After smacking 15 homers and racking up a school-record 85 RBIs in his freshman year, everybody expected Preston Tucker to pick up his fair share of walks this season.
But what people didn’t foresee was that freshman shortstop Nolan Fontana would be the one to draw more free passes than any player on the Gators through the first 19 games.
The 5-foot-11, 190-pound freshman has reached base in every game except the first one of the season, and he will look to continue that 18-game streak tonight as No. 2 Florida (16-3, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) goes up against Florida Gulf Coast (12-6) at 6:30 in McKethan Stadium.
“He doesn’t swing at balls out of the zone,” UF coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I can count on my hand, how many times I remember that he’s swing at balls out of the strike zone.”
Fontana has started every game this season, and has only struck out five times while earning a team-high 16 walks.
He has drawn three more free passes than Tucker and has tallied one less punch out.
“My mindset is to be patient, but it’s also to be aggressive when the one pitch in the at-bat comes,” Fontana said. “I try to be patient at the start of the at-bat to see as many pitches as I can, but when I see that one pitch, I try to put a good swing on it.”
Usually, that one pitch is a fastball, Fontana said.
But when the freshman does get on base, he doesn’t stop there. He has stolen five bases on six attempts this season, while scoring 15 runs in 19 games.
“It certainly gives us another element offensively,” O’Sullivan said. “He’s a really good all-around baseball player. He’s played outstanding defense for us, he bunts well and runs the bases well. There is really no glaring weakness in his game.”
While Fontana has been one of the most consistent players for UF, his spot in the batting order has been just as in flux.
He started out the season hitting eighth, but has since jumped around from the seventh position, to sixth, to second and then to fifth in the order. Fontana’s ability to get on base makes him a prime candidate for the top of the order. However, with lefties Matt den Dekker and Tucker already taking up the first and third spots, O’Sullivan said he is hesitant to insert the freshman into the two hole because he is also a left-handed batter.
Wherever Fontana is put, he will always keep the same approach because it works for him.
“It’s kind of just something (patience) I’ve been blessed with,” he said. “I feel like throughout the years, the more pitches I see in a at-bat, the more successful I’ve been.”
Toledo Undergoes Surgery: A UF spokesman said that sophomore pitcher Tommy Toledo underwent successful nasal reconstruction surgery at Shands at UF on Monday. A timetable for his return is still unknown.
Toledo was hit in the face with a comebacker on March 14 against Charleston Southern and suffered multiple facial fractures and a broken nose.
