Collegiate talent from around the country takes up residency in the Sunshine State for the next two months of Florida Collegiate Summer League competition. 

In its 18 previous years, the Florida League played host to some of the biggest names currently in Major League Baseball. Before he was among the most dangerous baserunners in the Bigs, Washington National Dee Strange-Gordon was a Belleview Bulldog. 

Austin Hays, who’s having an excellent 2022 season for the Baltimore Orioles, won the 2014 Most Valuable Player of the Florida League playing for the DeLand Suns. Another Sun who turned star went downright supernova. 

Jacob deGrom–the two-time Cy Young Award winner from the New York Mets–pitched for DeLand briefly in 2010. 

That’s just scratching the surface of the impact the Florida League has had at baseball’s highest level. With its remarkable lineage, the FCSL stands out among the best college leagues of the summer. 

The 2022 campaign kicks off June 2 with, appropriately enough, the reigning champion Leesburg Lightning in action. Rich Billings returns after coaching Leesburg to the 2021 crown, the club’s fourth all-time. 

This season’s opener pits the defending champs against Sanford. The River Rats won the 2020 championship behind coach Josh Montero. Sanford’s 2022 roster includes Ahmad Fitts, coming off a .282 batting season for Florida Southern College. 

After Leesburg and Sanford get the season started on June 2, the campaign gets rolling in earnest June 3 with matchups between Winter Garden and Seminole, and Winter Park vs. DeLand. 

Mike McDaniel makes his debut coaching the Winter Garden Squeeze, but is no newcomer to the Florida League. McDaniel faces his former club, the Seminole County Snappers, featuring first-time FCSL head coach Matt Swiderski. 

Swiderski’s lineup includes Fletcher Cline, who hit over .400 this season for the same Dayton State program where Swiderski is an assistant. 

Heading up the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs is Terry Abbott, previously the coach of Winter Garden. Opposite Abbott’s Diamond Dawgs in season-opening weekend, Mike Powers returns as coach of the DeLand Suns. 

The first weekend’s series begin almost daily competition extending throughout June and July. The Florida League regular season concludes July 23 with playoffs immediately following. 

Perhaps, over these coming months, the next Strange-Gordon or deGrom will emerge.