Florida baseball is less than a month away from their opening series vs Air Force on Feb. 14-16. Fresh off a second-straight trip to the Men’s College World Series, the Florida Gators were tabbed as the No. 10 team in D1Baseball’s preseason rankings for the 2025 campaign.
Gator Country begins our season preview by predicting Florida’s opening day starting lineup.
Catcher: Jr. Luke Heyman
1st base: Fr. Brendan Lawson
2nd base: Jr. Cade Kurland
Shortstop: Jr. Colby Shelton
3rd base: Sr. Bobby Boser
Left field: Jr. Blake Cyr
Center field: So. Kyle Jones
Right field: Sr. Ty Evans
Designated hitter: Jr. Brody Donay
Notes and observations
– Florida is deep offensively and will likely rotate a bunch of different guys in the lineup early on in the season. Hayden Yost, Blake Brookins, and Ashton Wilson provide the Gators with elite outfield depth while Justin Nadeau and Caden McDonald could be the first bats off the bench for the infield.
– The Gators landed three potential starters in the portal in Kyle Jones, Blake Cyr, and Bobby Boser, who should provide a great mix of power, contact, and position versatility. Florida returns five potential starters and gained a talented true freshman in Brendan Lawson, who head coach Kevin O’Sullivan announced will play first base.
– Luke Heyman and Brody Donay will rotate at catcher.
– Bobby Boser is a transfer from USF that can play every position outside of pitcher and catcher. His versatility defensively gives Florida a ton of depth in 2025. Boser impressed at shortstop in the fall and will likely serve as Shelton’s backup there. You will likely primarily see Boser at third and first base given how deep the outfield is.
– OF Hayden Yost has been clearly to play for the 2025 season after suffering a torn ACL last year. Although, he didn’t participate in fall camp.
– Stetson transfer Kyle Jones provides elite defense and speed on the base paths. He was also one of the more difficult hitters in college baseball to strikeout last season while sporting a .355 batting average as a true freshman. Jones projects as a leadoff hitter for Florida.