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Florida Baseball: Three stats that must improve for the Gators in 2023

By Benjamin Henderson

Florida left fielder Wyatt Langford (36) celebrates after hitting a home run during the SEC baseball tournament at the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Ala., on Saturday, May 28, 2022. Florida Gators defeated Alabama Crimson Tide 11-6.
Florida left fielder Wyatt Langford (36) celebrates after hitting a home run during the SEC baseball tournament at the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Ala., on Saturday, May 28, 2022. Florida Gators defeated Alabama Crimson Tide 11-6. /
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The Florida Gators are coming off a respectable season that saw the squad go 42-22 and serve has host for the NCAA regional round. However, Florida baseball had its season end after two defeats to Oklahoma and never felt like one of the true baseball powerhouse teams in country last season.

The Gators return with high hopes in 2023, securing a top ten national preseason ranking. But to stay in the top ten there are three key stats that Florida baseball will need to improve upon from 2022.

Florida Baseball: Hit the ball

Wyatt Langford is back and certainly will provide the Gators with a potent threat. Langford hit .355 last year with 26 home runs and 63 RBIs.

The problem is that Langford didn’t have much help from the rest of the Gator lineup. Outside of Sterlin Thompson and BT Riopelle, no one else for Florida with at least 200 plate appearances had a batting average above .300, and Thompson is now gone as a member of Colorado Rockies organization.

Florida baseball as a whole had a team average of .273, only 172nd best in the nation.

Florida Baseball: Choas on the basepaths

When Florida did get on base, they were a middling team at best when it came to steals and advancing runners.

The Gators had 55 stolen bases last season, only 144th best in the nation. Missouri, for context, also had 55 stolen bases last season. but Florida was caught stealing 21 times while Missouri was only caught eight.

Thompson had 10 stolen bases last season as did Jud Fabian, who is now with the Baltimore Orioles organization. The top returning base stealer is Langford, who had seven last season but was caught stealing four times.

Florida Baseball: Bean ball

For some people, this stat may not be high enough. But for practicality sake, Florida Gator pitchers hit a lot of batter last season.

Florida hit 83 batters last season, the 38th most in the country. Leading the bean ball wars was Ryan Slater, who hit 12 batters last season. Timmy Manning, Brandon Neely, and Brandon Sproat all hit batters.

Slater, Manning, and Sproat all return this season, so opposing hitters may need to be on high alert unless Florida baseball worked on its control in the offseason.

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