Florida State baseball: ‘Noles pick up two commits on Sunday afternoon

It has been a fun afternoon on the phones for Mike Martin Jr. and Mike Metcalf today. Most schools don’t even have a 2024 commit yet, but FSU now has four after picking up two more today with Adonys Velez and Schuyler Sandford announcing their commitments to the Seminoles:

Velez, a middle infielder, comes out of Orlando, Florida and stands 5’11, 150 pounds. He’s a high-waisted, wiry athlete. Despite being just 14 years old, Velez knew it was the right choice to commit to FSU now, “As we continued for months to build a very open and strong conversation with Coach Metcalf and learn about FSU’s program philosophy, then there was no doubt that we wanted to maintain communication with someone that will help you to be the best player as you can be and most importantly a better person.”

Velez was also confident in committing to FSU because of his ties to Florida State’s current SS, Nander De Sedas. He said, “I met Nander when I was 10 years old, and I trained with him at Montverde. Nander was the first person that my family contacted to ask about the FSU baseball program, and he highly recommended.”

For Velez, he said, “It feels like Christmas in the middle of August.”

I caught Velez in action a couple months back and came away most impressed with his defensive actions. He’s smooth with the glove and quick with his transfer to first. As the arm comes along, he’ll be able to stick at SS.

In the box, Velez has natural bat whip to his swing and gets the barrel through the zone with ease. He also shows the willingness to take what the pitcher gives him and consistently drive the ball to the opposite field.

Sandford comes out of St. Augustine, Florida and will be a freshman at Bartram Trail this upcoming year. He has an extremely projectable frame at 6’3, 180 pounds. He just recently turned 15. Coming out of St. Augustine, FSU has always been his dream school.

“Growing up I have always loved FSU! It’s my dream school. After getting to know the coaching staff, now more than ever I know that FSU is where I want and need to be.”

Sandford has been up to 84 MPH and sits in the 82-83 MPH range with his fastball. He also spins a curveball at 74-75 MPH. This past weekend, he threw at Florida Travel Baseball’s tryouts. A scout in attendance told me he stood out, not only from the 2024 group, but regardless of age. He also said he’s one of the more “advanced” pitchers he’s seen in the class. Currently, Sandford is the second-ranked RHP in the class from FL.

FSU’s 2021 and 2022 classes have already shown the damage Florida State’s coaching staff will do on the recruiting trail. The 2021 class is ranked 7th in the nation, while ‘22 is 2nd in the nation. This class is already on it’s track there, as well, with four extremely projectable commits.