I had the opportunity to watch Sunday's game from the Florida-Miami series last weekend, and was impressed with a pair of freshmen pitchers that took the mound. Â Neither one fared particularly well as the Hurricanes routed the Gators 16-2 on their way to a weekend sweep, but both showed considerable promise.
LHP Nick Maronde and RHP Justin Poovey are part of a talented and young pitching staff that also includes fellow freshman LHP Alex Panteliodis. Â Panteliodis and Maronde were inserted into the weekend staff from the beginning of the season, while Poovey also received a start early in the season before coming on in relief of Maronde in Sunday's contest.
And while the results were rather ugly for both Maronde and Poovey, having watched the game reminded me just how important it is to never take a box score at face value.
Maronde was one of the top high school prospects from a year ago, hailing from Lexington, Kentucky, and was considered the Gators prized recruit of an overall impressive class. Â A polished and mature pitcher even in high school, having him work in the weekend rotation of a perennially tough SEC team was something he was expected to be able to handle from day one.
And he did just that, performing very well in his first start against Louisville Cardinals. Â He also did very well over the first three innings against a very tough Hurricanes lineup, commanding his fastball to all parts of the strike zone and putting batters away with his slurvy curveball. Â He definitely knows how to work the outer half of the plate against right-handed hitters.
And he works away from right-handed batters even more with runners on base, trying to avoid the big inning, and noticeably slows down his pace, trying to lull the opposing batter to sleep. Â Unfortunately in the fourth inning he wasn't catching the outside corner as well as he did over the first three frames, as the Miami hitters did a good job laying off that pitch the second time through the batting order. Â This caused him to walk a few batters, and also forced him to come over the plate. Â His stuff is hittable when he is put in situations like that, placing a greater emphasis on his command. Â The Gators defense behind him didn't help his cause, as a missed infield pop-up in the fourth with two outs caused him to work a little longer than he needed to, but much of the damage that inning had already taken place.
Poovey came in the fourth inning to record the final out, and stayed in to work the fifth and started the sixth. Â I'm sure the Gators staff had hoped he could have lasted longer in this game, but he too really struggled with his command and got hit hard when he was forced to come over the plate. Â He was lucky to get out of the fifth inning allowing only one run, and his luck ran out in the sixth, when he was pulled before he recorded a single out.
However, his stuff really impressed me. Â He works down in the zone for the most part, only elevating his four-seam fastball when he needed to throw a strike. Â His best pitch is a two-seamer that is going to induce a ton of groundballs once he proves he can throw strikes on a more consistent basis, and he also has a swing-and-miss curveball. Â He's a redshirt freshman that missed his true freshman season due to injury.
And that should give Florida Gators fans hope that an already good team could get that much better as the weather becomes consistently warmer, as the season progresses and as young players such as Maronde and Poovey get better. Â With senior Patrick Keating assuming the Friday role, junior Billy Bullock coming in to close out games, an impressive trio of outfielders that can cover a tremendous amount of ground, and a veteran lineup, this is a team that could make some noise later this year, and could surprise some people when the SEC schedule begins a week from now.
Their impressive 2009-2010 signing class leads me to believe that the program's improvement will continue in the year's to come.
As for some of the hitters, Anup Sinha offered his comments on the Gators a week ago, focusing in particular on outfielders Matt den Dekker and Riley Cooper, and I just wanted to add that I am very impressed with the progression of Cooper's swing.
It is still really long, and he probably will always be prone to strikeouts, but he is doing a much better job of pitch recognition from the last time I had the opportunity to watch him play. Â It will be very interesting to see how he does over the course of the entire season and whether he's able to avoid extended slumps at the plate. Â If he does, he's a second to third round pick, possibly even a sandwich rounder. Â Few can match Cooper physically, who resembles Jeff Francoeur and profiles as a similar player with exciting five-tool potential.
I will make it a point to address the Hurricanes lineup at some other time this spring, hopefully after I've had the chance to see them play again. Â I must say that this Miami team, after losing notable hitters such as Yonder Alonso and Jemile Weeks early in the draft a year ago, reminds me of the 1999 team that won the College World Series, which was the year after they lost Pat Burrell and Aubrey Huff.