Nine former Florida Baseball players on opening day MLB rosters

The MLB season is upon us and Florida Baseball is going to be well represented in the big leagues. Nine former players have made an opening day roster, with multiple others biding their time in the minor leagues.

The nine players to make an opening day roster match the amount the Gators had last season.

It should be noted that the Gators included Jacob Young on their graphic on X, but he was optioned down to AAA earlier this week.

Florida Baseball Opening Day

Pete Alonso

One of the bright stars in all of Major League Baseball right now, Pete Alonso had a dominant junior year with Florida Baseball in 2016, hitting .374 with 14 home runs and 60 RBIs.

He was drafted by the New York Mets in the second round of the draft in 2016. It took Alonso a couple of years in the minors to move up, but he debuted with New York in 2019 and hit 53 home runs during his rookie campaign.

Alonso had an interesting stat line in 2023, hitting 46 home runs and knocking in 118 RBIs while only batting .217 and striking out 151 times.

Contract talks for an extension are still ongoing with Alonso and the Mets.

Harrison Bader

Harrison Bader spent three seasons in Gainesville, from 2013 through 2015. In 2014 he hit .337, and while that number dipped to .297 in 2015, he also hit 17 home runs and was named a Second-Team All-American.

Bader was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the third round and made his major league debut in 2017.

He has since won the Gold Glove in 2021 and was traded to the Yankees in 2022, and was moved again to the Reds in 2023. Bader will be a member of the Mets in 2024 after hitting .232 last season.