Gator Baseball 2024 OFFICIAL ROSTER/Transfer Tracker/Lineup???

I believe we are into option 2 at this point. Someone I know mentioned that when Sully gets an extension over the years past the Gators usually go into a multi-year loll. I haven't researched it but maybe there's more to it. Its difficult to think of this year as entitlement since we were so close last year, but the way this year is going it feels like guys are playing that way. And once things got unraveled, reality hit and guys are checking out mentally. Unfortunately many others are too, myself included.

I'm very glad Sully finally gave in and put Evans in the leadoff spot. I mentioned that a few weeks ago when Kurland was spirally down. Sure Ty might not be the right guy normally, but he knows how to battle. He turned it around last year and has proven he can adjust. Obviously today earns him more time in the leadoff but we still need to find our 3, 4, and 5 spot hitters with less than half the year left.

 

Congrats to Evans, Cags, Yost, Shelnut, and Garrison for not being on this list. Here is our current in conference batting averages for the rest of the team...

Shelton, Colby .214
Heyman, Luke .204
Kurland, Cade .193
Thomas, Dale .172
Donay, Brody .167
Russell, Landon .154
Robertson, Michael .150
Guy, Jaylen .150
Albert, Armando .000
Wilson, Ashton .000
Brookins, Blake .000

It's no wonder why the coaching staff had such a hard time picking someone to grab a bat when Garrison got hurt late in the game during his at bat and had to be replaced.

 

Thanks for giving us more than we knew before.

 

Went back and checked last year comparison to the same weekend and Jac had 21 HRs at this point. I'd say he is still on track. Last year the season might have ended up going longer but he only had 5 homeruns in post season play.

 

I've always said if you are willing to criticize others, you have to give credit when they do something right. My appreciation tonight goes out to Coach Sully for handling the pitchers perfectly tonight. By keeping guys like Clemente, Menendez, Slater, and even Russell in for short stays, he helped rebuild some confidence that they could go out there and hold a team to 1 run. All of them dropped their ERA from what it was and Russell starts his off at 0. So thanks Sully and I liked your comment after the game about Evans keeping the leadoff spot.

Also a shoutout goes to Brody Donay who now has the overall third highest batting average on the team at 293. He deserves to move up in the order soon.

 

I've heard Sully say a few times about his pitching plan for a game that he has certain guys on his card. Meaning with any game he knows the main 4-5 guys he is ready to call on if the game stays competitive. So I ask each of you to take the Sully challenge and try to card a weekend series. Try and piece together, from where we now stand at this point in the season, who are your three starters and the next few guys you would have ready to try and win the series. Try and list your starters for each day, followed by the next 3-4 guys you would plan to use when needed and how many innings they would hope to last. If you only list 2 or 3 pitchers per game, ask yourself do you really expect them to last enough innings to complete the game.
I'll put my hat in the ring first with......

Friday - Jameson(R) 2-3, Fisher(L) 2-3, Purnell(R) 1 or less, Slater(R) 2, McNeillie(R) 1
Saturday - Coppola(L) 2-3, Peterson(R) 2-3, Menendez(L) 1-2, Witmer(R) 1, Neely(R) 1-2
Sunday - Caglianone(L) 4-6, Slater(R) 1-2, Purnell(R) 1 or less, Satin(L) spot only, McNeillie(R) 1-2 or Neely(R) if available

Notes -
1.Yes I'm pulling Neely out of the starter spot and its difficult to find 3 weekend starters at this point. Regardless who starts Friday or Saturday, the main arms have to follow that we can still hope for the best in Fisher and Peterson. Jameson isn't no where close to a Friday starter in the SEC but we have no one that is, other than Cags and he's not available. I'm going with Jameson because he is not a freshman and he has one of the lowest ERAs at 4.94.
2. Take the pressure off of them as starters and see how many batters more we can get after the first few innings. Sully has to give up the old standard of a starter should get you 5 plus innings. This year it ain't happening most starts.
3. Other than Cags try not to let anyone go thru the order once, unless they are hot and working thru the lineup care free.
4. Don't let any pitcher sit out there in trouble after 2 other than Cags.
5. Put pitchers in their strengths. Slater is a good reliever on most nights. Neely and McNeillie seem to be very good as closers usually. Purnell is okay for 2-3 batters in most appearances and sometimes very good but goes off the rails rather quickly after that.
6. Sully might try more R-L-R or L-R-L patterns within games to change the delivery sides and batter views of the ball. Keep guys in for shorter stays before things start to blow up or go out of control.
7. And for the record my weekday starting pitcher for now is Clemente until he loses it. That's just about all of them other than Philpott, Smith, and the new guy Russell.