Three Florida Gators named to Preseason All-SEC Teams
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Three Florida Gators were named Preseason All-SEC selections, as voted on by the league coaches. Outfielder Wyatt Langford and catcher BT Riopelle were named to the First Team. Pitcher Hurston Waldrep was named to the Third Team.
Riopelle and Langford garnered First Team accolades at their respective positions. Waldrep was named a Second Team starting pitcher. Thursday’s announcement marks the first career Preseason All-SEC honors for all three Gators. Florida was one of three programs to place three or more players on the Preseason All-SEC Team.
Picked to finish second in the SEC East, Florida received two votes to win the division. As one of four teams to receive a first-place vote to win the conference, the Orange & Blue garnered one vote to be crowned 2023 SEC Champions.
The 2023 regular season for SEC teams begins on February 17 with conference play starting on March 16. Eleven SEC teams have been ranked in the top-25 of the preseason polls.
For Riopelle, the reigning First Team All-SEC catcher embarks on year two in Orange & Blue after leading all conference backstops with 15 home runs, 55 RBI, and a .551 slugging percentage in 2022. The Marietta, Ga. native also posted a .304 batting average and .447 on-base percentage to go with 125 total bases, one triple, nine doubles, 38 runs, and six stolen bases while turning in a .992 fielding percentage. Riopelle was also a Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award Semifinalist last season.
Entering the year as a potential Golden Spikes Award front runner and Unanimous First Team Preseason All-American, Langford is coming off one of the greatest seasons in the history of the Orange & Blue. While slashing .355/.447/.867, the Trenton, Fla. native tied Florida’s single-season home run record with an SEC-leading 26 big flies. The 2022 First Team All-American started all 66 games for the Gators a season ago, finishing with three triples, nine doubles, 73 runs, 63 RBI and seven steals. Perhaps most impressively, he turned in a 1.000 fielding percentage across 125 chances while playing in the outfield for the first time in his career.
Shifting to Waldrep, the Southern Miss transfer is primed for his first campaign in Gator Country. Highly regarded as one of the top arms in the nation, Waldrep was named a 2022 Third Team All-American by D1Baseball after churning out 90 frames of 3.20 ERA ball with 140 strikeouts – translating to 14.0 strikeouts per nine innings. The Thomasville, Ga. native was equally brilliant in limited action as a freshman in 2021, working to a 3.35 ERA and .217 batting average against with 16 strikeouts in 16 1/3 innings of work. That track record carried into this past fall, where Waldrep fired four scoreless frames against Georgia and Stetson, highlighted by an immaculate inning against the Hatters.
2023 SEC Baseball Coaches Preseason All-SEC First Team
2023 SEC Baseball Coaches Preseason All-SEC Second Team
