "waste pitches" that made no sense as they were way off the zone and not even close to tempting-- also agree that far too many pitcher's counts were followed by a center cut.
On the whole, I simply did not see a lot of player development despite pretty solid recruiting classes in past few years and that folks is on the coaching staff. It was a strange year in that Sully at times seemed less than fully engaged at times--not sure if others see that.

On another issue-- Rocker negotiated $6.M bonus from Mets- $1.3 above slot. Not bad.

 

Yeah, I get what you're saying. This year I saw a lot of "surprised disgust" looks on O'Sullivan's face, like "Who are these guys? This isn't how they played over the winter!!" Something was just off about the whole season to me.

 

On the Rocker side of your post—all that means to me is well, the Mets will short somebody else down the line.

 

74, Yes, I get that, but Mets know they got a steal on their 10th pick. With some fine tuning, I see Rocker in the show in a year or so and contributing big time in 2023. Size and pedigree and all the tools nd is needed is the the challenge. Mets got a deal and were willing to pay. I would have chosen Rocker over Leiter and sense KR he will be better in the long haul.

 

I’d have to say “we’ll see” on that one. I feel like Leiter is the more mature pitcher at this point. Both have as good a chance as anyone.

Rocker will not have the luxury of professional hitters swinging at the slider in the LH batter’s box.
Wish them both good luck.

 

74,
I see your point. J. Leiter may be the more mature pitcher and had Al Leiter helping along the way- that's fair to say. But Rocker's size and upside potential under pro coaching is considerable. That said, I agree, "we'll see" that's the beauty of baseball, you never know. My point is that Mets were very pleased to have KR still on the board at #10 and were eager to pay.

 

Agreed. Also unlikely that mlb umpires are going to force hitters to swing at sliders a foot outside. He’s gonna have to learn how to pitch around bats AND stay in the zone. The dozen or so games I watched him play, he never really had to do that.

 

Agreed. And to add to your point by the end of the college season every time I saw Rocker pitch his FB was pretty well sitting 92-94. That’s average in today’s MLB world. That spells locate-locate-locate.

Again, we’ll see….

 

Great post

 

The younger Fabien comes to us as a shortstop. That is the position that the best ballplayer on a high school team usually plays. Mickey Mantle and Ernie Banks were high school shortstops and nobody thinks of them as shortstops.

While he might be a great collegiate SS he might be a better player elsewhere. Shortstops have a lot of different talents that translate to a lot of different positions. They can play most anything other than catching, pitching or first base with just that skill set.

 

Or, outfielder.

He has the speed to play OF.

Not quite as fast as his brother but not too far off.

This incoming class is oozing with speedy outfielders. Will be fun to watch it all play out.

The Fabians parents say Derek is the better hitter.

 

Florida baseball's Josh Rivera looks for more consistency in 2022

 

Jack Leftwich has signed with the Indians for a bonus of $167,000.

 

Kris played some SS in HS as well.

 

Wow, doesn't seem like all that much considering expectations.