Gator Baseball team

[gatorbogey]

not a VIP anymore, so i can't read the baseball reports but it sounds like we should have a pretty solid team. lost alot of firepower though. won't be replacing that. but, given how omaha now plays, perhaps the long ball shouldn't be emphasized. pitching sounds solid. not sure what the strength of the team will be this season - perhaps an all-around solid squad.

[MadduxFanII]

Going to need to win a lot of 2-0 games. And get a lot of complete games too, as we also lost a lot from the bullpen.

[gatorbogey]

probably get blown out a few times this coming season. when the momentum swiings on a young team, it could get out of hand. but that's the nature of baseball too - even for veteran clubs.

i wonder, if sully doesn't trust the bullpen, will he still adhere to his policy of looking out for his pitchers and no overuse their arms?

[WESGATORS]

I think we're going to be better off than the impact of *what we lost* - this could be a lot like the 2006 season. Just kidding about the 2006 part

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

[ufgator4ever]

Not sure why, but even last year, I thought this year's team might be a big surprise.
Lower expectations, Sully will find solid pitching, so if the offense improves over the season . . .

[DoubleDown11]

If the sophomores (specifically Shafer and Gushue) turn into legitimate middle of the order bats, it could be a surprisingly good season. Crawford apparently had such a good summer that he's now getting top 10 draft buzz.

[74nole]

Originally Posted by MadduxFanII

Going to need to win a lot of 2-0 games. And get alot of complete games too, as we also lost a lot from the bullpen.

Don't set'em up to fail, set'em up to succeed. Can't count on complete games past hs-D-1, milb, and mlb included. If everybody's healthy and performs up to expectations it'll be another good season. Gotta have faith.

[dadx4]

I think we will be "pitcher heavy" this season which means we better hope our pitching is very strong, from what I have seen they have done very well so far against our own batters, this of course can be taken two different ways....are our bats this bad or is our pitching that dominant? lol

[MadduxFanII]

Originally Posted by 74nole

Don't set'em up to fail, set'em up to succeed. Can't count on complete games past hs-D-1, milb, and mlb included. If everybody's healthy and performs up to expectations it'll be another good season. Gotta have faith.

The complete game comment was more facetious than anything else.

[TheBoss]

I don't understand the comments, "probably get blown out a few times this coming season," and something about not trusting the bullpen. Is there some reason to believe that's true or is that meaningless blather?

The fall practices I saw were missing a some of the best Gator players ever- Tucker, Zunino, Randall- plus other key players from the best Gator teams ever. I saw no new players at that level, but I saw a promising group. Rather than worry about missing players, I want to know more about the guys on the field.

[gatorbogey]

meaningless blather [i'm an expert on it]. i'm just prepping myself for some bumps along the way.

[gtj31]

I personally think the pen will surprise. I think there are a couple very good arms down there that will have solid years. You probably won't get as matchup friendly situations as years past but I think you are going to get some better production than people expect.

The lack of power is apparent in my opinion. I think the D will be good. The question is the batting average and the base running. In my mind, Sully has never really coached well regarding activity on the basepaths. UF has made numerous critical mistakes on the bases over the last handful of years. There is of course no reason to expect it to change this year but if they did all of a sudden learn how to run the bases then the power game won't be as critical. Then you have to have some guys that can make solid contact and get on base to drive the offense.

I don't see this as a national title worthy team but they will be better than the 24 that is shown in the preseason poll.

[DoubleDown11]

The thing about the lack of power, though, is that it's just going to make the Gators look like everyone else. The Gators hit 75 homers last year, and only one other SEC team hit more than 42. College baseball is not a power based sport anymore. Arizona hit 23 homers as a team last year and won the damn national championship.

You can go deep into the postseason these days led by your pitching, and if they're healthy and on their games, Crawford and Whitson have the potential to be the best 1-2 in the country.

[jsc28]

I am fine with being ranked on the lower end at 24, but there is no way there are 23 teams better than us.

[dadx4]

24 really? I think we could end up top 10, I think we lost a lot, almost too much from last season.

[gatorbogey]

too many unknowns to really make a prediction w/ any sort of conviction in my estimation. but those unknowns should make for an interesting season.

crawford is a definite known - and he's good.
Whitson, is known, but is unreliable. he could be really good.
not sure who will emerge to complete the weekend rotation. will be interesting to watch it all unfold.
the bullpen could be a strength. but is an unknown.
i think we might have trouble producing runs. we'll see.
given what we lost from last season, and the strength of other teams in the state and league, 7th in the SEC and mid-20's nationally seems about right.

[Stlouie]

In BA top 100 there was Crawford. Whitson, kish, Gibson and magliozzi. No field players.

[int1974]

We will make at least a SR this year. Pitching is going to be better overall than last year.
We will steal more bases, and hit a few more homers than last year...

[jsc28]

Originally Posted by int1974

We will make at least a SR this year. Pitching is going to be better overall than last year.
We will steal more bases, and hit a few more homers than last year...

Hit more homers? No way

Stealing bases and a SR? I buy that.

[MadduxFanII]

If we hit more homers than last year, our hitting coach deserves the world's largest raise.