ChompTalk.com

Florida baseball is in a bad way. An 0-6 start in the Southeastern Conference is its worst since 2001 and the worst of head coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s tenure at UF since 2008.

Yes, the Gators are hurt. Yes, the bats are the coldest they’ve been all year. But the real problem is — outside of two or three arms, depending on the weekend — Florida can’t trust its arms. Here’s three reasons UF’s pitching staff is struggling, with a solution for each.

Six innings, three runs or less

The problem: Well, you can read. Looking back through the press conference transcripts, O’Sullivan first coined the concept this season after Jake Clemente’s start against Dayton Feb. 22.

Clemente went four shutout innings with seven strikeouts, but loaded the bases in his final frame and got up to 74 pitches, prompting O’Sullivan to end his outing early.

“He just seemed a little off tonight, I don’t know,” O’Sullivan said.

This small problem has grown huge as O’Sullivan plugged Aidan King and Billy Barlow into the weekend rotation and saw them leave early as well.

The solution: Get Liam Peterson and Pierce Coppola back healthy. Supposedly, Coppola started throwing again this past week after leaving early against Miami on March 8. Peterson was held out of his Friday start this past week as precaution relating to soreness.

The two aces are the only Florida pitchers that have been able to stick to the six innings, three runs mantra. Having them back means O’Sullivan only needs to find one more capable arm.

King is the likely fix. He struggled this past weekend, but a short-notice Friday start against the No. 4 team in the country (which, by the way, also leads the nation in home runs) isn’t the easiest ask for a freshman. Allowing King to follow Peterson and Coppola with a Sunday start will likely put him in a better position to fit O’Sullivan’s criteria.

Bullpen woes

The problem: The bullpen comes in too early and gives up too many runs.

Unfortunately for the Gators, the solution to it’s starting struggles isn’t as easy as getting the starter out of the game. They certainly tried, blowing through 10 relievers this weekend. However, no UF pitcher allowed less than two runs out of the bullpen.

The solution: Move Clemente and Billy Barlow into the bullpen, and start working Jackson Barberi in more.

Clemente was decent as a reliever for Florida last year but has struggled mightily as a starter. Swapping him and King, and allowing Clemente to work in shorter timeframes could help him while adding a starter-quality arm to the bullpen.

As for Barlow, he’s been starting in the midweek and doing well to win games Florida couldn’t last year. But it’s starting to come at the expense of winning weekend series. Letting freshmen like Caden McDonald and Matthew Jenkins (when back healthy) take over the weekdays in order to move Barlow into the weekend ‘pen would add some more arm talent into the weekend fold.

As for Barberi, I just like the kid. Smooth mechanics. He can touch 95 on his fastball despite needing to gain a good 20 pounds or so. He’ll be great for the Gators in a year or two, but he can be serviceable now. He did allow two runs against Georgia, but also produced some considerable whiffs. He can be one of the better middle relievers on the team right now if used that way.

Lefty recession

The problem: Frank Menendez is out for the year.

It looked as though 2025 would be a breakout year for the big lefty. He posted a 1.29 ERA and 1.14 WHIP in five appearances before needing elbow surgery which will sideline him for the year. He was carving himself out to be Florida’s premier bullpen southpaw and a real weapon for the Gators. Now he’s done.

The solution: Somebody steps up… or you stop throwing left-handers

If we’re being honest, Florida’s crop of left-handed relievers is weak. Menendez was head and shoulders better (and older) than the rest even as a second-year player. Florida’s next best bets are McCall Biemiller and Niko Janssens, who post 7.20 and 11.05 ERAs respectively. The rest are basically innings eaters for blowouts.

Obviously, that’s not going to cut it. Either Biemiller and Janssens find a way to make up for Menendez in the aggregate, or Florida will just need to live and die by it’s right-handers and work Coppola’s starts in strategically.