'I can't wait to be back' ... Nander De Sedas opens up about return to FSU Baseball

He came in as one of the most highly decorated signees in recent Florida State history.

But the first three years of Nander De Sedas’ college baseball career didn’t go according to plan. He struggled to hit consistently. He struggled to field consistently. And he might just have struggled with those lofty expectations, too.

The ones that come when you’re considered an early round pick in pro baseball circles but decide to attend college instead.

Now, a year after leaving Tallahassee and playing a season in the Southeastern Conference at Missouri, the native of Panama is back at Florida State. De Sedas announced his commitment to the Seminoles and new head coach Link Jarrett in late November.

And he couldn’t be more excited to be going “back home.”

“I definitely missed Friday nights at Howser,” De Sedas said. “I can’t wait to be back. I missed the Animals of Section B. There was not one day I didn’t wish they were yelling, ‘Panama,’ when I went up to bat. All those little things, I always missed.”

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De Sedas transferred from Florida State following a 2021 season in which he hit .196 with seven homers and 18 RBIs. He hit .231 as a freshman in 2019 for a College World Series team, but his numbers got progressively worse over the COVID-shortened 2020 season and then the full 2021 campaign.

After Florida State was knocked out of the postseason in the 2021 Oxford Regional, the former All-America high school recruit transferred to Missouri. Where he just so happened to have the best year of his college career.

Playing mostly second base, De Sedas hit .278 with seven doubles, two homers and a triple in 37 starts for the Tigers.

“I definitely grew up hitting-wise,” he said. “I feel more comfortable. I was switch-hitting again after not doing it for a year. … I feel like I found myself there. I’m a little more relaxed, less pressure and more trusting my abilities. I think that created a lot of confidence in me that I can still do this, I can still provide for a team.”

It just so happens he’ll be providing for Florida State again.

Although he admits he had no idea this was even a possibility when he put his name in the transfer portal in early June. He said he didn’t hear from new FSU coach Link Jarrett and his staff until the fall, sometime in October, and they started having conversations about his possible return to Tallahassee.

Before those phone calls, De Sedas said, he wasn’t sure where — or maybe even if — he would be playing college baseball in 2023.

“I had no idea where I was going to play,” he said. “I was thinking maybe I didn’t have a place to play in the spring. It was kind of scary.”

De Sedas said he decided to transfer from Missouri when the coaches there said there likely would be less scholarship money for the 2023 season for him (very few college baseball players receive full scholarships). And as an out-of-state student, that was going to be very difficult for his family.

So, after those conversations in the fall with Jarrett and his staff, and when he finally got an offer to rejoin the Seminoles, De Sedas could hardly contain his emotions.

Even now, he says he’s still trying to fully process the move back to Tallahassee.

“I pretty much had no hope in coming back to Florida State,” De Sedas said. “It’s actually still hard to believe it’s happening.”

After taking his final exams at Missouri this month, he now is a graduate student and plans to enroll at Florida State in January to join the Seminoles for the spring season.

De Sedas said he has no idea what position he’ll play — he mentioned third, short, second or first base as options — and he still has to meet a number of new teammates who have arrived since he departed.

He just couldn’t be more grateful or thankful that he gets to be a Seminole again.

That, when his college career seemed like it might actually be over, Florida State came back into his life.

“It was the light at the end of the tunnel,” De Sedas said. “It’s been humbling. It lit this fire under me, too. That I can still come here and help the team and give them my experience of playing college baseball. … It was exactly what I needed. I’ve never been so happy.

“Talk about 0 to 100. That’s how my heart felt. It went from a normal heart rate to barely being able to speak when I got the call from Coach Wallace (recruiting coordinator Rich Wallace) and after talking to Coach Link. I couldn’t keep my emotions straight.

“It was a great call.”

At the absolute perfect time.

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