Gators Earn Mention in D1Baseball's Positional Rankings

Colby Shelton (left) and Cade Kurland (right) meet in the middle of the infield during the Gators' game against the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday, May 4, 2024 at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, Fla.

Gators Earn Mention in D1Baseball's Positional Rankings

Thursday, February 13, 2025 | Baseball

By: Sophia Cooper

With the 2025 baseball season approaching, D1Baseball released its preseason player rankings with 11 total Florida players earning recognition. Five Gators ranked inside the top 50 at their position while two made the top-100 outfielders. Florida also had four hurlers rank as either top-100 starters or relief pitchers.

Shortstop – Colby Shelton (No. 13)
Second Base – Cade Kurland (No. 22)
Outfield – Kyle Jones (No. 31)
Catcher – Luke Heyman (No. 32)
Third Base – Bobby Boser (No. 47)
First Base – Brendan Lawson (No. 47)
Starting Pitcher – Liam Peterson (No. 49)
Relief Pitcher – Alex Philpott (No. 53)
Outfield – Blake Cyr (No. 82)
Relief Pitcher – Frank Menendez (No. 92)
Starting Pitcher – Jake Clemente (No. 108)

Shelton leads the Gators in the No. 13 spot for D1Baseball's 2025 preseason shortstop rankings. Shelton is entering his second season as a Gator, having transferred from Alabama for the start of the 2024 season. The everyday shortstop immediately became an impact player for the Gators, leading the team in stolen bases and coming in second in on-base percentage, slugging, OPS, hits, homers, doubles, runs, RBI and walks, behind only Jac Caglianone. Shelton finished his impressive 2024 campaign batting .254/.374/.551 backed by 20 homers, one triple, 14 doubles, 60 runs, 56 RBI and 35 walks across 256 at bats while fielding at a .974 clip with only six errors across 66 games. Such success at the plate and on the field earned him a spot on the 2024 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Watch List.

Having been a key contributor to the success of the 2024 College World Series bound Gators, Kurland returns to the infield for the 2025 season ranked as D1Baseball's No. 22 second baseman. The third-year Gator has started 129 out of 137 possible games for the Gators over the last two seasons, posting a career slash line of .272/.376/.508. During the 2024 season, Kurland managed to add 14 home runs, one triple, eight doubles, 51 runs, 44 RBI and five stolen bases to his career totals while posting a strong .958 fielding percentage and turning 22 double plays across 213 defensive chances at second base.

As one of three Gators to start every game for the 2024 squad, Heyman comes in ranked as the No. 32 catcher. Over a team-high 264 at bats, Heyman batted .246/.342/.481 with a .823 OPS. Heyman set career highs with 65 hits, 16 home runs, 14 doubles, 52 RBI, 46 runs and 23 walks. His 65 hits tied for second on the roster, while tying for third in homers and RBI. The slugger contributed to his successful 2024 with 17 multi-RBI games ranking second on the team and coming in fourth in multi-hit games with 18. To match his stellar performance at the plate for his sophomore season, Heyman put up an excellent .995 fielding percentage during his time split between catcher and first base.

On top of being recognized as D1Baseball's No. 45 Impact Transfer Hitter, Boser will enter the 2025 season as the No. 47-ranked third baseman. Boser has spent his last three seasons with the USF Bulls having concluded his USF career with a .286/.386/.580 slash line, 31 homers, four triples, 17 doubles, 85 RBI, 92 runs and 14 stolen bases across 402 at bats. In his last two seasons, the advanced slugger led the team in home runs, earning himself All-AAC First Team honors for both seasons and ranking eighth in program history with 31 career long balls. The standout hitter exceled during over the summer in the Cape Cod League, posting a .319/.443/.486 in 21 games. Along with his productivity at the plate, Boser has been able to show off his versatility in the field, logging time at all three outfield spots, shortstop, second base and third while boasting a career .981 fielding percentage with only eight errors over three seasons.

Lawson, who will be wearing No. 11 for his first season with the Gators, comes in as D1Baseball's No. 47-ranked first baseman for the upcoming season. The six-foot-three freshman came to the Gators as the top-ranked Canadian prospect in the 2024 recruiting class. Lawson has impressed with his prior experience, playing at the Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute and with the Ontario Blue Jays of the Canadian Premier Baseball League, earning himself PG Preseason First Team All-Region honors for the Canada/Puerto Rico area in 2023 and 2024. Lawson completed his high school campaign as a top-200 prospect for the 2024 MLB Draft and was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals. Before deciding to suit up for the Orange and Blue, Lawson posted an excellent .344/.533/.375 slash line with 11 hits, six runs and more walks than strikeouts over 45 plate appearances with the Trenton Thunder of the 2024 MLB Draft League.

