Florida ace pitcher Hunter Barco shut down indefinitely, per report

Florida baseball is gearing up to host No. 1 Tennessee this weekend. The Vols have yet to drop an SEC series in 2022 and things just got a lot harder for the Gators. UF will be without its ace for Friday’s series opener in Gainesville.

Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball shares that Florida standout pitcher Hunter Barco is being shut down indefinitely due to elbow discomfort.

INJURY NEWS: @GatorsBB LHP Hunter Barco, one of the nation’s premier pitchers and No. 7 on our top College #MLBDraft prospects list, is shut down indefinitely with elbow discomfort. He will continue to be evaluated by doctors. Just terrible news for Barco and the #Gators.

— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) April 20, 2022

Barco left after just 2 innings in his Friday start at Vanderbilt. This season, Barco has made 9 appearances, posting a 5-2 record while recording 69 strikeouts and a 2.50 ERA over 50.1 innings. Opponents are batting just .187 against the third-year southpaw.

Despite Barco’s strong showing, it has been a rough SEC season for the Gators. Kevin O’Sullivan’s squad is 6-9 in conference play after dropping 3 of its last 4 series to LSU (1-2), Georgia (0-3) and Vanderbilt (1-2).

The Gators defeated in-state opponent Stetson 10-8 on Tuesday night in Gainesville, improving to 23-14 overall this season. Florida has not yet announced the weekend rotation for the UT series.

Hopefully we see Barco back on the mound before too long.

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.