Gators baseball ranked No. 7 by Baseball America, poised for big season
Coming off their somewhat unexpected run to the College World Series last season, the Florida Gators baseball team has lofty expectations for 2025. And the preseason rankings reflect that. Monday, Baseball America released its Preseason Top 25 and the Gators came in at No. 7. Meanwhile, D1Baseball and Perfect Game have Florida at Nos. 10 and 11, respectively.
Florida went just 36-30 overall and 13-17 in the SEC in 2024. But after barely making the NCAA Tournament, the Gators got hot. Really hot. First, they won their regional at Oklahoma State. Then, they swept No. 6 seed Clemson on the road in the Super Regional to reach the College World Series for the ninth time under coach Kevin O’Sullivan.
While Florida loses No. 6 overall 2024 draft selection Jac Caglianone, the Gators do return a good bit of talent – and they added some key transfers. Wrote Jacob Rudner of Baseball America:
“Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said he learned valuable lessons in 2024 when the Gators were one of the last teams included in the Field of 64 and reached Omaha despite finishing the regular season ranked last in the SEC in ERA. It led him to lean more heavily on the transfer portal, where he added center fielder and leadoff hitter Kyle Jones from Stetson and Miami transfer Blake Cyr (BA’s No. 10 transfer), among others. Between transfers and key offensive returners, Florida should be a force at the plate. How well it can pitch with mostly returners and freshmen will likely determine whether or not the Gators can return to regular-season dominance.”
Baseball America has Texas A&M at No. 1 and LSU No. 2. You can see the complete rankings HERE.
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FloridaGators.com recently noted, “Perfect Game included four Gators in its preseason list of the top-100 juniors in college baseball entering the 2025 season featuring right-handed pitcher Jake Clemente, outfielder Blake Cyr, second baseman Cade Kurland and shortstop Colby Shelton. As one of nine schools to have at least four players in the rankings, Florida’s contingent was headlined by Clemente at No 59 overall. On his heels at No. 63 was Cyr, followed by Kurland at No. 74 and Shelton at No. 83.”
Additionally, Baseball America highlighted sophomore pitcher Liam Peterson as another player to watch, writing the following: “Though his final numbers from his first campaign might look discouraging (6.43 ERA, 1.71 WHIP and 44 walks in 63 innings), Peterson put together a five-start stretch at the end of the year in which he pitched to a 2.55 ERA in 24.2 innings”
O’Sullivan enters his 18th season with an overall record of 717–349 in Gainesville. The Gators open the year Feb. 14 vs. Air Force at home.
