Gator Baseball 2023 Official Roster Tracker/Lineup???

My reflections going into this weekend.....
1. This is an important weekend for several reasons. First much of the numbers in batting and pitching we have been wondering about will start to settle out after this weekend. We will have completed one home series and and one away series. This will start to give us trends into who is hitting SEC pitching well and who is dropping. Plus we will see if Sproat is All SEC caliber and if our two other weekend starters are ready to step up when faced with SEC action on the road.
2. This might be most important going into the weekend. Our number 1 goal is win an SEC game on the road. The old one game at a time mentality. Only then do we start to work on winning an SEC series on the road. If we are winning Game 1 expect Sully to throw only the best at them to assure the win. That should mean arms like Abner, Slater, Neely, and maybe Fisher. Hopefully the fewer the better. Ultimately we hope we win every SEC series for our end of year record but its one game at a time.
3. Will we get any updates on any injured players? Think of who we are and then add in Langford, Heyman, Prevesk?, Coppola, Clemente, etc. Sure several of them may never play but our potential could be great if we ever get there.
4. Does Ole Miss really have pitching problems enough so we get the jump on them every game? All three of their starters have ERAs above 5.40 so they will really try to protect their arms. If so this adds to the build up if our bullpen can truly hold them long enough to win all three. At this point I still say doubtful until proven otherwise.
5. Can we get back home with a 4-2 or better record? Basically the goal should be to win every series even if its 2-1. Do that and you end up 20-10 in the SEC which gets you a top 8 Regional host just about every year.
6. How does this team react to hostile SEC crowds? We got a nice taste of that Tuesday night in Tally but now its three days, or two, in a row. I expect we do well since most of this team came back intact from last year. The only new faces that didn't play last year is Kurland and Robertson. Cags is new on the mound this year and should be past any crowd issues, but we only have a few freshmen pitchers that are in line for weekend opportunity.
7. Waldrep is going back to Mississippi to face Ole Miss again for the third time since last year. Reminder he pitched at Southern Miss last year. After last week I expect a vastly different pitcher ready to compete against every batter faced. His determination should be at its peak so let's watch what he is capable of. If the scouts say he is first round material, then this is where he should shine.
8. We are facing mainly RHP so Sully should have our hitters ready for what's coming in the first two games. Without their Friday night guy, they have fewer choices to go to, the deeper into the series. So Game 1 is more important how many pitchers they use and how quickly they change them out. Let's just hope we jump on them first to add pressure how they react to stay in the game.
9. Sully hasn't had much success at Oxford. Can he beat the numbers with this improved team or does Ole Miss really have an advantage at home? My guess Sully cares the least about his record and more about who wants to play and how his pitchers are performing.
10. Lastly, Swayze Field is smaller than this team is use to, 380 straight, 365 gaps, 330 down the lines. So our outfielders should cover most of the ground more easily. There doesn't seem to be much room in foul territory either. If the wind is blowing out, it should favor the team that is hitting better, especially the team that is top 2 in the nation in HRs. All we have to do is take advantage of it. And as everyone knows, that's easier said than done.

 

I must say I am perplexed at what Sully will do with the batting order putting Langford at the DH. Will he go back to how it was starting off Kurland, Langford, Cags. Rivera, Riopelle or will he keep Robertson leading off, who is 4th among starters in OB% and leads this team in walks, and back up everyone else one spot? Or he might try Langford further down in the order to see how it goes for a game or two, then put him back up to second in the order. My guess is Langford is right back in there batting second and Robertson will be in the lower third of the order. I'm just glad Sully more more pieces to play with again.

 

These were my first notes when I started this thread and some of the guesses from June 12, 2022. I do go back and keep updating the lineup as a tracker thru the season if anyone needs a refresher on page 1. You make enough guesses, you're bound to get a few right. I've added comments in bold...

Notes:
If Luke Heyman gets here I expect him to start at catcher but I'm leaving Lastres there until we know more about his recovery.
I guess I can say I got it right but that wasn't much of a stretch given his high interests.
You can see we have somewhat of a hole in backup infielders. Look for us to add 1-2 in the portal or late JuCo.
We did add a few in Shelnut and Thomas. I got some help on this one.
Everything I've read on Tejeda sounds great and makes me think he has a shot at starting this year. If not I'd like to see Robertson playing in left.
Does Langford move from LF to CF? I think he would be great covering all that space so sure let's see him take Jud's acre of land.
Doubled up on this one. Tejeda has already started two midweeks and Robertson got an OF position, even though I missed where WL ended up.
One predicament we have Caglianone, Isaac, and Moran all throw and bat LH all going to try and play 1B. Isaac sounds like a high level hitter like Cags so where else could one of them play other than Cags on the mound? My guess Cags starts at first when he is not pitching and Isaac covers first when Cags is on the mound.
Cags has played mostly at first for the first half. Isaac went 1st round and Moran never made it. Isaac would have been special if he came.

