Florida Gators bullpen is linchpin to success

The Florida Gators are one of four teams in the country with 30 wins on the season and their 34 wins are tops in the country. Paving the way to Florida’s torrid start is the pitching staff.

Logan Shore has been simply sensational, winning his last 12 starts dating back to 2015 and Alex Faedo’s 7-1 record is nothing to scoff at. The starting pitchers, however, hasn’t been the backbone of the Florida pitching staff, the bullpen battery has really been the linchpin.

The Gators have had 11 pitchers make a combined 117 appearances out of the pen this season, accounting for a 12-1 record. Leading the way with 24 appearances is left-hander Kirby Snead.

Snead has been somewhat of a safety blanket for Kevin O’Sullivan. In a bullpen full of flamethrowers, Snead comes in with a modest high 80s to low 90s fastball, but a three quarter arm angle that is difficult on left handed hitters. O’Sullivan’s trust in Snead has matured this season, leaving Snead in for longer outings than he did during Snead’s sophomore season. Kirby has responded — his 1.01 ERA leads all pitchers with at least 11 innings thrown this season.

“Honestly I think the confidence level is pretty high with everyone,” junior Dane Dunning said.”

“The bullpen, if our starters do their jobs which I’m sure they will, our bullpen will be in great shape,” he continued. “We have a deep bullpen anyway. I think we’re looking really good.”

Dunning — who is a likely high-round pick in the MLB Draft this year — began the season as Florida’s midweek starter. When the conference slate rolled around Dunning was moved to the bullpen, something he openly campaigned for. The adjustment from a starter to coming out of the pen has been smooth. As a reliever Dunning has a 2.12 ERA with 27 strikeouts in 17 innings. Dunning has tried to keep his mental approach and routine the same to help the transition, but does admit there’s something about coming out of the bullpen that he believes has helped his game.

“I feel like I throw a little bit harder coming out of the pen,” he said.

Dunning and Snead both have a save this season, in total Florida has 14 as a team, but the role of closer was earned by Shaun Anderson — who leads the team with eight.

Anderson, like most pitchers that wind up at Florida, was a starter in high school, but has made just one start in three seasons at Florida. Anderson made three starts in the Cape Cod league last year, but bought into his new role fully this spring.

“I just like to pick up my team. It’s great to have a role as a closer,” Anderson said. “I like coming into the game and knowing my team is saying, ‘the game is probably over.’ Or they have a lot of confidence in me and I think I’ve shown them that they can have confidence in me in that spot. It means a lot that my coach trusts me in that spot in the back of the bullpen.”

Anderson has been lights out at the end of the pen. His 1.39 ERA is second to just Snead among pitchers with more than 11 innings thrown and his 39:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio would lead the nation if he qualified (pitchers must have 1 inning pitched per game played by the team to qualify).

The bullpen is riding high after another solid outing, blanking Jacksonville for six innings and earning another win. O’Sullivan credits the depth in the bullpen for Florida’s 12-0 midweek record and 23-1 non-conference record saying. “Your depth really shows up on Sundays and in the midweeks,” he said. The job they have done has picked up the rest of the team and gives Florida’s bats peace of mind at the dish, according to sophomore infielder Dalton Guthrie.

“It’s definitely really relieving to know that you really only need a couple run lead with the guys we have going right now.”

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC