Florida might be 19-11 after seven weekends of college baseball, but the Gators still have a ton of talent on the roster, according to D1Baseball’s midseason position rankings update.
A trio of starting pitchers — Jake Clemente, Aidan King and Liam Peterson — are among the top 150 starters, and reliever Luke McNeillie is a top-100 arm out of the bullpen. All four of Florida’s starting infielders — Bobby Boser, Cade Kurland, Brendan Lawson and Colby Shelton — rank inside the top 50 at their position as well.
There’s a lot of baseball left to be played, though, and these lists don’t include the most recent series loss to Ole Miss. A lot can change over the next two months, but these are the Gators standing out at the midway point.
RHP Liam Peterson — No. 8 Starting Pitcher
Liam Peterson is the next great pitcher to come out of Gainesville, and that’s been apparent since the moment he stepped on campus. He made the weekend rotation as a freshman and battled through some tough outing in 2024, worked on his mechanics over the summer and returned as the unquestioned ace of the 2025 Florida roster.
Baseball America tabbed Peterson as the No. 3 overall player and the top pitcher in the 2026 college draft class. A first-round pick appears likely, and Peterson has played the part for most of the year. Through four non-conference starts, Peterson allowed just two runs over 22 innings of work and struck 34 batters to just six walks. Things have been tougher since the start of SEC play. Peterson gave up four runs and walked three in a loss to Tennessee and missed his next start with what’s been reported as general soreness. He returned to the rotation on Saturday against Ole Miss, but the Rebels touched him up for five runs over 4 1/3 innings.
It’s hard to say how much the injury has affected Peterson’s game. The stuff is there, but he’s not always sharp. His fastball can touch 98 mph and both his slider and changeup have the potential to be plus pitches by the time the 2026 draft rolls around. At the halfway point in the 2025 campaign, Peterson holds a 3.38 ERA, 39.3% strikeout rate and 8.2% walk rate over 29 1/3 innings. If the Florida ace can maintain the control he’s shown this season, he’ll only move further up this list over the second half of the season.
MIF Cade Kurland — No. 9 Second Baseman
Florida’s highest-ranked bat is a player who has missed more than half the season. Cade Kurland has only appeared in 13 games for the Gators this year after dislocating his shoulder during the second game of the Miami series. He’s played in three games over the past month and hasn’t looked right since the injury.
Kurland has held down the second base spot for Florida since he was a freshman. Now a junior, he’s considered a top draft prospect at the position despite facing injuries last year and this year. Before the shoulder injury, Kurland was batting .353 and riding a seven-game hit streak. He walks (10) as much as he strikes out (10), with a 19.6% rate in each column, and is enjoying the best offensive year of his career, metrically — .289 ISO, .490 wOBA, .360 BABIP and 156 wRC+. Those numbers could fall against the SEC schedule, but there’s no doubt that Kurland has started the year off well.
D1Baseball ranked him No. 22 among second basemen in the preseason. Now he’s a top-10 player at his position. Hopefully, he can return to being a lineup regular soon. Florida’s offense could use another consistent bat in the lineup.
MIF Colby Shelton — No. 11 Shortstop
Colby Shelton has been the most consistent bat for Florida this season, with a team-high .364 batting average and 43 hits. The power hasn’t come as easily after back-to-back seasons of 20-plus homers, but he’s already hit a career-high 14 doubles. More importantly, Shelton is showing off an improved eye at the plate, striking out just 10.4% of the time and walking in 8.1% of his plate appearances. Finally, his fly ball rate is at a career-low 36.5% and line drives are up to a career-high 36.5%.
Clearly, Shelton has changed his approach at the plate, and while home runs are the sexy stat, consistent and solid contact is going to play better with scouts. He’s also proving that he can stick at shortstop, which is one of the main reasons Shelton left Alabama two offseasons ago. Through 30 games, Shelton has a .976 fielding percentage with just two errors. He’s Florida’s top draft prospect this year, partially due to a lack of eligible players, but the power production will have to return for him to be a slam-dunk Day 1 draftee.
