Florida Scout

#1
99gator

99gator

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#1
Florida heads into this weekend with a record of 16-2.

I’ll basically just run through some things of note.

The Florida offense is much improved this year. Don’t know if that’s due to player development, some incoming freshman, the new baseball or all of the above. The lineup is solid top to bottom which is a change from recent years as the bottom of the order used to include some automatic outs. There really aren’t any automatic outs in the lineup. There is one standout, Player of the Year type of candidate, in the lineup and that would be Harrison Bader. He has missed the last few games, but is supposed to be a “go” this weekend. Bader is hitting .429 and has 6 HR, which is more than the entire Alabama or Tennessee team has at this point. Bader is the SEC leader in slugging percentage, on base percentage, home runs and rbi’s. Also, swinging hot bats and hitting above .350 are freshmen Dalton Guthrie and JJ Schwarz, senior Josh Tobias and sophomore Ryan Larson. One big hitter Tennessee will not see due to injury is Peter Alonso. Buddy Reed, Richie Martin and Bader have good wheels. Florida is 2nd in the SEC in stolen base attempts, so they run. They have been successful 31 times in 41 attempts. They also lead the SEC in total bases and have a team OBP of .403. It’s a solid offensive club all the way around.

However, this team is not about offense. It’s about pitching and that starts with Friday starter Logan Shore. Shore has not allowed a run, earned or unearned, yet this season. He’s the kind of ace that makes you feel confident you aren’t going to leave any weekend getting swept. Shore was 7-1 in SEC starts last season with a 2.08 ERA. By and large, Florida doesn’t walk batters and they make you put the ball in play where at this point they lead the SEC in fielding percentage. Sunday starter Dane Duning is 4-0 with a 1.29 ERA having allowed 3 earned runs and 10 hits in 21 innings. The bullpen is deep and O’Sullivan uses them, often doing the lefty/righty thing to death. But, he’s got the arms to do it. Bobby Poyner and Taylor Lewis are names you will definitely see out of the pen. The opposing team batting average against Florida at this point is .196. Florida has allowed more than 3 runs once during a weekend game this season.

Teams have attempted 18 steals vs. the Gators and been caught 7 times. I know Tennessee likes to run so thought this would be of interest.

TEAM BA: .306
TEAM ERA: 2.24
Fld.%: .985
 
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#2
#2
Sounds like a complete team. Thanks for taking the time to report, 99gator.
 
#4
#4
Good report 99 and I really appreciate you taking the time to do it. A couple of extra points...UF has pitched 16 guys in 18 games, so they have a much better idea of what they have compared to us. Guys like Reid, Soto, Freeman, Robinson, Vanderford and Jackson have yet to pitch an inning for the Vols all of which is due to the weather. That's not really a factor for this series, but it just shows how missing this many games hampers the staff's ability to see what they have in real game situations.

The Gators are excellent defensively and we can ill afford to make the mistakes we've been making.

I'm very much looking forward to this series and thanks much to 99gator for the scout!
 
#5
#5
vol66 said:
Good report 99 and I really appreciate you taking the time to do it. A couple of extra points...UF has pitched 16 guys in 18 games, so they have a much better idea of what they have compared to us. Guys like Reid, Soto, Freeman, Robinson, Vanderford and Jackson have yet to pitch an inning for the Vols all of which is due to the weather. That's not really a factor for this series, but it just shows how missing this many games hampers the staff's ability to see what they have in real game situations.

The Gators are excellent defensively and we can ill afford to make the mistakes we've been making.

I'm very much looking forward to this series and thanks much to 99gator for the scout!
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I think this is a bigger deal than the cancellations effecting the hitters.

Florida basically uses the mid-week games to give their less trusted arms some work. It keeps them fresh. It lets the staff evaluate them. It lets them learn from mistakes. And if an injury occurs, it lets them know who it is down the line on the staff they might give a shot and trust in a more critical situation. They are basically auditions.

Some of those mid-week games Florida has been known to pitch 5 or 6 guys no more than two innings just to get everybody some work.
 
#7
#7
99gator said:
I think this is a bigger deal than the cancellations effecting the hitters.

Florida basically uses the mid-week games to give their less trusted arms some work. It keeps them fresh. It lets the staff evaluate them. It lets them learn from mistakes. And if an injury occurs, it lets them know who it is down the line on the staff they might give a shot and trust in a more critical situation. They are basically auditions.

Some of those mid-week games Florida has been known to pitch 5 or 6 guys no more than two innings just to get everybody some work.
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Yep, over CDS' tenure been the same sort of strategy, this year however is different.

It is painfully obvious that CDS scheduled the way he did because he wanted to take this team to his old stomping grounds and show them off.

Unfortunately, the weather kept him from being able to see what he has and the competition was ahead of us in that regard.

Had we come back from FIU and played the mid week games on the schedule and the four game Rutgers series, I doubt Hall and Lance are in the 1 and 2 spots when we went to Irvine, so in that way, I disagree with you.

But no doubt about it, they new pitchers on the team are a complete unknown and because we have the record we have, we can no longer afford to let the mid week games be "toss" games.

It's all folded over on itself if that makes sense.
 
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#8
#8
Manvol said:
Why does anyone care about anything FL on volnation?
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We do a scout for every game and I asked 99 if he would like to write this one, he didn't have to do it, but he was gracious taking the time to contribute his thoughts on the upcoming series and I really appreciate him doing so.
 
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#9
#9
Weekend Preview: March 13-15 - D1Baseball.com

Tennessee entered the season ranked by us, and honestly, that was quite the leap of faith. Though there’s plenty of time for the Volunteers to earn that preseason ranking, it hasn’t been accomplished thus far, as they enter the weekend against top-ranked Florida with something to prove. Toolsy outfielder Christin Stewart leads the team with three homers, while Vincent Jackson (.400/.526/.467) is having a productive campaign. The biggest news the past few weeks is the rise of sophomore righthander Kyle Serrano. Serrano has had consistency issues in the past, but he’s been consistently in the low-90s, and up to the mid-90s at times, allowing just one hit in five innings against Grand Canyon last weekend … As for the Gators, we’ve given plenty of love to coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s club, but this is an intriguing team with so many arms at their disposal in addition to talented hitters. But how about this? UF expected youngsters Dalton Guthrie and JJ Schwarz to have productive first seasons, but the two are hitting .358 and .355, respectively, with Schwarz showing off good raw power with four homers, second on the team behind veteran outfielder Harrison Bader.
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#11
#11
Looking forward to the game tread. It has always been the best read on VN. Hopefully when I can check in we're up.
 
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