ChompTalk.com

With under a month left until the No. 10-ranked Florida Gators baseball team opens its season at home against Air Force on Valentine’s day, coach Kevin O’Sullivan addressed the fans and answered questions during his appearance on “Gator Talk” Thursday night.

The Gators are hoping to make a 17th straight postseason appearance and make a third consecutive trip to the College World Series in Omaha, NE. They’ll be doing so while facing some roster turnover, including the loss of Gators star Jac Caglianone as he prepares to begin his professional career. Here’s three things we learned from O’Sullivan about the 2025 edition of the Gators baseball team:

New faces and returning contributors

The Gators added a ton of potential contributors through the transfer portal this offseason. Headlining the portal class is Miami power hitter Blake Cyr. He’s joined by a crop of players who found success at their last stops and are looking to contribute on a stage like Condron Family Ballpark provides. Justin Nadeau (Jacksonville), Kyle Jones (Stetson) and Bobby Boser (South Florida) will all try to carve out roles in the Gators’ lineup.

“We have depth offensively, probably more depth than we’ve had in quite some years,” O’Sullivan said. “I feel good about our team and good about depth.”

Backing up those new faces are a class of Gators familiar to fans at this point: Cade Kurland, Ty Evans, Colby Shelton and Luke Heyman will all be making their returns to the squad. However, this group of now-bonafide veterans will be tasked with making up for any production lost with the departure of Caglianone.

More experience on the mound

O’Sullivan referred to last year’s pitching staff during his appearance Thursday as “a bunch of 18 and 19-year-old pitchers that weren’t quite ready for that.”

He did say, however, that the inexperience of last year’s staff should actually play to Florida’s advantage this season. Many returning sophomores, including Luke McNellie, Liam Peterson and Jake Clemente, all pitched in big spots last season and will be better equipped to find success in those situations this year.

Add the return of former Stoneman Douglas ace Christian Rodriguez, who missed all of last season with an injury, and the Gators have themselves a young and dangerous rotation of arms.

Culture leaders

Perhaps most exciting to Gators fans are the comparisons O’Sullivan drew to the 2023 team, which fell 2-1 to Louisiana State in the College World Series finale. The Gators’ skipper said the returning veterans, who will serve as leaders in the clubhouse this season, remind him of players like B.T. Riopelle and Josh Rivera.

“Many, many players on our roster have been to Omaha once, if not twice, now,” O’Sullivan said. “They have talent, obviously. And now we have leadership — we check all three of those boxes.”

O’Sullivan hopes the experience and guidance of upperclassmen who chose to stay at UF longer can propel this team to the promised land.