INF Bobby Boser — No. 17 Third Baseman
South Florida transfer Bobby Boser jumped out to a hot start at Florida, clubbing seven home runs over the Gators’ first 16 games. He kept his batting average above the .300 mark into mid-March but a 1-for-20 slump against Florida State, Jacksonville and Tennessee caused him to dip to .277 by March 18. He got back on track against Ole Miss with four hits in the series, but Boser has just one homer over the past 14 games.
Still, Boser has put himself on the map as one of the better hitting third basemen and he’s only made one error in the field. A 30-spot jump in D1Baseball’s position rankings should have Boser in the conversation come draft time. As a senior, he has limited negotiating leverage, but his play could land him in the first five rounds.
INF Brendan Lawson — No. 38 First Baseman
Brendan Lawson is the only Florida freshman hitter to make the cut in D1Baseball’s rankings, improving from No. 47 on the preseason list to No. 38 at the midway point of the regular season. He’s one of four freshmen to make the list. A shortstop by trade, Lawson’s bat is too good to deny a spot in the lineup, which led Kevin O’Sullivan to play him at first base. The injury to Kurland has allowed Lawson to move back to the middle infield at times, but it’s the bat that’s impressing the most right now.
Lawson is one of three Gators with an OPS above 1.000, leads the program with 33 runs batted in and is second on the team with seven home runs. He has a mature approach at the plate with a 20% strikeout rate and 15.2% walk rate, and he can also run a little, with five steals without being caught. The Toronto native has started things off hot and looks to be a lineup mainstay until he’s draft-eligible in 2027.
RHP Aidan King — No. 51 Starting Pitcher
Aidan King might be the best arm on Florida’s staff so far this season, and he’s only a freshman. The strikeout king of Jacksonville quickly impressed with a 0.87 ERA through five appearances out of the bullpen, earning him a spot in the starting rotation following Pierce Coppola’s injury. King dominated Harvard in his first career start, striking out eight and allowing just two hits over six innings.
King continued his run with six innings of one-run ball against the top-ranked Tennessee Volunteers. Florida ended up losing that game 10-0, but King ended the game with a 0.81 ERA and 26 strikeouts over 22 1/3 innings. Things have been a bit rougher over the past two weeks. Peterson’s injury moved King into the Friday night spot, and Georgia and Ole Miss have combined to score eight runs off him and kept his strikeout numbers down. The walks are also picking up, but King is still considered the top pitching prospect in the 2027 draft class.
He’s the first of six freshmen on D1Baseball’s top-150 starters list at No. 51, one spot ahead of Oregon State’s Dax Whitney. With a fastball that runs up to 97 mph, a high-spin (2800+ rpm) slider and an already plus splitter in the high-80s, King is the future ace of this program and should be half of a strong 1-2 punch for Florida over the next year and a half, along with Peterson.
RHP Luke McNeillie — No. 60 Relief Pitcher
Luke McNeillie is the most trusted arm in Florida’s bullpen, evident by his team-high 13 appearances this year. A slightly elevated 5.04 ERA is the product of a couple of bad outings against Harvard, Ole Miss and UCF. Nine of the 15 runs he’s responsible for came across those three appearances, but McNeillie has come out for three innings of one-run ball four different times this year.
His 97-mph fastball and mid-80s slider pair well together for a 35.6% strikeout rate, and his changeup is a good groundball pitch. While he’s not yet considered an elite bullpen arm, McNeillie has shown plenty of draft potential.
RHP Jake Clemente — No. 146 Starting Pitcher
Jake Clemente’s all-star summer on the Cape set expectations sky high for Florida’s Sunday starter, coming in at No. 108 on the preseason top-150 list. He’s dropped to No. 146 in the midseason update following a series of rough outings; however, a move to the bullpen appears promising. Clemente is another elevated-ERA guy (6.08) with a low batting average against (.198). He’s walked 11 and struck out 32 for some solid metrics (10.2 BB%, 29.6 K%).
Clemente’s fastball clocks anywhere between 94-97 mph, and his slider is a solid swing-and-miss pitch. A redshirt sophomore, Clemente could enter the draft this year. He’s considered an early Day 2 pick at this point.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Eight Florida Gators included
in D1Baseball’s midseason position rankings update
Reporting by David Rosenberg, Gators Wire / Gators Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
