KSR's 2025 SEC Baseball Preview: Florida

With the 2025 College Baseball season just around the corner, KSR will be previewing all 15 SEC teams that will be competing with Kentucky for an SEC crown this season. Up next; the Florida Gators.

The 2024 season was a weird one for Kevin O’Sullivan’s Florida Gators, which finished the regular season with a 28-26 (13-17) record and lost in the first round of the SEC Tournament to No. 9 seed Vanderbilt as the No. 8 seed. There were doubts that the Gators would miss the NCAA Tournament all together for the first time since 2007, but they slipped into the Stillwater Regional as the No. 3 seed.

In the NCAA Tournament, Florida began playing like they were expected to all season. The Gators ripped through the Stillwater Regional with just one loss, took down Clemson in two games in the Clemson Super Regional, and won two games in the 2024 Men’s College World Series. After a strong finish to the 2024 season, Florida will open the 2025 season ranked No. 10 in the country.

Returning Players:

• Jr. INF Colby Shelton (2024: 66 G, .254 AVG, 14 2B, 20 HR, 56 RBI, .551 SLG%, .374 OBP%)
• Jr. C Luke Heyman (2024: 66 G, .246 AVG, 14 2B, 16 HR, 52 RBI, .481 SLG%, .342 OBP%)
• Jr. INF Cade Kurland (2024: 62 G, .245 AVG, 8 2B, 14 HR, 44 RBI, .457 SLG%, .346 OBP%)
• Sr. OF Ty Evans (2024: 49 G, .316 AVG, 10 2B, 13 HR, 43 RBI, .580 SLG%, .406 OBP%)
• Jr. C Brody Donay (2024: 49 G, .246 AVG, 5 2B, 14 HR, 32 RBI, .527 SLG%, .323 OBP%)
• So. OF Hayden Yost (2024: 32 G, .284 AVG, 5 2B, 0 HR, 4 RBI, .358 SLG%, .400 OBP%)
• Jr. OF/INF Ashton Wilson (2024: 26 G, .279 AVG, 7 2B, 2 HR, 16 RBI, .471 SLG%, .405 OBP%)
• So. OF Blake Brookins (2024: 7 G, .000 AVG, 0 2B, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .000 SLG%, .143 OBP%)

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• So. RHP Liam Peterson (2024: 18 APP, 16 GS, 3-6, 6.43 ERA, 63 IP, 77 K, 44 BB)
• So. RHP Luke McNeillie (2024: 26 APP, 2 GS, 4-6, 7.07 ERA, 35 2/3 IP, 43 K, 21 BB)
• So. RHP Alex Philpott (2024: 14 APP, 3 GS, 2-2, 6.90 ERA, 30 IP, 28 K, 16 BB)
• RS-So. RHP Jake Clemente (2024: 19 APP, 2 GS, 2-0, 5.34 ERA, 28 2/3 IP, 39 K, 20 BB)
• RS-Jr. LHP Pierce Coppola (2024: 8 APP, 8 GS, 1-4, 8.75 ERA, 23 2/3 IP, 35 K, 12 BB)
• So. LHP Frank Menendez (2024: 17 APP, 0 GS, 1-0, 4.96 ERA, 16 1/3 IP, 14 K, 13 BB)
• So. LHP Jacob Gomberg (2024: 1 APP, 0 GS, 0-0, 18.00 ERA, 1 IP, 2 K, 3 BB)

Departing Players:

• Jr. LHP/INF Jac Caglianone (2024: 66 G, .419 AVG, 8 2B, 35 HR, 72 RBI, .875 SLG%, .544 OBP – 1st Round of 2024 MLB Draft)
• Sr. INF/OF Tyler Shelnut (2024: 65 G, .261 AVG, 19 2B, 16 HR, 52 RBI, .530 SLG%, .360 OBP% – Graduated)
• RS-So. OF Michael Robertson (2024: 57 G, .256 AVG, 12 2B, 2 HR, 26 RBI, .360 SLG%, .319 OBP% – Transferred to Liberty)
• Sr. INF Dale Thomas (2024: 50 G, .225 AVG, 9 2B, 3 HR, 21 RBI, .344 SLG%, .348 OBP% – Graduated)
• Sr. OF Jaylen Guy (2024: 38 G, .143 AVG, 1 2B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .163 SLG%, .338 OBP% – Graduated)
• Sr. INF Armando Albert (2024: 23 G, .194 AVG, 1 2B, 0 HR, 4 RBI, .222 SLG%, .431 OBP% – Graduated)
• Sr. C Tanner Garrison (2024: 20 G, .246 AVG, 3 2B, 1 HR, 6 RBI, .351 SLG%, .348 OBP% – Graduated)
• So. INF/OF Landon Russell (2024: 16 G, .115 AVG, 1 2B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .231 SLG%, .172 OBP%)

