Florida comes in at 27-13 and 10-8 in the SEC… neither mark quite as good as they probably expected.
Florida carries such respect nationally right now, as a program, that I’m starting to believe that it doesn’t really matter what they do on the field. After being swept by Auburn to begin league play, Florida was still listed as one of Baseball America’s “Eight for Omaha” the following Monday. After dropping two of three at home to Tennessee to fall to 6-6 in the SEC, Florida was still projected as an Omaha team. I suppose everyone just assumes that they’ll get it in gear by late May. And maybe they will.
I remember in 2012, when Baseball America labeled Florida and one of the most loaded teams the sport had ever seen in the pre-season, it always seemed like something was missing with the Gators…. They were good, but they never seemed like they were elite. (I heard rumblings after the fact that there were a lot of issues on that team)…. Still, they wound up in Omaha, lost the opener to South Carolina, and had their season end in a fairly listless effort against Scott Stricklin’s Kent State team. I didn’t think that Florida was nearly as good on paper as their 2012 group coming into this year… But going to Omaha so many times gets you the benefit of the doubt.
This is a winnable series for us. It’s very possible that we get swept, but we can absolutely win this series from these guys .
Tonight we’ll see Alex Faedo. He was their Sunday guy this last two seasons behind Shore and Puk, and I think everyone knew from his freshman year that he’d start on Friday nights in 2017 and wind up being a first round pick. Faedo is a big junior righty from Tampa. In 10 starts this year he has a 2.47 ERA and a 6-1 record. He’s thrown 65 2/3 innings, K’d 77 and walked 20, and has a .206 average against.
On Saturday, we’ll see Brady Singer, who is mentioned as a possible top pick in the 2018 draft. We’ll most likely see this guy on Friday night next season in Gainesville, but their current Sunday guy Kowar might have something to say about that too. Singer is a lanky righty from Eustis (Useless?) Florida. He’s numbers are arguably better than Faedo’s. He has a 4-3 record in 10 starts, but a 1.94 ERA. His 69 2/3 innings leads their staff. He has 60 K’s and 17 walks. Opponents are hitting .225 against him. He’s only given up 1 HR on the season.
Sunday we’ll square off with Jackson Kowar. The sophomore righty is from Charlotte NC (in such a talent rich state as Florida, it’s interesting to see the number of their starting pitchers from out of state. They don’t artificially restrict themselves). Kowar is 6-0 in 10 appearances, all starts, and sports a 3.90 ERA. He’s thrown 57 2/3 innings and has a 47/27 K/BB. Opponents are hitting .26t2 against him.
Florida’s staff sports a very strong 3.09 ERA and .250 average against. They’ve only allowed 14 HRs this season.
Offensively it’s been a struggle Florida this year. I really wish we’d caught them a few weeks ago as they seem to be swinging the bats better here of late. Interestingly, Florida does not have a single offensive player who has played in all 40 of their games (Deacon Liput, who I correctly pointed out in January was over-rated as early round draftee and JJ Schwartz were both suspended earlier in the year for a game for violation of team rules. Presumably they returned the copper).
Nelson Maldonado, a sophomore from Tampa, leads the Gators across the board at .311/.440/.443. He has 3 HRs and 13 RBIs . We should see Maldonado in the OF and hitting in the middle of their order.
JJ Schwartz remains a power threat for the Gators at .243/.321/.396. His 4 HRs lead the team, as do his 30 RBIs. It’s safe to say that he has hasn’t built on his dynamite 2015 freshman season the way a lot of folks assumed, but he’s still a good ball player and a threat. We’ll see him perhaps behind the plate as their main catcher Rivera is hurt and some at 1B as well. Schwartz is a junior from Palm Beach Gardens.
Dalton Guthrie is a junior SS from Sarasota. He’s hitting .250/.331/.354 with 3 HR’s and 3 RBI.
Florida is only hitting .252 as a team and has a very paltry OBP of .345. They do run a lot, presumably because to try to spark their offense. The Gators are 52/68 in steals this year, which is somewhat atypical for a Florida team.
As I said, this is a winnable series. Although Florida is swinging the bats better, they are still limited offensively and shouldn’t be able to score enough to run away from us.
Expect a chippy series. You can set your watch to it, there is always an incident of some sort when we play Florida…. They’re the only team in the SEC for whom that is true. A lot more talking occurs on the field that we see or pick up on in the stands, but Florida seems to take it to a different level. I know that O’Sullivan doesn’t like Stricklin and I’m sure that the feeling is mutual. Let’s beat these guys this weekend and we can read about how they're still Omaha bound on Monday.
