Florida will throw freshman right-hander [autotag]Liam Peterson[/autotag] in the opening game of the Stillwater Regional against Nebraska.
Many wondered if [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag] would move up in the rotation to give Florida its best arm on the mound, but [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] is going with the freshman after a strong finish to the regular season.
Peterson turned down six-figure offers in the draft to attend Florida and immediately entered the starting rotation — a rare feat for any first-year player at the college level, but even more impressive coming in the SEC.
Of course, Peterson had ups and downs in his first year. He started the season with seven shutout innings, but the Miami series started a six-week run of rough outings. He allowed 28 of his 35 earned runs on the year over those six games, but Peterson figured things out toward the end of the season.
Since the Missouri series (April 6), Peterson has a 2.73 earned run average over 23 innings. His most impressive performance came against top-ranked Tennessee. Peterson held the Volunteers scoreless through four innings, striking out seven and allowing just one hit.
Despite the continued improvement Peterson has shown throughout the season, walks continue to be an issue for him. His 11.7% walk rate is high, but Florida’s pitching staff has struggled with walks as a whole all year. Jac Caglianone and a pair of freshmen regulars have a higher walk rate than Peterson.
The other side of that coin is Peterson’s excellent strikeout rate. He fans one out of every four batters he faces, and that number seems to go up in tight situations. Peterson’s going to be one of the best arms in the SEC, perhaps as soon as next year, but he has a chance to enter the conversation with a dominant outing for Florida against Nebraska.
The Cornhuskers are a strikeout-prone team, but that could work against Peterson in an odd way. Strikeouts require more pitches than quick outs in play, and Peterson is not known for going deep in games because of the walks. He’s only given Florida five or more innings three times this year, and only one of those was a quality start.
If Peterson can work into the fifth without giving up the game, Sully is getting what he needs from the freshman.
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