Freshman Aidan King gets big rankings bump ahead of 2025 Florida Baseball season

Preparations for Florida Baseball are well underway for the 2025 season as the Gators are a little over a month away before taking the field for real against Air Force on February 14.

It's tricky with baseball to figure out who is actually going to be a key contributor, as Kevin O'Sullivan often uses the front half of the year to weed guys out, but one incoming freshman who may not have been on the radar of Gator fans just got a huge rankings bump by Perfect Game and is one to watch heading into the season.

Florida Baseball: King Me

At first glance, Aidan King comes to Gainesville as just another guy. Perfect Game ranked him 432nd in the class of 2024 and 137th among right-handed pitchers.

But yesterday, Perfect Game dropped their list of the top 75 freshmen entering the 2025 campaign, and Florida had two players in the top 25. The first is Joshua Whritenour, a right-handed pitcher with a 95 MPH fastball and a noted slider.

But coming in at 25th on the list is King, a bump of 407 spots compared to where he was.

King has a mid-90s fastball himself with a slider and change-up to mix in, but how did he shoot up 400 spots?

As the Gator Diamond Podcast explained on X, King had a solid fall campaign with Florida.

Then King's high school coach, Rusty Kellum, chimed in and pointed out a phenomenon we here at Hail Florida Hail muse about all the time when it comes to football rankings and the usage of 7 v 7 showcases and camps to justify rises and falls.

Kevin O'Sullivan isn't afraid to give freshmen a chance to prove themselves, and if King lives up to this top-25 billing, then Gator fans will see plenty of him in 2025.