FSU baseball: Link Jarrett on fire in transfer portal, adds offensive power

FSU baseball ended their 2023 season without making the postseason for the first time since 1977. It was a long year for new head coach Link Jarrett and staff, as they lacked quality depth on the mound and were incredibly young up-and-down the lineup.

Link Jarrett has wasted no time addressing the latter issue via the transfer portal. He spoke with media Wednesday and alluded to the transfer portal being very good to the Noles, and we found out what that meant Thursday afternoon.

The Noles added three players:

• Max Williams-OF (Alabama)
• Alex Lodise-SS (North Florida)
• Drew Faurot-SS (Central Florida)

Link Jarrett spoke about the need to get more athletic on the field while adding more left-handed bats to the lineup. That’s precisely what Williams brings. I’m not sure he’s someone that’ll start day one since he only played in 18 games with three starts as a freshman. However, he had some success, hitting .320 in 25 at-bats.

FSU had very little power from its middle infielders, but that won’t be the case with the addition of Lodise and Faurot. Lodise started every game and hit .306 with 16 home runs and 63 RBI. He made 17 errors in 237 chances for a .922 fielding percentage. Faurot is a switch-hitter, batting .252 with a .341 on-base percentage. He hit 15 home runs and had 51 RBI. While he strikes out quite a bit, the power and production are worth the tradeoff, plus I suspect he’ll improve that rate with more college experience. We saw something similar between James Tibbs’s freshman and sophomore seasons.

FSU baseball only had 11 home runs and 27 errors from its middle infielders last season. These guys are quite the upgrade, with multiple years of eligiblity left. The roster upgrades are underway, and Jarrett already has multiple JUCO pitching arms committed for the 2024 season. There are bright days ahead in Tallahassee.