It wasn’t long ago that Florida’s offense was smacking hits and spitting homers at the same rate you’d see in a video game. It wasn’t long ago that five Gators were hitting over .300. It wasn’t long ago that UF’s entire offense was feared as a national menace.
But as the season has worn on, most players have regressed to the mean.
Most, except for one.
Third baseman Jonathan India, rather than lulling his foot off the gas, has accelerated. The junior is hitting .430 and — if he continues his torrid pace — could break Florida’s all-time single-season batting average record.
He’s not ready to talk about those kinds of achievements just yet, but with No. 8 Vanderbilt (17-8, 5-1 SEC) arriving in Gainesville for a three-game series starting tonight at 6:30, he’s feeling confident.
“I’m just fully committed to it now,” he said, “and I feel like I wasn’t fully committed in past years.”
That isn’t to say India played poorly in his first two seasons at Florida. He hit .303 as a freshman and .274 as a sophomore, with a combined 74 RBIs over that span. But he agrees that something is different this year.
That, as he said, starts with being fully committed. His newfound willingness to go the other way helps as well.
India, a righty, has made a habit recently of striking balls to the opposite field. Against Arkansas, for example, he hit a triple that reached the right-center field wall.
“I’m committed to the right side now, and I feel like in past years I really wasn’t,” he said. “If you have the ability to trust yourself and go the other way, you can be a dangerous hitter.”
Noticing a theme here?
He said he wasn’t committed in the past, neither to being a great hitter nor going the other way. Now he’s recommitted, and it shows.
In addition to his average, which leads the team by .122 and the SEC by .017, India is second among Florida’s hitters in RBIs (22) and home runs (nine). And outfielder Wil Dalton, one of only two other UF players hitting over .300, leads those categories by just one tally each.
India wasn’t having a breakout campaign when the season started, at least not in comparison to his teammates. Nelson Maldonado, JJ Schwarz, Blake Reese and Nick Horvath were all hitting over .300 until recently.
The offense overall has lagged a bit in SEC play, hitting .250 compared to its season-long average of .287. Among the list of aforementioned players, Dalton is leading the group with a .240 average in conference play.
India is hitting .571.
Allen Trammell currently holds Florida’s single-season batting average record. He hit .425 in 1965. India is on pace to break that, as well as to become the ninth Gators player ever to hit over .400.
So what does he think of those unusual numbers?
“I don’t think of it like that,” he said. “I’m just happy we’re winning and that I’m producing for the team.”
Florida (22-5, 4-2 SEC) will need him against Vanderbilt, the third top-10 team in a row the Gators have faced.
“They’re a great team,” India said of the Commodores, “so it’s gonna be a fun one this weekend. I’m excited.”
Follow Ethan Bauer on Twitter @ebaueri and contact him at ebauer@alligator.org.
UF third baseman Jonathan India's solo home run jump-started the Gators' offense on a 3-2 win against Jacksonville at the Gainesville Regional. His solo home run was one of three for Florida on the night.
