Kevin O'Sullivan breaks down decision to move Wyatt Langford to center field

Florida baseball head coach Kevin O’Sullivan broke down the decision to move Wyatt Langford over to center field.

O’Sullivan spoke on the SEC Network broadcast Thursday night as Florida took on Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament. Langford, a First-Team All-American last season, originally came in 2021 as a first baseman and catcher.

The move to the outfield paid off and now he’ll show off in the middle.

“Well he played it a bunch in the fall,” O’Sullivan said on the broadcast. “He actually played more center than he did left field in the fall. So I’m not saying this is a permanent move or anything like that, but just wanted to give it a look and see what it looked like.”

Coming into Thursday night’s contest, Langford batted .395 with 16 home runs, 41 RBI, 70 hits and had a 1.000 fielding percentage with no errors committed.

Florida took a 2-1 lead on a fourth-inning home run from BT Riopelle, right after O’Sullivan’s comments about Langford.

Kevin O’Sullivan talks Florida win over Alabama in SEC Tournament

O’Sullivan discussed the Gators’ big win over the Crimson Tide. Florida, seeded No. 1, avoided the upset.

“Well, what a great game that was to be a part of,” O’Sullivan said postgame. “It’s a shame somebody had to be on the losing end of it because it was a really, really well-played game. We opened up the SEC slate with Alabama, and they’re certainly a totally different team now than they were when we played them before. Their pitching was outstanding tonight. It was just a really, really well-played game.

“Give our guys credit. They hung in there and swung the bats well obviously in the 11th. Really proud of our team to battle and stay in it. But just goes to show you how difficult this league is. You just look at it, and Alabama certainly is a team when you look across the field, a team that you could see hosting a regional. That’s just my honest opinion.”

The resiliency from Florida was evident. O’Sullivan wanted to make sure the Gators carried it into the Vanderbilt game.

“It gives you belief that no matter what the score is that you’ve got a chance to get yourself back into it,” he said. “I talked to Chuck before the top of the 11th, normally we would take a strike and try to work our way into getting the tying run to the plate, I felt like, and Chuck did, too, that worst-case scenario that we’d get some momentum and put some good at-bats together, and if we did lose the game, at least we can carry some momentum into tomorrow.”