![Florida St. infielder Alex Lodise (1) reacts to his double at second base during the first inning of an NCAA college baseball matchup Tuesday, March 25, 2025 at VyStar Ballpark in Jacksonville, Fla. FSU rallied to defeat UF 8-4 off a walk-off grand slam from Alex Lodise in the ninth inning. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_6000,h_3375/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/270/01jqamqfhet5fc5pmay4.jpg "Florida St. infielder Alex Lodise (1) reacts to his double at second base during the first inning of an NCAA college baseball matchup Tuesday, March 25, 2025 at VyStar Ballpark in Jacksonville, Fla. FSU rallied to defeat UF 8-4 off a walk-off grand slam from Alex Lodise in the ninth inning. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]")
The 2025 FSU baseball team (21-3, 5-1 ACC) has nearly the same record through 24 games as the 2024 team. However, they are in a better position in the ACC after a two-weekend series compared to last year.
We knew this FSU team would be different than last year with all of the offensive firepower they lost to the Major League Draft. They lost some valuable pitchers with experience who could have helped this 2025 team a great deal.
Link Jarrett and the staff did a great job accumulating talent in the transfer portal, and they are relying on some freshmen to make significant contributions in the batting order.
It's not an apples-to-apples comparison because FSU hasn't gotten into the meat of ACC play yet and doesn't have the strongest strength of schedule. However, I wanted to take a snapshot to compare this 2025 FSU team to the team that made the College World Series.
Check the chart with some key stats below:
2024 (66 games) | 2025 (24 games) |
|---|---|
Batting Average- .315 | Batting Average- .333 |
OPS- .970 | OPS- .976 |
HR- 5.6 percent of at-bats | HR-5.0 percent of at-bats |
SLG %- .558 | SLG%- .550 |
K %- 20.2 percent | K %-24.9 percent |
OBP %- .412 | OBP %- .426 |
Runs Per Game- 8.9 | Runs Per Game-8.79 |
ERA- 4.93 | ERA- 2.99 |
WHIP- 1.48 | WHIP-1.13 |
K per 9 innings- 10.6 | K per 9 innings-11.9 |
BB per 9 innings-4.68 | BB per 9 innings-3.85 |
Batting Average Against-.251 | Batting Average Against-.197 |
Fielding %- .978 | Fielding %- .978 |
The batting average that high likely surprises some folks, but again, they haven't faced many top arms yet. The home run numbers and slugging percentages are not drastically different. The biggest difference is the number of walks to strikeouts. FSU walked in 14.3 percent of their at-bats last season compared to 13.2 percent in 2025. FSU struck out in 20.2 percent of their at-bats last year compared to 24.9 percent in 2025.
The latter is a concern, considering they haven't faced many pitching staffs with electric stuff. However, 33 percent of those strikeouts have come from three freshmen who have played significant innings. They score runs at nearly the same clip and have a solid on-base percentage.
The biggest difference in this year's team compared to last is pitching. The pitching staff hasn't faced a team that can mash yet, but the numbers are promising. Overall, the pitching numbers are trending better, though the walks are a bit too much, considering the competition.
The fielding percentage is the same, but the 2025 defense seems a notch above last year. I did this piece to provide a baseline to revisit after FSU gets deeper into ACC play. It'll be interesting to see if there's a steep decline in areas or if things remain the same or worsen.