 

Notes after the Ole Miss weekend....
1. So many positives getting the sweep. Our top 5 regular hitters in SEC play are Rivera .440, Kurland .320, Cags .292, Robertson .273, and Halter .261. Honorable mention to Heyman at .750 for going 3 for 4 today. More importantly is the OB% of our regulars leading the way in SEC play with Rivera at .481, Robertson .407, Kurland .393, Cags .370, and Riopelle .360.
2. Surprisingly our team BA in conference is only .262 which speaks to the up and down days some of our guys are having mainly Evans, Riopelle, and the backups. Shout out to Cade Kurland for leading this team in SEC RBIs with 10. Next closest player is at 6.
3. And now for the pitcher that leads the Gators after 6 conference games. It's none other than Philip Abner who has not given up and earned run in 4.2 innings. Three other pitchers have 0.0 ERAs but fewer innings. They are Arroyo, Fisher, and Purnell with none of them even giving up a run.
4. Josh Rivera failed to get on base on Sunday which ended his team leading streak of games getting on base. That streak now goes over to Michael Robertson who has made it safely on base in every game he has started and a streak of 23 games. I'm telling ya, the kid might not be the best hitter, but he finds ways to get on base, as evident being second on the team in OB%.
5. Props to Sully for playing Prevesk in both games on Saturday, who got two productive hits, with two RBIs, scored a run, and even got a sac fly. Sully also played Heyman on Sunday with instant results playing catcher with two homeruns and a good day behind the plate. You might recall Ole Miss stopped trying to steal as often as when Riopelle was at catcher. The key was Sully was putting the right guys in there at the right places when it mattered.
6. Props to the bullpen who limited the Ole Miss bats enough when it mattered. Sully went with most of the obvious arms and spread them out enough to get thru the 3 games in 2 days. I really liked that Sully gave Arroyo and Purnell an appearance and got them out before anything went wrong. This is what I was hoping to see as a way to build some confidence with guys that had struggled and not pitched in awhile. Perhaps we will see Tejeda on Tuesday against FSU.
7. Are the starters concerning anyone yet? Sully said they have some things to work on. Good thing nobody was a disaster, even though it seemed close many times over. Let's pause on this one and see how they do when they come back home against Auburn this weekend. Then we can all panic together before they go to Knoxville before facing the Frat Boys. My money is on Sproat up in Knoxville on a Thursday night, so calm your fears and watch for the drag marks.
8. Let it be know that Robertson is our centerfielder. He's starting to get use to college baseball by making game changing plays. The good news he should only get better and hopefully next year his bat will be more effective.
9. Evans is only hitting .095 in the SEC. He had 2 hits in 21 ABs. Call him a defensive specialist if you want, but his bat will need to improve or else Sully will make a change. Can anyone say Prevesk....Sure he is only hitting .200 in the SEC but he looked like he can play the outfield as good as most.
10. This might be a little ray of hope for our pitching. Overall we have a team ERA of 4.52. So far in SEC games our ERA is 4.33. So there's evidence we have improved against tougher competition. For those that care our WHIP is slightly the opposite at 1.29 overall and 1.31 in the SEC, a negligible number to say the least.

 

After Week 2 in the SEC here are our In Conference batting numbers....

Heyman, Luke .750 (only 4 ABs) 3 hits including 2 HRs, that will do just fine
Rivera, Josh .440 - the only starter that has increased his overall batting average in SEC play
Kurland, Cade .320 - 3 HRs for a HS Senior against SEC pitching in 25 ABs and most RBIs in conference games, works for me
Caglianone, Jac .292 - 4 HRs in 24 ABs is 1 in every 6
Robertson, Michael .273 - the Base on Balls leader with 5, who da thunk it, his 6 hits is 4th among starters
Halter, Colby .261 - holding his own is good
Riopelle, BT .238 - yep you guessed it our SO leader and it's not close with 10
Prevesk, Matt .200 - had a few other hard hit balls but only got credit for 2 hits in 10 ABs, I'm just glad he got a chance
Langford, Wyatt .167 - pass
Schiekofer, Richie .125 - nuttin special so far
Shelnut, Tyler .100 - same
Evans, Ty .095 - ouch he's not even on I95, he's on SR 95, small sample size sure but we've seen this one coming, hopefully Auburn fixes the problems
Thomas, Dale .000 (only 1 AB) - pass

2023 Baseball Cumulative Statistics - Florida Gators

 

Here's some interesting stats for those who really like to dig in and compare UF around the league. I will say we are Top 5-6 in many team hitting and pitching categories but almost dead last in fielding. Surprisingly our team ERA is 5th in the league, that's earned runs not total runs.
SEC Baseball - More Information and Media Downloads

 

Here's how the main hitters did last week at FSU and at Ole Miss....

Caglianone - .611 - 11-18 - 8 RBIs
Rivera ------ .333 -- 6-18 -- 4 RBIs - 1 walk
Prevesk ---- .300 -- 3-10 -- 3 RBIs
Kurland ---- .263 -- 5-19 -- 7 RBIs - 2 walks
Riopelle ---- .250 -- 4-16 -- 3 RBIs - 3 walks
Evans ------ .235 -- 4-17 -- 2 RBIs
Halter ------ .235 -- 4-17 -- 3 RBIs - 3 walks
Robertson -- .188 -- 3-16 -- 2 RBIs - 4 walks
Langford --- .167 -- 2-12 -- 1 RBIs - 3 walks

Huge week by Cags of course but 11 times on base tops them all. Several keys here, 5 other players combined hits and walks to get on base at least 7 times. They are Rivera, Kurland, Riopelle, Halter, and Robertson. That's how you add up the runs by getting on base. Also on the week, Evans did as good as Riopelle and Halter getting 4 hits, which is not good but not as bad as his .095 conference average looks. Robertson may never have a great batting average but he continues to show he is on base as much as anybody. This team seems more and more to rely on the HRs but I prefer to watch the hits and walks to see who's hot and how they are tracking because without guys on base its hard to win a game with only 3 solo HRs.