It wasn’t hard for the Gators to exceed expectations last season.
But this year, it will be just as easy for No. 7 Florida to disappoint.
Unlike last season, when the Gators were picked to finish 11th in the Southeastern Conference, many expect them to win the SEC East in 2010.
UF’s depth will play a big role in turning that prediction into reality. It brings back a sophomore class that impressed in its first season along with the top class of freshmen in the nation.
In the team’s first practice of the season Friday, UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan noticed his options.
“There is certainly more depth,” he said. “We have a lot of guys battling for spots.”
One that will be up for grabs until the season begins is the catcher position.
Highly touted freshmen Austin Maddox and Mike Zunino join sophomore Ben McMahan in the race to see who will be the backstop when the season starts.
“Our depth behind the plate is as good as probably anybody’s probably in the country,” O’Sullivan said.
In order to get as many of them into the lineup as possible, O’Sullivan is looking into moving first baseman Preston Tucker to the outfield for some games.
“He played a little bit of outfield in high school,” he said. “If we were to do that, we would probably put him in right so he stays on the same side of the field. If we were to be able to put him in the outfield, that gives us one extra bat we can put in the lineup.”
That will leave first base open for the 6-foot-3 Maddox, who received some playing time at the spot in Friday’s scrimmage.
Another area UF addressed over the offseason was pitching.
They added five pitchers, including big lefty Brian Johnson, who embodies O’Sullivan’s love for versatility and depth.
“When we first got here, our goal was to deepen the pitching staff. That’s not done overnight,” he said. “It takes more than one recruiting class, but we feel good about where we are at right now.”
Johnson not only pitches but can hit as well. When he isn’t on the mound, he is an option to play either first base or the outfield.
For center fielder Matt den Dekker, it is hard to imagine that this season’s group of freshmen could top the year the now-sophomores put together, which included Tucker’s historic season.
“It’s crazy. We had a lot of freshmen last year that stepped up and played well with Tucker and some of the pitchers,” den Dekker said. “Looking at this year, we have some players that are going to jump in right away and get some playing time and probably making an impact.”
O’Sullivan expects to tweak his lineup multiple times before finding the right one.
“We are going to toy with our lineup an awful lot for the first three or four weeks before we have conference play,” he said. “We’ll try a lot of different stuff because we are able to do that.”
