Man On Second Baseball is keeping tabs on the progress of players who are from the state of Florida or played college ball in the Sunshine State. We break down Ryan Mountcastle and Jonathan India.

By Joe Frisaro @ManOn2nd

They’re impactful players now in the big leagues. But before starting their professional careers, their roots are in the state of Florida, which makes them natural targets for MO2.

Remember, we aim to be “Everything Baseball in Florida.”

The MLB season is a couple of days old, and already the Florida talent is flourishing.

Today is the continuation of a popular on-going series we’re calling Sunshine State Spotlight. We diving into the early success of Ryan Mountcastle and Jonathan India.

OF/DH Ryan Mountcastle, Baltimore Orioles: MO2 is going to spend a lot of time highlighting the hitting prowess of Mountcastle. In the Orioles’ 3-0 win over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Saturday, Mountcastle delivered a two-run double off Matt Andriese.

Breaking down the at-bat, you’ll see the image below. Mountcastle tracks and takes a slider away that appears to be ball four. He initially heads to first, but is called back. The sequence is below in the gif.

Rather than a walk, Mountcastle gets back into the box with the count full. Below, you see what happens next.

After seeing the slider away, Mountcastle adjusts to a 93-mph fastball in. He keeps his hands inside the ball, and pulls it off the Green Monster, driving in the first two runs of the game.

Mountcastle has All-Star potential.

Mountcastle was the 36th overall pick of the Orioles out of Hagerty High School in Oviedo, Fla., a school with a rich baseball history.

Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Zach Eflin and Detroit Tigers outfield prospect, Riley Greene, also attended Hagerty. University of Florida football fans also may remember, former Gators quarter, Jeff Driskel is a Hagerty alum. Driskel, who now is in the NFL, also was a baseball standout in high school, and was a 2013 draft pick of the Red Sox.

Mountcastle is an outfielder/DH. As long as he’s in the lineup, he’s worth paying watching.

2B/INF Jonathan India, Cincinnati Reds: MO2 has been talking up India for a while, providing updates when he was solidifying his status on the Opening Day roster during Spring Training.

On Opening Day, India started at second base against the St. Louis Cardinals. A third baseman in high school, he’s anchoring second right now, and has upside offensively.

India was a first round pick from the University of Florida in 2018.

Check out his two hits below.

The first image is of India adjusting to a slider and pulling it to left for a double. You can see how he adjusts his swing and gets the bat head on the ball, driving it down the line.

Secondly, with India, below we see him pull his hands in and single to center off Cardinals right-hander Ryan Helsley.

Both clips show why he projects to be a quality big league hitter.