GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida Baseball has reached the midway point of its fall season, with the Gators logging over 88 innings of scrimmages as of Thursday’s off day.
The Gators, who finished last season ranked No. 1 in every major outlet and signed a highly-touted recruiting class, have another two weeks of scrimmages leading into the Orange & Blue World Series later this month. Here are some of the notable standouts and statistics from the first half of the fall.
1.183 – On-base plus slugging for sophomore outfielder Jud Fabian. After sitting out some of the early scrimmages with a minor ankle sprain, Fabian returned and looked every bit like the player D1Baseball.com ranked<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__d1baseball.com_prospects_2021-2Dcollege-2Dtop-2D150-2Dprospect-2Drankings_&d=DwIFAg&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=Cs5LKgIO5XQvsQ8cGwyDlOV2Jr2XhZj1kUvrI3xqSfE&s=4z6WM0OapPBNS-7QRdvyHdD5Ps8_kgzZpjubOGnZfKI&e= > as the No. 4 overall college prospect for the 2021 Major League Baseball Draft.
In his 33 plate appearances, Fabian has 10 hits, is tied for second on the team with three homes runs, tied for third on the team with three doubles, and has drawn four walks for a .424 on-base percentage. Fabian has also scored eight runs, which ranks fourth on the team.
1 – Earned run allowed by sophomore right-hander Nick Pogue. Following a rocky Sunday start to open the season, Pogue closed 2020 as one of the Gators’ top relivers, as he gave up just one run in his final 8.1 innings pitched. Through 15.1 innings this fall, Pogue has a team-leading 0.59 earned run average, is tied for a team lead in strikeouts (17), and has issued just one walk.
13 – Runs batted in by sophomore infielder Kris Armstrong, which is four more than the Gators who are tied for second with nine (freshman catcher Nathan Hickey and sophomore infielder Cory Acton).
Armstrong bulked up ahead of last season, and his power at the plate earned him seven starts. This fall, Armstrong’s bat has generated a team-leading four home runs and 13 hits (tied with junior outfielder Brock Edge for second on the team).
2.57 – ERAs for junior starting pitchers Jack Leftwich and Tommy Mace. The top-30 prospects have both brought that statistic down over the last week and a half, and have yielded just four runs apiece across 14 innings apiece this fall. The strikeout numbers remain high for the duo, with Leftwich tied for the team lead (17) and Mace ranking fourth (15).
8 – Extra-base hits by Hickey. Five of them are doubles, three are home runs. After he opened the fall slate<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__floridagators.com_news_2020_10_30_baseball-2Dnumbers-2Dof-2Dnote-2Dfall-2Dball-2Dweek-2D1.aspx&d=DwIFAg&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=Cs5LKgIO5XQvsQ8cGwyDlOV2Jr2XhZj1kUvrI3xqSfE&s=he6oawHMPaA_p4gZc-DurCUbjCynLnJfaTESzJgBWsc&e= > with a pair of homers and a couple doubles, Hickey’s added a trio of doubles and a homer. The Jacksonville, Fla., product also ranks third on the team with 10 runs scored.
9 – Hits allowed by freshman left-hander Timmy Manning, which is the fewest among Gators with more than 10 innings pitched. One of the highest-rated signees from Florida’s true freshman class, Manning’s numbers are strong across the board. Most notably, his 16 strikeouts rank third on the team, and his 1.38 ERA is second only to Pogue among anyone with more than three innings.
18 – Hits by sophomore outfielder Jacob Young, which leads the team. Young’s .375 batting average (18 of 48) is also tops on the team, while his 11 runs scored are tied with Armstrong for the team lead, and his .423 on-base percentage trails only Fabian’s .424 and freshman Wyatt Langford’s team-leading .471.
