![Florida's Aidan King (47) was the starter against Miami in NCAA Gainesville Regionals at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, Florida, Saturday, May 30, 2026. The Gators beat the Hurricanes 22-10. [Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun] 2026](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_811,w_5552,h_3123/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/213/01ktskawm13watpfstc0.jpg "Florida's Aidan King (47) was the starter against Miami in NCAA Gainesville Regionals at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, Florida, Saturday, May 30, 2026. The Gators beat the Hurricanes 22-10. [Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun] 2026")
As Kevin O’Sullivan and the Gators look ahead to the 2027 season, one of the major components that will come into focus is going to be the pitching staff. After a complete implosion at Regionals that has led to a shakeup of the staff, O’Sullivan stated that getting a cache of left-handed pitchers is going to be a priority this offseason.
But as football demonstrated, one of the other challenges of the modern era is also retaining the key members of your roster you already have, and Florida has two massive building blocks for 2027 who just got their flowers for their 2026 season.
Aidan King and Caden McDonald earn All-American honors
Aidan King was named a first-team All-American, and Caden McDonald was named to the second team by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.
King was named a Freshman All-American last season and topped that performance this year. Coming into May, he was as dominant a pitcher as anyone in the country. He did fall off a bit towards the end of the season, and his outing against Miami was emblematic of Florida’s pitching staff as a whole in the NCAA Tournament, but he finished the year 8-2 with a 3.21 ERA. He had 92 strikeouts against just 19 walks.
King is just a sophomore and will still have one more year before he is draft eligible for the MLB.
McDonald was named to the second team as a utility player. He made 20 appearances last year as a pitcher, but he only took one at bat in 2025. This year, McDonald got to swing the bat and showcased his two-way potential. He was .319 at the plate with a 3.42 ERA on the mound. He was front and center of Florida’s fateful winner-take-all game against Troy as he came on in relief and went 4.1 innings without a run.
But he was pulled after 48 pitches, and things went south in a hurry. O’Sullivan said after the game that McDonald was at his max pitch limit-wise when he got pulled. The storyline with McDonald heading into 2027 is whether or not he can pull a Jac Caglianone and work his way into being one of the starters, or whether he will still be best used as a bullpen guy.
Add us as a preferred source on Google