Gator Baseball 2023 Official Roster Tracker/Lineup???

Not bad for a kid who could have still been in high school.....

 

A reflection on where we are at......

Before the season I made several innuendos about this team possibly making it to the College World Series and the Finale, if a few key hitters came thru and the bullpen found some consistency. I was focusing on Langford and Cags hitting 15-20 or more homeruns, Robertson leading off and maintaining an average around 290 or higher, Rivera stepping up his leadership and productivity at the plate, and Heyman getting his starting opportunity to contribute. 3 of those came thru and Robertson is a big help in the OF. I thought Evans was going to be our Most Improved Player, missed that one by a mile, but I also said Kurland had a knack for putting the bat on the ball to all parts of the field. No one, including Sully, knew Kurland was going to be the contributor he is now.

Pitching wise we all thought the weekend rotation was going to be great on a consistent basis but needed to find plenty of relief help. Both those have been hit or miss but at least we are hopeful there are better things ahead after this weekend. Sully seems to be.

My point is, we as fans keep going thru highs and lows depending on which week it is, whether its at home facing Vanderbilt or at South Carolina less than a month ago, sorry for that memory. In that same span we are 7-5 in conference play. Right now we are on cloud 9 seeing our ranking soar in hopes that St Nick will soon be here. This is not intended to be a downer but maybe a small reality check to not get over hyped yet. Don't get me wrong, I'm still hopeful as ever that this team is destined for the CWS, more than any team since 2018, 2020 aside.

So we may not play as well this weekend, but realize we are 30-6 at home. If we get a top 8 seed then our opportunity to advance is huge. We just have to play at Kentucky and then Hoover to get there and we are 10-6 away from Condron Ballpark. This season can be special but it still might be a rollercoaster ride to get there.

 

In case you missed it......
Sully said in the Sunday postgame press conference that the decision to not start Waldrep on Sunday was the upcoming short week for the Thurs/Fri/Sat weekend. Sully's plan is to start Waldrep Thursday with the long rest, Sproat on Friday a normal 7 day turn around, and Cags on Saturday. With that in mind, I agree with Sully it probably gives us our best chance to go win the series in Lexington. I believe winning 2 in Lexington locks us into a top 8 seed, no matter if we go 1 and done in Hoover.

 

Fixed it kind of.
And thanks

 

Couple of things, I'm still cautious on Fisher. Yes he would be my 4th pick as well but I'd keep him on a short leash. Agree on Shelnut in RF and I'm not sure why Sully would drop Heyman in the lineup. I'm not assuming Deric is the answer at third after only two good games at the plate. Kentucky is going to test our 3rd baseman no matter who it is and Halter might have more experience fielding all those bunts. At this point in the season its trust in Sully and go with what you know.

 

A quick look at Kentucky shows their weekend pitchers go R-L-R. I didn't look back but a week or two so they might change them around. That said a R-L-R rotation could see Sully try both players at third. I recall Halter hits LHP better but Deric hasn't had enough ABs to matter. That's why I think defending the bunt may matter more. Like you said we haven't seen enough of them at practice since the season started so leave it to Sully.

 

One of the best weekend recap vids I've seen the Gators put out there...

 

For us smart asses in the crowd that like this sort of thing, these are the final regular season stats to finish off the thread for comparisons....
Batting-------------------- AVG - OPS
Langford, Wyatt------- .399 1.354
Rivera, Josh------------ .361 1.089
Caglianone, Jac-------- .350 1.224
Heyman, Luke---------- .336 .990
Kurland, Cade---------- .317 1.030
Shelnut, Tyler---------- .300 .923
Fabian, Deric----------- .286 .847
Prevesk, Matt---------- .268 .685
Riopelle, BT------------- .263 .903
Thomas, Dale---------- .250 .898
Robertson, Michael---- .241 .663
Halter, Colby------------ .235 .752
Schiekofer, Richie----- .229 .632
Evans, Ty--------------- .216 .657
Lastres, Rene---------- .188 .591

Notes
Really unfortunate Langford did not get a hit on Saturday or he would have finished the regular season with a 400 average.
Dylan Crews ended up at 423 in first but Wyatt still got 2nd best average in the SEC, remarkable after starting out slow coming back from the injury.
Cags still leads the NCAA in HRs by 1 over Shane Lewis of Troy. Look for Troy in the Gainesville Regional.
Langford ended up leading the Gators in almost every major batting stat other than HRs and total hits. He even led in slug % despite Jac's big HR number.
On 4/1 Robertson was batting 306 and has fallen 65 points since. He has only 1 hit in the last 3 series and only 3 sacrifices all season. He needs to sacrifice.
Shelnut was batting 307 when he got the start 4/28. He's still batting 300, showing he can hold his own in the league. He's right where he needs tobe.

 

First Team All-SEC
1B: Jac Caglianone, Florida
2B: Cade Kurland, Florida
SS: Josh Rivera, Florida
OF: Wyatt Langford, Florida
RP: Brandon Neely, Florida
Second Team All-SEC
SP: Brandon Sproat, Florida
Freshman All-SEC Team
Cade Kurland, Florida
Luke Heyman, Florida

League-High Seven Gators Earn All-SEC Honors - Florida Gators