Florida baseball head coach Kevin O’Sullivan is making another change to his weekend pitching rotation.
Sophomore right-hander Aidan King will move into the Friday slot this weekend against Georgia, while junior right-hander Liam Peterson will take over the Saturday role. Considered one of the best 1-2 punches in the country, King and Peterson flipping spots raises questions about which arm is truly Florida’s ace.
Peterson has been a member of the starting rotation his entire career and was considered by many draft experts to be the top college arm in the class coming into the season. However, he’s struggled to reach the sixth inning this year, which is a standard set for starters in the program.
The cracks started to show when UAB got to Peterson for five runs (four earned) in the season opener. He walked five batters and struck out just three through 3 1/3 innings. He returned to form over the next four weeks, striking out 41 batters while walking two or fewer in all but the High Point game. Four earned runs over that span lowered Peterson’s ERA to 2.84, and he finally got through the sixth inning for a quality start in the SEC opener against South Carolina.
A road loss to Alabama looked like another aberration at the time, but he followed up that six-run, four-strikeout performance with a career-high six walks against Arkansas. While Peterson only allowed one hit against Arkansas, his proclivity to go deep in counts led to a four-inning outing. For a player who is expected to set the tone each weekend, Peterson’s notes, while impressive, often fell flat.
Meanwhile, King has only impressed. He didn’t give up an earned run through his first five starts of the season and walked just three batters to 26 strikeouts. Alabama got to him for four runs on three hits and four walks, and Arkansas knocked him out in the fourth inning after three runs, but he bounced back against Ole Miss with seven shutout innings.
Peterson only went 3 2/3 innings against Ole Miss last weekend, allowing three runs on six hits and three walks. Although better than his previous performance, it forced Florida to use its bullpen earlier than O’Sullivan would like. Speculation on a rotation change ramped up after O’Sullivan mentioned the possibility after Friday’s loss. King’s outing all but cemented the change.
“To us, it doesn’t matter,” King said on Saturday. “It’s a one-two punch. (Peterson) deserves the Friday spot as much as he does. He goes out there and throws the ball well, and everyone knows he’s a top guy in the draft this year, and he can throw the ball well. There’s no doubt in my mind he stays the Friday guy.”
King said the right words, but that didn’t stop the change from happening. Regardless, both will continue to give their best effort for Florida moving forward.
“Honestly, it doesn’t really matter to me. He deserves it. That conversation doesn’t really get brought up to us at all. He keeps doing what he’s doing; he’s fine. I just keep doing what I’m doing, and make sure that if he has a bad start or a good start, I’m right there behind him continuing to do what I do.”
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida baseball changing up weekend pitching rotation
Reporting by David Rosenberg, Gators Wire / Gators Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
