Florida baseball got some terrible news on Wednesday evening when a report surfaced that its ace starting pitcher [autotag]Hunter Barco[/autotag] is dealing with elbow discomfort, forcing the team to shut him down indefinitely. The news was first broken by D1Baseball managing editor Kendall Rogers on Twitter.
The sophomore southpaw out of Jacksonville, Florida, was having a stellar season in 2022, posting a 2.50 ERA in 50 1/3 innings, giving up 34 hits and 11 walks against 69 strikeouts over nine starts. He left the April 15 game against the Vanderbilt Commodores after just two innings — easily his shortest of the year — having surrendered two earned runs on four hits and one walk while striking out four. At the time, there was no indication of an injury.
INJURY NEWS: @GatorsBB LHP Hunter Barco, one of the nation’s premier pitchers and No. 7 on our top College #MLBDraft prospects list, is shut down indefinitely with elbow discomfort. He will continue to be evaluated by doctors. Just terrible news for Barco and the #Gators.
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) April 20, 2022
According to Rogers, Florida’s Friday starter will continue to be evaluated by doctors as the professionals determine the next course of action. Hopefully, Barco can avoid the surgical scalpel and return in time to help the Gators push into the postseason. Or at the very least, allow him to be healthy enough to prevent his professional stock from dropping too much heading into the MLB draft.
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