2023 Baseball Season Preview: Third Basemen

Florida is returning both of its primary starters at third base from a year ago, Colby Halter and Deric Fabian.

As a true freshman in 2022, Fabian started the first 40 games for Florida at third. Eventually, a prolonged slump forced Fabian out of the lineup and Halter moved over from second.

Heading into 2023, Halters is Florida’s most experienced infielder and trusted glove at third. He’s the clear starter, but that doesn’t mean the infield won’t get shuffled midway through the season at it was last year. The depth Fabian provides will be important at every infield position, and a stronger year at the plate could force head coach Kevin O'Sullivan to find a place for him on the field each night.

Behind those two, there are plenty of newer faces that could get a shot at the position, but Halter seems to have things locked up for now.

Starter: No. 5 Colby Halter

AP Photo/Gary McCullough

Height: 6-1

Class: Junior

B/T: L/R

Hometown: Jacksonville, Florida

High School (Previous Univ.): Bishop Kenny

Colby Halter should help lock down the left side of Florida’s infield this season along with [autotag]Josh Rivera[/autotag]. Getting both guys back was a big win for the Gators, even if it does make playing Deric Fabian on a nightly basis a bit tricky.

Halter’s average dropped significantly from his freshman year to his sophomore year, but it was an odd season for him at the plate. He started the campaign off hitting safely in 20 of the team’s first 22 games, boasting a batting average in the .300s until April. Something changed in conference play and Halter’s numbers came down to earth, but he was still a valuable member of the club.

This year, he’ll be expected to lead and work through any sort of slump that comes his way. The Gators’ season and his draft stock depend on a standout year from Halter, and he made big strides as a Cape Cod League All-Star this summer.

Backup: No. 23 Deric Fabian

Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union

Height: 6-3

Class: Sophomore

B/T: R/R

Hometown: Ocala, Florida

High School (Previous Univ.): North Marion

If Halter has to miss extended time for some reason, Florida has a sophomore with 40 games of experience at third base ready to go. Deric Fabian, who O’Sullivan maintains is not a platoon guy for Florida, is the obvious choice to back up Halter coming into the season, and the world wouldn’t end if he wound up as the starter.

Fabian might be better suited to play shortstop or second base more, but the plan is to use him at all four positions depending on what the lineup calls for each day. That means his bat will have to keep him in the lineup for most of the season.

“He can play all four,” O’Sullivan said. “What you try to do when you’re recruiting players, you want them to have the ability to play multiple positions and be able to move around. And really the idea is to get your nine best hitters in the lineup somehow, someway. He can do multiple things defensively for us, but he’s been swinging the bat really good and his fall was cut short because of an injury. He’s handled it great and like I said, he’s been as good as anybody we’ve had so far this spring.”

This is another guy who slumped as the season went on, but the staff expects his bat to pick up this year. It will be hard for Fabian to take over the starting third base role once again, but Sully is looking for a way to make him a daily fixture in the lineup.

Backup: Dale Thomas No. 1 Thomas

AP Photo/Ben McKeown

Height: 5-10

Class: Junior

B/T: R/R

Hometown: De Leon Springs, Florida

High School (Previous Univ.): Bishop Moore (Coastal Carolina)

The infield is going to be a series of revolving doors early, testing guys out at certain positions and seeing what sticks best. [autotag]Dale Thomas[/autotag] is likely to be involved at second base more than he is third, but that was his primary position at Coastal Carolina in 2022.

Thomas played 52 games at third base last season and is just as good a candidate to fill in for Halter if an injury occurred. However, Thomas is competing for the starting second base job, so Fabian’s chances to get in at third on a rest day for Halter might be better than Thomas’.

Still, Thomas could see some action at the position this season.

Reserve: No. 6 Tyler Shelnut

Height: 6-2

Class: Junior

B/T: R/R

Hometown: Lake City, Florida

High School (Previous Univ.): Fort White (Sante Fe CC)

[autotag]Tyler Shelnut[/autotag] is in a similar spot to Dale Thomas. He played most of his games at second base a year ago for Sante Fe College but is now competing for the starting first base job at Florida. Shelnut also has experience at shortstop and third base, but he’s probably fourth on the totem pole here.

Halter is already likely to hold down the starting spot for the entire year, so Shelnut would only leave the right side of the infield in an emergency situation. Still, it’s good to have options.

Emergency Reserves: No. 28 Luke Heyman, No. 16 Rene Lastres and No.32 Tucker Talbott

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cn5c40qJ5ru/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

This is really stretching it, but technically Florida has a few more options at third this season. Catchers [autotag]Luke Heyman[/autotag] and [autotag]Rene Lastres[/autotag] have both seen time at third during the preseason and could get an inning or two of play early in the year there. This is clearly just to get guys at-bats, but if everyone ahead of these guys somehow goes down, at least they’ll have practiced the position before.

Outfielder [autotag]Tucker Talbott[/autotag] is another name that could be added to this group as well.

Read more

Check out Gators Wire’s other position previews for the 2023 season:

• Catchers

• First Basemen

• Second Basemen

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Story originally appeared on Gators Wire