Florida State Seminoles
Overall Rank: #10
Conference Rank: #2 ACC
Head Coach Mike Martin heads into his 40th and final season in Tallahassee as the leader of the Florida State baseball program. Coach Martin has been an institution in college baseball and, with 1,987 careers has won everything but a national championship. In addition, the Seminoles have been to 41 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, which is insanely consistent considering how ultracompetitive the sport is in 2019.
2018: 43-19, 16-13
2018 Postseason: NCAA
Coach: Mike Martin
Key Departed Players:
Cal Raleigh, C, .326 BA, 13 HR, 54 RBI
Rhett Aplin, OF, .301 BA, 2 HR, 35 RBI
Steven Wells, OF, .268 BA, 7 HR, 28 RBI
Jackson Lueck, OF, .245 BA, 15 HR, 45 RBI
Andrew Karp, P, 3.97 ERA, 81.2 IP, 17 BB, 97 SO
Cole Sands, P, 4.54 ERA, 75.1 IP, 25 BB, 88 SO
Key Returning Players:
Drew Mendoza, INF, .313 BA, 7 HR, 44 RBI
Reese Albert, OF, .268 BA, 7 HR, 34 RBI
Mike Salvatore, INF, .244 BA, 1 HR, 27 RBI, 8 SB
Drew Parrish, P, 2.52 ERA, 5-1 W/L, 107.0 IP, 37 BB, 128 SO
C.J. Van Eyk, P, 2.86 ERA, 7-0 W/L, 56.2 IP, 30 BB, 71 SO
Jonah Scolaro, P, 3.43 ERA, 2-1 W/L, 44.2 IP, 18 BB, 60 SO, 6 SV
Clayton Kwiatkowski, P, 3.18 ERA, 4-1 W/L, 45.1 IP, 21 BB, 49 SO
Projection:
The success of the pitching staff will go a long way towards dictating the success of Florida State this season. Drew Parrish and C.J. Van Eyk will anchor the weekend rotation in what should be, as always, a tough ACC conference slate. Parrish was dominant in 2018 as he struck out 128 batters in 107 innings. He did a great job with his command too, only walking 37 batters. C.J. Van Eyk won seven games, limited opposing hitters to a .208 batting average and did a nice job of keeping the ball in the park as he only surrendered four homeruns. Jonah Scolaro will lock down games late as the closer. He had six saves in 2018 and struck out 60 batters on 44.2 innings of work. The offense will have a little less power in its lineup, but should still be able to score plenty of runs this season. Drew Mendoza will lead the way after hitting .313 with seven homeruns and 44 runs batted in during the 2018 campaign. Mendoza will need to get his homerun total into double figures in 2019. The schedule is balanced with a good mix of tough matchups at Dick Howser Stadium and on the road with trips to Florida, Stetson, Virginia, Louisville amongst other key series. Overall, look for the Seminoles to have plenty of motivation to send Coach Martin out with a bang in his 40th season and at least get to Omaha.
Projected Postseason: NCAA Baseball Tournament
