Years After Gainesville Departures, Gators Remain in Contact
Just five days before Thanksgiving, Brady Singer and Jonathan India rested after two similar 2024 seasons.
For India, the Cincinnati Reds’ shortstop, it had been a year congruent with each of his first four in MLB: consistent but un-astounding. He looked into the offseason the same as each of the past. Across the midwest, Singer, a right-handed pitcher, fluttered back and forth in the Kansas City Royals’ rotation yet again, drifting with an ERA between 3.2 and 5.5 across five MLB seasons. However, abruptly, their holiday rest came to a halt, as the Royals sent Singer to the Reds in exchange for India and outfielder Joey Wiemer.
Their similar career paths aren’t the only things that tie India and Singer together, though. Notably, both played at Florida from 2016-18.
“Obviously, it was a little bit weird,” Singer said. “I wanted to play with India. I love playing with him. He’s always a gamer, competed like crazy. And, you know, really fun to have a teammate like him. But yeah, obviously a little bit weird swap in there.”
It had been years since they hung up their orange and blue jerseys and gone their separate ways. Each one of many former Florida baseball players charting a different path, navigating through the professional ranks. But through their unique MLB journeys, one thing remains consistent: the bond between Gators.
The duo helped Florida win its first and only National Championship in 2017 when it beat LSU in two games. That season, Singer started 19 games, went 9-5 with a 3.21 ERA and was named to the College World Series (CWS) All-Tournament Team. In India’s sophomore season, he slashed .274/.354/.429 with six home runs and 34 RBIs.
The year after the CWS win, the duo set the collegiate baseball world on fire.
On the mound, Singer’s 2.55 ERA, 12-3 record and 114 strikeouts earned him National Player of the Year (Baseball America, D1baseball.com), National Pitcher of the Year and SEC Pitcher of the Year. The first-team All-American won the Dick Howser Trophy, which recognized him as the best player in college baseball.
And in the batter’s box, India was named the SEC Player of the Year and a first-team All-American selection. His batting average skyrocketed to .350 and his on-base percentage and slugging percentage stood at .497 and .717, respectively.
After their historic seasons, though, they departed from one another. But that doesn’t mean they’ve lost contact.
The ranks of former Florida players littered throughout MLB and its pipeline consistently come across one another, ranging from playing with and against each other to being traded for one another.
“There are a lot of players I get to interact with that I never got to play with,” Texas Rangers and former Gators pitcher Dane Dunning said. “We just have that connection of being at Florida.”
Dunning played three seasons for Florida from 2014-16 before being drafted in 2016. The right-handed pitcher’s career ERA was 3.26 in 66 appearances. In his junior and final season, he posted a 2.29 ERA and 88 strikeouts.
Dunning left Gainesville in 2016 but finds common ground with his peers that donned the orange and blue.
“We have that interaction of that memory of being back in Florida,” Dunning said. “And then we kind of just go down the rabbit hole of all the good stuff and bad stuff that happens, so it’s definitely an easy connection with a lot of other Gators.”
One of those Gators is none other than Wyatt Langford.
The second-year outfielder for the Rangers played for Florida for three years from 2021-23 (with all but four of his at-bats in his second and third seasons). En route to becoming the 2023 fourth overall draft pick, he was a unanimous first-team All-American and led the Gators on their run to the College World Series final in 2022.
Langford still talks to former Gators, the guys he lived and played with at UF.
“I got a couple out here: Colby Halter (Athletics) and Ryan Slater (San Francisco Giants), they’re both out here for spring training,” he said. “We hung out a bunch, and obviously have guys like Dane Dunning on this team. It’s super cool.”
Halter played for the Gators from 2021-23 and slashed .259/.354/.405. The infielder remains with the A’s after being drafted by the club in the 17th round of the 2023 MLB Draft.
He, like Langford, found friends for life in Gainesville.
“A lot of us are really tight,” Halter said. “My roommates: Wyatt Langford, Brian Slater, Luke Heyman, are my closest friends. BT (Riopelle) is a good friend, and Sterlin Thompson and a bunch of other guys. We’re all pretty close.”
While it’s usually all love between Florida alums, sometimes there’s what Dunning called “Gator-on-Gator crime.” Now, because there are so many Gators in the big leagues, these crimes are inevitable, from Single-A all the way up to the majors.
“I faced Spro (Brandon Sproat), Tommy (Mace) and Jack (Leftwich),” former Gators outfielder Sterlin Thompson said. “It was like once every week, I was seeing like five Gators, and we were playing against a lot of the position players as well.”
Beyond the trades and ‘crimes,’ though, the bond that former UF players share is palpable.
Category: Athletics, Cactus League, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers
Tagged: Brady Singer Brandon Sproat Brian Slater Colby Halter Hurston Waldrep Jack Leftwich Jonathan India MLB MLB Spring Training Sterlin Thompson Tommy Mace Wyatt Langford
