As a specialist he faced every teams' top hitters, like Yonder Alonzo of the Miami Hurricanes. Tony came in, in all three games just to get one guy out, they call it one and done. The Gators swept the Hurricanes and Tony struck out Alonzo twice and then, with a runner on second he painted the
corners so as not to give Alonzo a pitch that he might drive up against the outfield wall. He walked him but then got the next guy out and Miami did not score.
Yonder was the 7th overall pick in the 2008 MLB Draft.
Buster Posey, Florida State and SF Giants was the 2nd overall pick in 2008. Posey had seven All-Star appearances, four Silver Slugger Awards, Rookie of the Year and MVP. Eric Hosmer was the 3rd overall pick in 2006. He earned 4 Gold Gloves at first base, a Silver Slugger Award and won the All-Star Game MVP in 2016 Tony faced all three of the above and either struck them out or they hit infield dribblers off the end of the bat. Throw in a strategic walk once in a while but never give them anything they could hit. None of them ever got a base hit off of Tony! One of the reasons we moved to the Sunshine State was to face good competition and to get exposure to Pro Scouts. It worked!
228
Powered by FlippingBook