Jones and Cyr close out the 2025 preseason fielder rankings with the former coming in at No. 31 and the latter at No. 82 in D1Baseball's top-100 outfielders. Jones begins his second season, first with the Florida Gators, with an accomplished 2024 performance already under his belt. The standout center fielder spent a season with the Stetson Hatters as the team's leadoff hitter, posting a .355/.459/.476 slash line backed by five homers, 32 RBI and 23 stolen bases while leading the Hatters with 88 hits, 15 doubles and 53 runs scored in 248 trips to the plate. Just as impressive in the field as at the plate, Jones fielded at a .994 clip with only one error on the season, earning him 2024 NCAA Division I Gold Glove Finalist honors. Due to his defensive and offensive successes, Jones was named a Second Team Freshman All-American by the NCBWA as well as the ASUN Freshman of the Year, Freshman All-ASUN and All-Conference Third Team.

Tabbed Baseball America's No. 10 transfer from the past off-season, Cyr finds himself named to D1Baseball's 2025 preseason top-100 outfielders at No. 82. The Windermere, Fla. native spent two seasons with the Miami Hurricanes. Over 85 games played during the 2023 and 2024 seasons, Cyr slashed .298/.418/.593 with 24 homers, 15 doubles and 84 RBI. Despite injuries allowing Cyr to play only 25 games during the 2024 season, he slashed .284/.397/.537 with seven homers, putting up a robust .933 OPS. Making the transition from the infield to left field during the 2024 season, Cyr fielded at an improved .964 clip. With a tough to follow performance during his freshman season, the 2023 Freshman All-American posted a .305/.427/.620 slash line, hitting 17 home runs, 12 doubles and 63 RBI. His 17 home runs were second most on the team and allowed him to join an exclusive group as one of four Miami freshmen to eclipse that threshold.

Shifting to the pitching side, Peterson enters into his second season with the Gators ranked as D1 Baseball's No. 49 starting pitcher. The right-hander is looking to lead off the weekend rotation for the Gators after serving as a key contributor to the success of the 2024 team. With 18 appearances, 15 of which were weekend starts, Peterson finished his freshman campaign tied for the team high in games started while ranking fourth in innings pitched and strikeouts. The No. 14 sophomore in the sport per Perfect Game, Peterson finished the previous season with a .257 batting average against and 77 strikeouts over 63 innings of work, earning him SEC All-Freshman Team honors and the opportunity to pitch for the 2024 Collegiate National Team.

Coming off an excellent summer in the Cape Cod League, Clemente falls in as D1Baseball's No. 108 starting pitcher. The right-hander spent his summer honing his skills on the mound, finishing with 27 innings in Cape Cod with an impressive 3.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 9.7 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9. Those numbers followed up his notable 2024 season where although he finished with a raised 5.34 ERA, he put up a robust 28 2/3 innings of work and struck out 39 batters to post an excellent 12.2 K/9 and a .234 BAA. With his impressive 2024 resume under his belt, the redshirt sophomore seeks to bolster the starting staff this season after making only two starts in his first season of collegiate play.

Looking to the bullpen, Philpott, No. 53, and Barlow, No. 92, inspire a lot of confidence for the latter half of the game. Philpott enters his sophomore season as a Gator, coming to the team before the 2024 season ranked by Perfect Game as the No. 12 right-handed pitcher and No. 37 overall player in Florida. Philpott started the season off with four-straight scoreless appearances spanning 9 2/3 innings with 12 strikeouts. Making a return from midseason injury to contribute to the Gators' College World Series run, he fired two perfect frames in the victory over Kentucky on June 19.

Barlow, the No. 92 reliever as well as D1Baseball's No. 42 impact transfer pitcher for the 2025 season, arrives from Clemson as a senior. The six-foot-two righty will be a solid addition to the bullpen, having finished the 2024 season with a stellar record of 6-1 backed by a 4.28 ERA and 42 strikeouts to only 20 walks. During his three seasons with the Clemson Tigers, Barlow produced an impressive resume including an 8-6 record to go with an ERA of 4.69 and 102 strikeouts against 42 walks for an impressive 2.43 strikeout-to-walk ratio. While this will be Barlow's first time suiting up in Orange & Blue, this will not be Gator fans' first time seeing him on the mound as he faced Florida in the Gators' final win of the Clemson Super Regional last June.

Florida opens the 2025 regular season at home on Friday, Feb. 14 vs. Air Force at 6:30 p.m., hosting the Falcons for a three-game series (Feb. 14-16) for the first time in program history. Season tickets and SEC Five-Pack Mini-Plans are currently on sale now in addition to single-game tickets.

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