Sophomore Dalton Guthrie has moved to shortstop from second base. Guthrie was named to the All-SEC Freshman Team in 2015. (Photo: Tim Casey)
Baseball Preview: Gators Have Talent -- oh, and pitching -- to Return to Omaha
Monday, February 15, 2016 | Baseball, Scott Carter
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Florida to start season ranked at top of national polls
By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida baseball team will start the 2016 season at the top.
What the Gators really want is to finish at the top.
Florida, ranked No. 1 in every major preseason poll, is the predominant favorite to claim this year's national championship based primarily on three words: pitching, pitching and pitching.
Entering his ninth season, head coach Kevin O'Sullivan has as well-rounded a club as anyone in the country. The Gators have defense. They have offense. They have veterans. They have talented freshmen. And yes, they have pitching.
Loads of pitching. O'Sullivan illustrated that point when asked recently about the comfort in having 6-foot-7 lefty A.J. Puk, potentially the No. 1 pick in next summer's MLB amateur draft, as his No. 2 starter behind Logan Shore.
Junior left-hander AJ Puk struck out 104 batters in 78 innings a season ago. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA)
O'Sullivan said, yes, Puk is certainly capable of being Florida's Friday Night starter. He then said so is No. 3 starter Alex Faedo, a sophomore right-hander who continued to improve as the season progressed to finish 6-1 with a 3.23 ERA. But O'Sullivan is just fine with that guy being Shore, a junior who came up huge for the Gators as they advanced to the College World Series a year ago.
Shore was 5-0 with a 2.43 ERA in the postseason and became the first UF pitcher in school history to win two games in the CWS. Shore's 11 wins were the most for a Florida pitcher since Hudson Randall won 11 in 2011.
"I feel real good about all of them,'' O'Sullivan said.
Same goes for junior right-hander Dane Dunning, who has been a regular weekend starter and who made 14 starts as a sophomore, finishing 5-2 with a 4.03 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 60 1/3 innings.
The talented starting rotation, a deep bullpen, a lineup that has speed and power, and a steady defense is why the pundits like the Gators to win their first national championship after four trips to Omaha in the past six years.
O'Sullivan's message to his team is simple: Play ball, have fun, embrace the expectations and see what happens.
"I don't want them to feel it's a win-it-all-or-bust mentality,'' he said. "You can't go into anything with that type of mentality. We've got a good team. We've got a very difficult schedule. We've got a long road ahead of us and I don't want them to feel they've got to do more than they are capable."
The Gators open the season Friday night at home against Florida Gulf Coast University. Tickets remain available.
Shore, Puk, Faedo and Dunning provide the Gators with four quality starters who can eat up innings and frustrate opposing lineups. Puk (9-4, 3.81) struck out 104 in 78 innings, becoming the first UF pitcher to strike out 100 or more batters since Bryan Augenstein in 2007. Faedo was usually at his best at home, posting a 5-0 record and 36 strikeouts in 36 innings at McKethan Stadium. Florida's most experienced reliever returning is lefty Kirby Snead, who appeared in 28 games a season ago and logged 34 1/3 innings. Junior right-hander Shaun Anderson is expected to get a look at closer. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound Anderson is a power pitcher who can throw in the mid-90s and struck out 21 in 22 innings as a sophomore. Junior right-hander Frank Rubio and sophomore lefty Scott Moss are also in the mix for bullpen innings. Moss is finally healthy after missing two seasons following Tommy John surgery.
KEY NEWCOMERS: RHP Jackson Kowar (6-foot-5, 180 pounds) and RHP Brady Singer (6-5, 190). Both Kowar and Singer are equipped to contribute immediately in the bullpen and could see further opportunities depending on their progress.
QUOTE OF NOTE: "Top to bottom I think any person on our staff can contribute at any time in the game. – Frank Rubio
Outfielder Jeremy Vasquez takes on a more significant role in 2015. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA)Sophomore Dalton Guthrie moves from second base to shortstop and is a heady player at the top of the lineup. Buddy Reed is ranked among the top prospects in next summer's draft and hit .305 with four homers, 47 RBIs and 18 stolen bases as a sophomore. Reed has the potential to be one of the most dangerous everyday players in the country if he continues to develop the way he did as a sophomore. The DH/C combination of JJ Schwarz and Mike Rivera was a smashing success in their freshman seasons. Schwarz belted 18 home runs and drove in 73, and Rivera drove in 48 and is an above-average defender behind the plate. Peter Alonso and Jeremy Vasquez are primed for bigger seasons after both missed a significant portion of last season due to injuries. Ryan Larson moves to left field this season and is one of the team's most overlooked contributors. He hit .305 with a .401 on-base percentage in 2015. Meanwhile, true freshmen Deacon Liput (Oviedo HS) and Jonathan India (American Heritage HS in Coral Springs) both held their own in fall practice and are the front-runners to round out the starting infield to start the season. Sophomore Christian Hicks offers versatility and started six games at third base and six games at first base as a freshman.
KEY NEWCOMERS: INF/OF Nelson Maldonado (Tampa Jefferson HS), INF Blake Reese (Tallahassee Lincoln HS), OF Danny Reyes (Mater Academy in Miami Springs). O'Sullivan signed the top-rated class in the country and Maldonado, Reese and Reyes are three who stood out in fall practice.
QUOTE OF NOTE: "We have a couple freshmen who are going to make a big impact and we have a lot of speed this year, so it's just a whole new dynamic on the team." – JJ Schwarz
*****
DEFENSE
The Gators led the nation with a .984 fielding percentage, the second-best mark in NCAA history. Florida committed just 42 errors in 70 games. Reed is in any conversation about the top defensive center fielders in the college game and Guthrie was spectacular at second his first year. He will try to take his dependable glove to shortstop. The biggest question mark is the left side of the infield where Tobias and Martin stopped nearly everything within reach. Tobias made just one error and Martin trimmed his miscues from 21 as a sophomore to nine as a junior. Rivera has an edge on Schwarz defensively behind the plate and is a natural leader.
QUOTE OF NOTE: "The one consistent is we play really good defense." – Kevin O'Sullivan
*****
BOTTOM OF ORDER
The Gators play their first four games at home before playing the next five away from McKethan Stadium. They face Eastern Michigan in Lakeland on Feb. 24, travel to Miami for a three-game series Feb. 26-28, and then play a mid-week game at UCF on March 1. After the five-game road swing, the Gators play 13 of their next 14 at home before diving deeper into the SEC schedule. By that time the season will be a third complete and we should have a better idea of what exactly the Gators are capable of later in the season.
IMPACT FRESHMAN: Hard not to go with Singer, who was selected in the second round (56th overall pick) by Toronto last June. Singer starred at Eustis High and was a Class 5A All-State member last year after finishing 8-3 with a 1.25 ERA. He pitched six complete games and struck out 110 in 67 innings.
FINAL WORDS: "There's a lot of chemistry with this team. All the older guys are bringing the younger kids under our wing and letting them know being No. 1 in the nation is nothing to worry about. Just play the game and play like you know how to play and everything good will come from that." – Kirby Snead
