One Eyed Observations of the Florida Gators. Asking, answering, foretelling.
Now that we are all college baseball fans, does Florida have the roster to get back to the CWS next season?
In college baseball it is very hard to determine what your roster will look like until the start of the school year because you never quite know which current players and which high school recruits that have “committed” to your school that were drafted are going to actually play for your team. But just looking at the roster at its face value, I would have to think that UF has a great chance to make another run deep into the College World Series next year.
The Gators had only three seniors on this year’s team: Bryson Smith, Josh Adams and Matt Campbell. In Smith, you are losing one of your most consistent outfielders and in Adams you are losing your starting second baseman, so each of these guys will be difficult to replace. In Campbell, you are losing a fairly seldom-used pitcher so I don’t think losing him will hurt the team all that much. Adams has already signed with the Florida Marlins to play with their single-A club and Campbell, although undrafted, has signed with the Philadelphia Phillies to play with their rookie league team. Smith was also undrafted and has yet to sign with a MLB team.
Seven other Gators, all juniors, were drafted in this year’s MLB draft and so far only Nick Maronde has signed on the dotted line to play with the Los Angeles Angels for their rookie league squad. Of the others selected, it is currently believed that pitchers Alex Panteliodis and Anthony DeSclafani could choose to go pro, while pitchers Greg Larson and Tommy Toledo and outfielders Preston Tucker and Tyler Thompson are rumored to be leaning towards returning to the Gators for one more year.
With regards to the newcomers coming into town, many recruiting services chose UF’s incoming class as the no. 1 ranked recruiting class in 2011 – a feat which the Gators were also awarded in 2010 by many of these same services. In total, this year’s class has 13 players in it, including seven pitchers. Of these 13 players, most are considered to be a lock to attend UF. If any choose to go pro, the most likely candidates would be first baseman Daniel Vogelbach, who was picked 68th overall by the Chicago Cubs, and right-handed pitcher Hudson Boyd, who was picked 55th overall by the Minnesota Twins, could still jump ship to the pros. And who could really blame them if they did! The 48th overall pick by the San Diego Padres, right-handed pitcher Michael Kelly, is looking like he will play for the good guys next year which is great news for this team. And watch for centerfielder Justin Shafer to possibly have some significant playing time as a freshman picking up for where Bryson Smith has left off. Lastly, don’t forget about one Mr. Jeff Driskel. I heard he could really swing the bat during his baseball days at Hagerty High School!
Two months out from the start of the football season, what are the Gators chances of getting to Atlanta in December?
As big of a Gators homer as I am, I would have to say that the Gators chances of reaching the SEC Championship Game this year are slim-to-none and slim may have already left town. I really want to tell you that the Gators are going to surprise everyone this year and lose only one SEC game and make it all the way to Atlanta, but I just don’t see that happening. The coaching staff is too new, the offense has way too many holes, the QB may have less self-confidence than the fat ugly girl in high school, and the schedule is just too darn brutal. In the end, if the Gators won nine games this year, I would have to think you mark it down as a minor-success. 10 wins and above would just be gravy on that fat girl’s cake. That’s right…gravy on cake!
But with that said, I do believe that the product we put on the field this year will be better than what we put on the field last year. I expect the defense to play with a lot more intensity, I can’t see the offense being as bad as it was last year (please God don’t let it be as bad as it was last year), and I think the special teams play will hold its own even with the departure of that guy with the heartburn who coached the special teams last year. Unfortunately being better than bad, as we were last season, doesn’t always translate into more Ws and less Ls.
It’s the offseason, what Gators news should we expect?
There are several things you can expect over the next two months during the offseason, just a couple of which I have provided below:
1. At least one player getting arrested for what can only be termed as a “he did what?!?” crime.
2. Several scooter-related accidents, at least one of which involves Matt Patchan.
3. A commitment from a “must-have” recruit.
4. A decommitment from that same “we didn’t need him anyway” recruit.
5. Several unfunny and overly used Charlie Cheeseburger comments by our rivals’ fans.
6. Another transfer, probably to Oregon or Cal, from a freshman from South Florida who says he wants to be “closer to home.”
7. An article on ESPN every time Urban Meyer flies over (or even within striking distance) of Columbus, Ohio.
8. At least one short-lived, ill-fated effort by TBG to delve into something other than college football on this website (i.e. Major League Baseball, Women’s World Cup, NASCAR, Bull Riding, etc., etc.).
9. A lesson in the art, science and execution of the pro-style offense versus the spread style offense written by Paradigm.
10. At least five more mentions by me of my love for the UF girls’ lacrosse team.