Aaron Watson is an interesting get from Trinity Christian Academy in Jax. He had signed with Virginia but with their coach leaving, he changed to Florida. The Gators have commitments from 3 other players from TCA, OF Brady Harris, RHP/OF Ethan Wheeler, and LHP/IB Tyler Ellis. So it appears a bit of circumstance and good fortune. Aaron Watson is a top 50 draft prospect per PG and is a wait and see. He looks to be the best of the TCA players so hopefully they all make it to Florida. As APK says, getting Watson would be huge to go along with King and Peterson. Edit: Upon further review the 3 TCA players are in the 2026 class. Aaron is this year of course. Plus Aaron pitched the state semifinal game this year going the full 7 innings, only giving up 1 hit, and getting the 1-0 win.
How sad—that appears to translate into he buys in on analytics. Anybody you see “coaching” pitchers and you also see core mechanical issues in the fall/early spring and then you continue to see the same mechanics without any adjustments, well I have to question. Especially when their performances outing to outing document lack of command/control/even confidence itself. It just takes hands on work with each individual pitcher. This is not something that you can group “cookie cut”—it doesn’t work that way.
King is my Friday guy. Liam’s ceiling is very high but too inconsistent right now and 2.65 era vs 4.28 era tells ya all ya need to know. I like our portal pick ups so far especially the pitchers but need a lefty for Sunday as 3rd starter. Not an easy one but need a lefty as no guarantee Pierce comes back or is healthy. Need Tinney at Catcher and Bastian in OF and call it a day.
I hope we throw some serious NIL money at him I’ve seen him projected in the top 4 to 5 rounds so that would be hard to be. If he leaves, you have to put Luke as your closer
Yeah, way too tough to judge from a picture that could’ve been taken six months ago and could have fixed/corrected issue. Even a great pitchers don’t always have perfect form, technique, mechanics, etc., etc. numbers speak and a 3.39 ERA with a solid amount of innings thrown tell me what I need to know. Also a 45% whiff rate on his slider… I’ll take that all day
Would be huge but we’ve got to attempt to get a lefty Sunday guy. If Pierce were to return he’s that guy and if Watson makes it to campus could see him being a mid week guy. What king did this year as a true freshman was extremely rare. Again credit to Sully for looking past rankings and seeing flat out good, and knowing that it would possibly translate
Russell Sandefer UCF Position RHP Weight 180 lbs Height 6-1 ClassSophomore Hometown Tampa, Fla. Previous School Saint Leo B/T R/R SOPHOMORE (2025) 18 APP, 6 GS, 2-3, 3.38 ERA, 1 SV, 50.2 IP, 46 H, 19 R, 19 ER, 19 BB, 49 SO, .257 B/AVG Made 18 appearances with six starts on the mound for UCF One of the team's top starting pitchers down the stretch of the season Posted a 2-3 record, 1 save and a solid 3.38 ERA Notched 49 strikeouts over 50.2 innings Allowed just 19 runs on 46 hits Had nine scoreless outings on the season Picked up his first win in a UCF uniform after tossing 2.0 scoreless innings against Bryant on Feb. 21 Logged his first save as a Knight after giving up just one hit and no runs against Stetson March 18 Tossed 5.0 scoreless innings with four strikeouts in his first start at the DI level on April 12 at Kansas State Gave up just one run and struck out a career-best eight batters over 5.2 innings in a win against TCU on April 18 Registered 11 assists and two putouts
Third year—third school—ugh. I’m sorry folks, that’s just me and how I see this portal thing abusing our sport.
Also could look at it as great exposure and recruiting advantage for our Gators as he must be there for a reason. I would also say it’s not always on the coach. Kopp and Sully are not coaching pros. Overall the last 5-6 years, I’ll take the results. You can coach a player to do something but that doesn’t mean it always will happen. At the college level, some respond/take coaching better than others. I’ll take Sully’s opinion on pitching. He’s one of the top 5-6 coaches in the game.
Hope this is ok thread, without saying too much it just seems weird FSU appears to have a monoply on Tampa Jesuit players. Lance Mccullers was committed to us but went first round so didn't end up here. FSU's 3 weekend starters all went to Jesuit and although 2 transferred to FSU from elsewhere just appears odd we have none.
We have Biemiller who is from Jesuit. We've gotten the better players out of Tampa over the years: Tucker, Faedo, Alonso, Cags, Kurland, Toledo etc.
I don't think 17 year old guys have the spiritual distinction among "Jesuit" and whatever shades of Catholic Link and Sully are. If there's some religion thing going on in recruiting, it is between both Sully/Link and Wes Johnson at Georgia who is über-Baptist. (Even posting those last few words makes me wonder if a mod will kick this to Too Hot...)
Correct but still hurts not getting the top Jesuit players coming out the last few years. Jesuit didn’t have as strong a SR class as usual this past year but have two of the best RHP pitchers in the 2026 class and both are committed to other schools (Kaden Waechter to FSU and Wilson Andersen to Miss St). Obviously one or both may not make it to college but it is still frustrating that despite visiting, neither chose UF.
