Tag: Salvador Alvarez

2023 Florida Baseball Preview: Catchers

BT Riopelle is back for another year at Florida and is the clear starter to begin the 2023 season, but there’s plenty of talent behind him too.

It’s officially baseball season in Gainesville, and Gators Wire is previewing each position on the team leading up to the season opener on Feb. 17 against Charleston Southern.

Up first are the catchers. Florida has four catchers on the roster: senior [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag], sophomore [autotag]Rene Lastres[/autotag]  and true freshmen [autotag]Salvador Alvarez[/autotag] and [autotag]Luke Heyman[/autotag]. The hierarchy here should follow seniority, but Riopelle saw time at first base last year and could play there again if the team can’t figure things out at the position.

Sure, last year’s primary backup, [autotag]Mac Guscette[/autotag], is no longer in town after transferring to the Alabama Crimson Tide, but Lastres looks like he’ll be ready to serve in the role after recovering from Tommy John surgery. If he’s not, Florida has a pair of talented freshmen that could compete for playing time early on in the year.

The addition of former Gator Mike Rivera to the staff this year should benefit the catchers the most. He committed just five errors in his three-year career at Florida.

Here’s a look at each of Florida’s catchers heading into the 2023 season.

Tracking Florida baseball’s 2022 transfer portal movement

It could be a busy offseason for Florida baseball in the transfer portal. Here are the latest moves being made.

It could be a busy offseason for the Florida Gators in the transfer portal, including additions and subtractions from the 2022 team. A few players have made their intentions to depart known early and the Gators are expected to at least compete for some of the top talent in the portal (yes, Tommy White is still an option but FSU is the favorite).

[autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] tested the waters a year ago by bringing in catcher [autotag]BT Riopelle[/autotag] and that worked out beautifully. Riopelle was an All-SEC First Team selection and is now expected to return, according to Gators Online’s Nick de la Torre. It’s worth pursuing some more talent after a success like that, and Florida will have holes after losing [autotag]Jud Fabian[/autotag] and [autotag]Sterlin Thompson[/autotag] among others to the draft and graduation.

Florida did have 16 new faces join the team last year with all but one being freshmen, so some were bound to transfer out. Gators Wire will keep track of those roster movements as they come in and keep an eye on where they land.

It will be interesting to see just how much Florida utilizes the portal this offseason. The new rules changed the game immediately for football and basketball, but it seems that baseball is just now catching up.

What’s next for Florida baseball: A post-mortem of the 2022 season

Buckle in, Gators Wire’s 2022 Baseball Season Recap is finally here. We dive into all 35 players one by one and go over where they stand after the season.

The Florida Gators’ 2022 baseball season ended Monday with a 5-4 loss in the regional finals of the NCAA Championship Tournament against Oklahoma. The year was filled with ups and downs, but being six outs away from a Super Regional berth isn’t too shabby for a team with 16 new players on the roster.

Pitching was a bit of a disappointment early on, but a few freshmen started to stand out from the bunch. That depth allowed the Gators to make a deeper run than most expected in the playoffs and finish the year 42-24.

Conference play was a bit of a struggle. UF finished the regular season .500 against the SEC, including series losses to Georgia (sweep), LSU, Tennessee (sweep) and Vanderbilt. A 9-3 finish against the weaker members of the conference (Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri and South Carolina) allowed Florida to finish with a respectable record, but things didn’t really turn around until Texas A&M beat them via the mercy rule.

After that 10-0 loss, Florida played like the team it needed to be all year. It even got legendary performances from the likes of Carsten Finnvold, a freshman who hadn’t seen game action since April when he got the start against Tennessee in theSEC Tournament.

Then there’s the offense. At times, the veteran group didn’t back up the young pitching staff as it was expected to. Jud Fabian was a disappointment down the stretch, hitting just .185 against the conference and going 1-for-30. To his credit, Fabian struck out 10 times less than he did a year ago in about 40 more plate appearances. Walks were also up considerably, so his eye definitely improved despite the low average.

On the other side of things, Wyatt Langford made a complete transformation over the offseason and became one of the best leadoff guys in baseball. He led the team in most major offensive categories and tied Matt LaPorta’s 2005 school record of 26 homers in a season.

There’s a lot to celebrate about with this team, and a lot to address moving forward. Many of them have played their final games in the Orange in Blue, and others are just starting to tell their story.

What will the team look like next year? There’s only one way to properly answer that question and it’s long-winded. Feel free to jump to the sections that interest you the most as we break down the team position by position.