Even if the offense doesn’t come around, Florida baseball will be just fine.
Because Florida has played elite at times this year yet also looked like a drunken frat boy’s sloppy night in Key West, I’ll offer you hope.
The Gators are the fifth-ranked team in the country.
They shut out the second-ranked team Tuesday and used four freshmen pitchers to do so.
Freshman Nate Brown looked like someone who could take a spot in the rotation next year when ace Alex Faedo is drafted.
The electric left-handed Andrew Baker, who if he were 6 inches taller would have probably been starting a professional career right now, proved he can be reliable option out of the bullpen despite little experience.
Tyler Dyson flashed the stuff pro scouts salivate at: 96-mph heaters and an effortless delivery. He also showed he should be Florida’s full-time closer, not the side-arm-tossing Frank Rubio.
But who cares, right?
UF lost to FGCU (twice), UCF and Jacksonville. It even dropped one to Seton Hall.
I’ll tell you who doesn’t care: head coach Kevin O’Sullivan.
OK, maybe he doesn’t not care. That’s just not where his focus is.
When asked after Tuesday night’s win how much his guys needed a win like that, he wasn’t concerned with past play.
“It was important for our young pitchers to go out there and do what they did,” he said. “Our young guys are starting to grow up and our bullpen’s starting to come together.”
As for the problematic offense, give it time.
This is a team full of newcomers and players adapting to new roles and positions. That's true of nearly every spot on the diamond.
JJ Schwarz now plays first base, not catcher. Everyday centerfielder Blake Reese is adjusting to full season’s workload. Second baseman Deacon Liput is still working the kinks out of a new batting stance he developed over the summer.
Were they all expected to transition seamlessly?
Fans need to realize this is a different team than in past years.
There’s no Peter Alonso or Mike Zunino or Preston Tucker that O’Sullivan can simply plug in the lineup for automatic run support.
It’s a team constructed around talented arms and boy, do they have plenty of those.
Alex Faedo, UF’s ace, hasn’t allowed a run in his last 21.2 innings.
He and Florida's two other weekend starters — Brady Singer and Jackson Kowar, who are also first-round talents — are a combined 8-0 with a 1.68 ERA this year.
And considering Florida ranks among the top 10 teams in the nation in both ERA and fielding percentage, it won’t even need many runs to win games.
For more reassurance, just look at the strengths of the MLB’s past few World Series winners.
The Chicago Cubs in ’16: Starting pitching.
The Kansas City Royals in ’15: Relief pitching.
The San Francisco Giants in ’14: Starting pitching.
The same goes for Florida, which will pitch well enough to give the bats a chance to catch fire in the postseason.
Ultimately, that’s all one can ask for.
Patrick Pinak is the online sports editor. His column appears on Thursdays. Contact him at ppinak@alligator.org, and follow him on Twitter @pinakk12.
UF pitcher Alex Faedo throws a pitch during Florida's 5-4 win against William & Mary on Feb. 17, 2017, at McKethan Stadium.
