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The Florida Gators baseball team began preparing Friday for the 2024 season.
Baseball is back at Condron today.
2:30 Stretch / ~4:30 Scrimmage pic.twitter.com/bi1aY5HHM6
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) January 26, 2024
The Gators won their 16th SEC title last season, but just missed out on a national championship.
Against conference rival LSU, the Gaotrs dropped the first game of the final series by just one run in extra innings. Although they bounced back to take Game 2 by hammering the Tigers 24-4, they lost Game 3 18-4 to give LSU the title.
Florida has a great chance to run it back and again contend for the title of college baseball’s best team.
The return of two-way superstar Jac Caglianone is a huge boost for the team’s pitching and hitting. He blasted 33 home runs and won 7 of his 11 starts as a pitcher last season.
https://twitter.com/d1baseball/status/1747408505802207521
Joining him in the rotation will be UCLA transfer Kelly Austin, and Ryan Slater, Brandon Neely and Cade Fisher will compete for a starting role as well.
Only one infield starter will need to be replaced, and that is shortstop Josh Rivera. But the addition of the versatile Colby Shelton, who hit 25 home runs last season for Alabama, should help to make that transition easier. Shelton can play shortstop, second base and third base, which should also help out Florida defensively.
A bigger loss potentially for the Gators is the departure of outfielder Wyatt Langford.
Selected fourth overall in the MLB Draft by the Texas Rangers, Langford set a Florida career record for slugging percentage with a whopping .746. He was also elite defensively, posting a .991 fielding percentage and just one error in 233 chances.
The Gators have talent in the outfield, but Langford’s exit leaves big shoes to fill. Ty Evans, Michael Robertson and Tyler Shelnut will have to step up in his absence.
With all that being said, this Gators team is still loaded and well-coached, leaving them in a position to compete for another title in 2024.
