When glancing at No. 1 Florida’s hitting statistics, one name glaringly stands out.
Despite a torrid opening stretch, it isn’t Southeastern Conference Player of the Week Nolan Fontana. It’s not marquee names like Preston Tucker or Austin Maddox.
Daniel Pigott has started the season so hot his name looks like it’s written in bright red ink.
The junior left fielder has emerged as an unexpected offensive threat for the top-ranked Gators. After nearly identical freshman and sophomore seasons, Pigott’s full potential has surfaced early in the 2011 campaign.
Possessing a distinct combination of speed and power, Pigott has solidified — at least thus far — a position thought to be in constant flux before the year.
Entering the season, Pigott was expected to platoon the outfield with Tyler Thompson and Bryson Smith. But after Thompson suffered a hamstring injury late in spring practice, Pigott stepped in and assumed the role of an everyday outfielder.
Despite not starting the season opener, the right-handed-hitting junior leads the team in batting average, slugging and on-base percentage, and he is tied with Brian Johnson for first in doubles.
Routinely batting eighth or ninth, Pigott has fewer at-bats than more than half the regular lineup, yet he is second on the team in RBIs (five), hits (eight) and runs scored (three).
In Tuesday’s walloping of Florida Atlantic, Pigott paved the way, going 4 for 5 with two doubles and two RBIs.
“I’m definitely seeing the ball really well right now,” he said. “Hopefully I can keep it up.”
In Pigott’s first two seasons at Florida, he started 73 games but only showed flashes of his potential.
While acknowledging Pigott’s development has taken time, coach Kevin O’Sullivan said he anticipated Pigott would be successful at some point in his career.
“He’s not doing anything different than what I’ve expected, and I’ve said that since day one,” O’Sullivan said. “I thought he was going to be an offensive force in this league, and I still believe that.”
Pigott said he worked hard with the coaching staff this offseason, shortening his swing and adjusting his hands, allowing him to use his power and drive the ball to right-center field.
The left fielder also said he tends to overthink the game, but his new approach of slowing it down has really made it much simpler.
According to O’Sullivan, Pigott has earned the right to stay in the lineup, even though tonight’s opponent, Boston College, is predominately right-handed.
Florida’s skipper mentioned moving Pigott up in the lineup, possibly to the two-hole, when the Gators (4-0) take on the Eagles (2-1) today at 5 p.m. in McKethan Stadium.
Etc.: UF will use the same weekend rotation from the South Florida series. Brian Johnson (1-0) is scheduled to start tonight’s opener, followed by Hudson Randall (1-0) on Friday and Karsten Whitson (1-0) on Sunday. … BC is playing the Boston Red Sox on Saturday in its annual exhibition in Fort Myers. … O’Sullivan spoke about the impact of the new bats on Wednesday, saying Maddox would’ve had three or four home runs with the old bats, but as a whole, the new sticks have helped his team because they are not over swinging and are more under control. … In the first four games, Florida has outscored its opponents 20-1 in the first five innings.