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• Jr. RHP Brandon Neely (2024: 28 APP, 6 GS, 3-4, 5.13 ERA, 79 IP, 108 K, 28 BB – 3rd Round of 2024 MLB Draft)
• Jr. RHP Fisher Jameson (2024: 34 APP, 1 GS, 5-0, 3.00 ERA, 67 2/3 IP, 79 K, 18 BB – 10th Round of 2024 MLB Draft)
• So. LHP Cade Fisher (2024: 26 APP, 9 GS, 4-3, 7.13 ERA, 59 1/3 IP, 76 K, 29 BB – Transferred to Auburn)
• RS-Jr. RHP Ryan Slater (2024: 5 APP, 2 GS, 5-2, 6.70 ERA, 49 2/3 IP, 44 K, 17 BB – 18th Round of 2024 MLB Draft)
• RS-Jr. RHP Blake Purnell (2024: 21 APP, 0 GS, 0-0, 7.78 ERA, 19 2/3 IP, 21 K, 6 BB)
• Fr. RHP Grayson Smith (2024: 15 APP, 0 GS, 0-1, 8.66 ERA, 17 2/3 IP, 25 K, 11 BB – Transferred to Tulane)
• Fr. LHP Robert Satin (2024: 10 APP, 0 GS, 1-0, 4.00 ERA, 9 IP, 8 K, 12 BB)
• Fr. RHP Reilly Witmer (2024: 4 APP, 0 GS, 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 1/3 IP, 3 K, 3 BB)
• Fr. RHP Hunter Jones (2024: 2 APP, 0 GS, 0-0, 54.00 ERA, 2/3 IP, 0 K, 1 BB – Transfer Portal)

Incoming Transfers:

• So. OF Kyle Jones (2024: 62 G, .355 AVG, 15 2B, 5 HR, 32 RBI, .476 SLG%, .459 OBP% – Transferred from Stetson)
• Sr. INF/OF Bobby Boser (2024: 34 G, .299 AVG, 5 2B, 12 HR, 32 RBI, .667 SLG%, .351 OBP% – Transferred from USF)
• So. INF Landon Stripling (2024: 33 G, .253 AVG, 3 2B, 4 HR, 20 RBI, .404 SLG%, .361 OBP% – Transferred from Texas Tech)
• Jr. INF/OF Justin Nadeau (2024: 30 G, .395 AVG, 8 2B, 1 HR, 28 RBI, .521 SLG%, .482 OBP% – Transferred from Jacksonville)
• Jr. OF/INF Blake Cyr (2024: 25 G, .284 AVG, 3 2B, 7 HR, 21 RBI, .537 SLG%, .397 OBP% – Transferred from Miami)

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• Sr. RHP Billy Barlow (2024: 15 APP, 10 GS, 6-1, 4.28 ERA, 48 1/3 IP, 42 K, 20 BB – Transferred from Clemson)

Although big time contributors such as Jac Caglianone, Tyler Shelnut, Brandon Neely, and Fisher Jameson will not be returning to Gainesville this season, Florida retained seven offensive players that played in more than 25 games and four pitchers that threw at least 25 innings last season. Junior outfielder Colby Shelton (who was selected in the 20th Round of the 2024 MLB Draft but returned to school) and 2024 Freshman All-SEC Team selection sophomore right-hander Liam Peterson will anchor a team looking to get off to a better start in 2025.

Peterson, along with a young staff consisting of sophomore right-hander Luke McNeillie, sophomore right-hander Alex Philpott, and redshirt sophomore right-hander Jake Clemente will look to bounce back as a whole after posting a 6.05 team ERA last season. The Gators brought in just one pitcher from the Transfer Portal, but it was a big add. Senior right-hander Billy Barlow, who made 10 starts for Clemson last season and posted a 4.28 ERA, will play his final season of College Baseball in Gainesville.

Along with Barlow, the Gators hauled in 2024 Freshman Second Team All-American sophomore outfielder Kyle Jones from Stetson and 2024 All-AAC First Team selection senior infielder Bobby Boser from USF. O’Sullivan took just six players from the Portal, but they were added as extra pieces to what already what is a strong returning core.

Florida is scheduled to face six SEC teams present in D1Baseball’s Preseason Top 25 Rankings this season (at No. 4 Tennessee, No. 5 Arkansas, No. 8 Georgia, No. 16 Vanderbilt, at No. 18 Mississippi State, at No. 19 Texas).

Kentucky will NOT play against Florida in the regular season due to the abolishment of the East and West Divisions following the additions of Texas and Oklahoma. It’s a shame, as the Cats and Gators played in an all-time series last season in Gainesville. Kentucky took the series two games to one in a weekend that featured two extra-inning wins for the Cats, handing Nick Mingione’s team its first series win over Florida since 2016. Florida however still leads the all-time series against Kentucky 151-74-1.