Florida carries such respect nationally right now, as a program, that I’m starting to believe that it doesn’t really matter what they do on the field. After being swept by Auburn to begin league play, Florida was still listed as one of Baseball America’s “Eight for Omaha” the following Monday. After dropping two of three at home to Tennessee to fall to 6-6 in the SEC, Florida was still projected as an Omaha team. I suppose everyone just assumes that they’ll get it in gear by late May. And maybe they will.
I remember in 2012, when Baseball America labeled Florida and one of the most loaded teams the sport had ever seen in the pre-season, it always seemed like something was missing with the Gators…. They were good, but they never seemed like they were elite. (I heard rumblings after the fact that there were a lot of issues on that team)…. Still, they wound up in Omaha, lost the opener to South Carolina, and had their season end in a fairly listless effort against Scott Stricklin’s Kent State team. I didn’t think that Florida was nearly as good on paper as their 2012 group coming into this year… But going to Omaha so many times gets you the benefit of the doubt.
This is a winnable series for us. It’s very possible that we get swept, but we can absolutely win this series from these guys .
Tonight we’ll see Alex Faedo. He was their Sunday guy this last two seasons behind Shore and Puk, and I think everyone knew from his freshman year that he’d start on Friday nights in 2017 and wind up being a first round pick. Faedo is a big junior righty from Tampa. In 10 starts this year he has a 2.47 ERA and a 6-1 record. He’s thrown 65 2/3 innings, K’d 77 and walked 20, and has a .206 average against.
On Saturday, we’ll see Brady Singer, who is mentioned as a possible top pick in the 2018 draft. We’ll most likely see this guy on Friday night next season in Gainesville, but their current Sunday guy Kowar might have something to say about that too. Singer is a lanky righty from Eustis (Useless?) Florida. He’s numbers are arguably better than Faedo’s. He has a 4-3 record in 10 starts, but a 1.94 ERA. His 69 2/3 innings leads their staff. He has 60 K’s and 17 walks. Opponents are hitting .225 against him. He’s only given up 1 HR on the season.
Sunday we’ll square off with Jackson Kowar. The sophomore righty is from Charlotte NC (in such a talent rich state as Florida, it’s interesting to see the number of their starting pitchers from out of state. They don’t artificially restrict themselves). Kowar is 6-0 in 10 appearances, all starts, and sports a 3.90 ERA. He’s thrown 57 2/3 innings and has a 47/27 K/BB. Opponents are hitting .26t2 against him.
Florida’s staff sports a very strong 3.09 ERA and .250 average against. They’ve only allowed 14 HRs this season.
Offensively it’s been a struggle Florida this year. I really wish we’d caught them a few weeks ago as they seem to be swinging the bats better here of late. Interestingly, Florida does not have a single offensive player who has played in all 40 of their games (Deacon Liput, who I correctly pointed out in January was over-rated as early round draftee and JJ Schwartz were both suspended earlier in the year for a game for violation of team rules. Presumably they returned the copper).
Nelson Maldonado, a sophomore from Tampa, leads the Gators across the board at .311/.440/.443. He has 3 HRs and 13 RBIs . We should see Maldonado in the OF and hitting in the middle of their order.
JJ Schwartz remains a power threat for the Gators at .243/.321/.396. His 4 HRs lead the team, as do his 30 RBIs. It’s safe to say that he has hasn’t built on his dynamite 2015 freshman season the way a lot of folks assumed, but he’s still a good ball player and a threat. We’ll see him perhaps behind the plate as their main catcher Rivera is hurt and some at 1B as well. Schwartz is a junior from Palm Beach Gardens.
Dalton Guthrie is a junior SS from Sarasota. He’s hitting .250/.331/.354 with 3 HR’s and 3 RBI.
Florida is only hitting .252 as a team and has a very paltry OBP of .345. They do run a lot, presumably because to try to spark their offense. The Gators are 52/68 in steals this year, which is somewhat atypical for a Florida team.
As I said, this is a winnable series. Although Florida is swinging the bats better, they are still limited offensively and shouldn’t be able to score enough to run away from us.
Expect a chippy series. You can set your watch to it, there is always an incident of some sort when we play Florida…. They’re the only team in the SEC for whom that is true. A lot more talking occurs on the field that we see or pick up on in the stands, but Florida seems to take it to a different level. I know that O’Sullivan doesn’t like Stricklin and I’m sure that the feeling is mutual. Let’s beat these guys this weekend and we can read about how they're still Omaha bound on Monday.
