Tommy John Has Infected and Effected Florida Gators Baseball
Needing Tommy John surgery isn’t widely considered to be a death sentence – unless you’re the Florida Gators.
Eighteen games into the 2021 college baseball season and ulnar collateral ligament tears have been the pesky storm cloud hanging over the head of Kevin O’Sullivan and the Florida Gators’ baseball program.
In each of Florida’s five losses on the year, that dark cloud has opened up and rained down on the Gators.
Florida baseball entered the 2021 season boasting its status of unanimous preseason No. 1.
And the Gators’ staff of pitchers were widely touted as the best staff in the country.
Florida’s roster lists 22 pitchers – two of which won’t see action in 2021 after undergoing infamous Tommy John surgeries.
Three days before the start of the Gators’ season, righthanded sophomore Nick Pogue was tabled for his surgery.
“Unfortunately, we’ll miss him for the year, obviously,” O’Sullivan said before the season started.
What an understatement that was.
Pogue wasn’t regarded as Florida’s ace.
In the shortened 2020 Pogue saw just 10.1 innings of action. But in his five appearances in relief, the sophomore posted a 0.0 ERA. The Melbourne native also tossed three or more strikeouts in four of his seven appearances.
Not to mention, Pogue has college baseball experience – something 11 of Florida’s 22 pitchers on staff don’t.
The need for an ace isn’t the glaring part of Florida’s pitching troubles.
Jack Leftwich and Tommy Mace are taking care of business on the weekends. The two have combined for a perfect 6-0 record in their appearances on Friday and Saturdays. The pair are also responsible for nearly a third of Florida’s innings pitched in 2021.
But the Gators haven’t been nearly as successful in their midweek slates.
Florida’s Wednesday night losses to Florida Atlantic and most recently Florida State, have given the Gators a black eye.
In 10-inning pitching duel against the Owls on March 3, six different pitchers took the mound for the Gators. Florida’s staff gave up nine hits en route to the 3-2 loss.
Admittedly, Florida’s performance from the plate shouldered just as much of the blame in the loss to the Owls.
But that wasn’t the case when the Gators fell to the rival Seminoles in game one of the Sunshine Showdown on Tuesday night.
Like the game against FAU, O’Sullivan called six different pitchers to the rubber on Tuesday night. But after Florida’s starter gave up seven runs in the first inning, the damage had already been done.
Garrett Milchin got the nod to start against FSU. The redshirt junior is one of the more seasoned pitchers on the roster – sorta.
While he’s been on the roster longer than most of the other guys in the bullpen, the Florida native has undergone two Tommy John surgeries. Milchin didn’t play in his second or third seasons.
So perhaps it’s fair to call it rust.
But eight of Milchin’s first-inning pitches were hit into play on Tuesday night. That led to a seven-run opening inning for FSU, a deficit that proved far too much for Florida to overcome.
The Seminoles notched 13 hits on Tuesday night. Six went for extra bags.
Mike Martin Jr. And the Noles have claimed the last two matchups against the Gators – including the last game to be played at the now-demolished McKeethan Stadium.
The Gators weren’t expected to lose to Florida State the first time in 2020 – just like Gators’ pitchers Tyler Nesbitt and Pogue didn’t expect to need Tommy John surgery and miss this season.
And Florida definitely wasn’t expected to fall to the Seminoles a second time on Tuesday –
just like Milchin never saw a second surgery coming.
It’s a real pain.
But with Florida opening conference play with a home series against Texas A&M this weekend, there’s plenty of time for the Gators to find their bearings on the mound.
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