Brady Singer treating opening day like any other start

Brady Singer will get the ball Friday when the Florida Gators open up their 2018 season with Siena.

If you ask him, he’s just like any of you. The excitement of opening day kept him awake on Wednesday night and he’s not sure how he’ll sleep, or if he’ll sleep on Thursday night but he insists he’s just like the rest of us, if the rest of us could throw a baseball 96 MPH.

“No class on Friday,” he said. “I’ll drink a lot, hydrate, eat a lot and mentally just get ready. I feel like the more the day goes on the more focused I get.”

Singer lives with JJ Schwarz, Jackson Kowar and Blake Reese. He’s not much into video games but he gets a kick out of watching Schwarz and Kowar go at it playing Fortnite.

“We get a kick out of watching Jackson and JJ play it because they get pretty emotional about it,” Reese said. “I’ve never seen someone so excited to watch other people play video games. He likes the freak-outs.”

Whatever it takes to calm the nerves ad get ready for a season. This isn’t just the start of a new season for Singer. It is almost assuredly his final season in Gainesville. He’s projected as a sure-fire first round draft and some have even projected him as the potential first overall pick. He’s a 6-5 power pitcher with a wipe out slider and a changeup. He has the makeup to be a starter at the next level and the competitive fire to continue growing and developing.

“I have seen the best version of Brady Singer,” Reese said. “We’re roommates. I really like what I see out of him. He works his tail off. He’s one of the first people here every day.”

Singer has to keep all of it in perspective. This will be the first time he has a chance to pitch on opening day. There’s no way to avoid the talk about the Draft or the expectations around the program to defend a National Championship. He just has to internalize all of that and find a way to deal with it.

“I think Brady and Jackson both had the luxury of seeing Alex (Faedo) go through it last year and how he handled it,” O’Sullivan said of how Alex Faedo handled the pressure of an impending professional career with his final season in Gainesville. “Brady and Jackson are really, really bright. They’re smart and observant. We talked about it in the fall quite a bit.”

There will be quite a bit of pomp and circumstance on Friday night. Members of the 2017 team will be back to raise a flag commerating the Gators’ National Championship, a wall decal will be unveiled in left and Alex Faedo will throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

For all the aforementioned reasons this won’t be like any other start Singer has ever had but he’ll need to treat it like it is.

“I like that everybody is going to try to come out there and try to beat me,” he said. “I feel like that’s where my competitiveness comes in.”

The Gators open the 2017 season Friday night at 6:30 against Sienna and will play Saturday (4 pm) and Sunday (1pm).

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