Caden McDonald has emerged as an unlikely two-way threat down the stretch for the Gators. (Photo: Madilyn Gemme/UAA Communications)
Pre-Med to Prime Time: Caden McDonald's Breakout Moment
Wednesday, May 13, 2026 | Baseball, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — On the morning of June 7, 2023, Caden McDonald woke up and dressed for the occasion. McDonald pulled on a light-pink dress shirt to contrast his navy blue suit. He could have easily been mistaken for a young investment banker on his way to work in downtown Tampa.
But McDonald, a recent Sickles High graduate, had other plans. He was headed to receive Hillsborough County's most prestigious honor for a prep baseball player, the Wade Boggs Athletic Achievement Award.
Boggs, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and a local legend, greeted McDonald with a handshake and pat on the shoulder when McDonald was called to the dais at a County Board of Commissioners meeting. If there were any doubts whether McDonald would win the award, he erased them two weeks earlier at the Class 6A state tournament in Fort Myers.
McDonald's performance in the semifinals — a 2-0 win over Winter Springs High — is a game that neither coach will forget.
"I remember like it was yesterday,'' said Winter Springs coach Mark Bradley, who is preparing his team this week for another trip to the state semifinals. "He took it to us."
In the other dugout, Sickles coach Eric Luksis was confident his team was capable of winning the program's first state championship, in large part because of McDonald, a two-way standout who bashed opponents with his bat and right arm all season.
Luksis could relax the night before McDonald was scheduled to pitch.
"It was C-Mac's day,'' Luksis said this week. "Whenever he threw, we knew we were going to win. Whenever he was up, he was always going to get the big hit. He's probably one of the most clutch players I have ever coached in my life."
Caden McDonald rounds third after his go-ahead home run in Sunday's win over Kentucky. (Photo: Hannah White/UAA Communications)
Three years later, McDonald has introduced himself to Gators fans as a two-way threat who has gone from a nice story to arguably the most dangerous player on the roster as Florida heads to LSU for a three-game series to cap the regular season.
A redshirt sophomore used primarily as a reliever the past two seasons, McDonald has emerged as a difference-maker late in the season. In Sunday's home win over Kentucky, which clinched an important SEC series for the Gators, McDonald popped a go-ahead two-run homer in the fourth inning and tossed 4 1/3 hitless innings. McDonald struck out six and retired 13 of the 14 batters he faced.
When McDonald stepped to the plate in the bottom of the eighth, Wildcats reliever Burkley Bounds delivered UF radio play-by-play announcer Jeff Cardozo a mic moment.
"That's the hardest he's been hit all day long,'' Cardozo quipped after Bounds plunked McDonald.
*****
A pre-med student, McDonald garnered attention last month for his 3-for-4, 2-RBI performance (homer, double) in only his second start of the season, a 9-2 home win over Texas A&M on April 24. McDonald was studying for an organic chemistry test when he found out he had a rare place in the lineup.
He hasn't cooled off since.
"It's unbelievable what he's done,'' said pitcher Aidan King. "I can't speak enough of him. When he finally got his chance to play, he just took that and ran with it."
Shortstop Brendan Lawson was a fan well before McDonald's coming-out party. He faced him at practice and watched him hit enough balls out of Condron Ballpark to know that McDonald had a unique one-two punch.
"He fills up the zone with three or four pitches. He was on [Kentucky hitters Sunday] right from the jump. He put them away with two strikes and limited a lot of hard contact. I think we all knew the whole time how good Caden was and the abilities he had,'' Lawson said. "He was just waiting for a chance to break through. I'm so glad that everyone is really able to see what he can do, and that two-way ability, it's special."
In the last 10 games, McDonald is hitting .400 (16-for-40) with five homers, four doubles, 10 runs and 14 RBI. In two relief outings over that stretch, he has pitched 7 1/3 shutout innings, giving up only one hit and one walk, while striking out 10.
Caden McDonald after a big out in his 4 1/3 hitless innings in relief on Sunday. (Photo: Hannah White/UAA Communications)
About the only thing McDonald has struggled with of late is trying to answer what has changed when he steps into the batter's box. He passed the organic chemistry test, but in baseball, some questions are harder to answer than others.
"I don't know. Keep trying to be me. I don't know, it's just working out,'' McDonald said. "I'm just going to try and keep doing what I'm doing. I always knew I could do it. Pieces had to fall in place at the right time. I always envisioned myself doing this ever since I was in high school doing it. It's been awesome the past few weeks."
Of course, the most critical part of McDonald's unlikely story is that he got an opportunity.
Gators head coach Kevin O'Sullivan, seeking to spark the lineup at the bottom of the order with the team mired in a cold spell and dealing with various injuries, called McDonald's No. 21 against the Aggies. The move has worked better than he could have imagined.
"Better late than never, right,'' O'Sullivan said.
McDonald was named national two-way player of the week following a series win at Oklahoma, and his recent surge has renewed chatter around Brian Johnson (2012) and Jac Caglianone (2024), a pair of former two-way Gators during O'Sullivan's tenure who earned national recognition for their pitching and hitting.
McDonald's sudden rise has impacted the way O'Sullivan can manage a game.
"It gives you an extra player. Two players for one,'' he said. "We have tried to do that on the recruiting trail. With the cap on the roster, I would think most teams are going to try to look for a few two-way guys. It's not easy to do at this level. It's just not. Usually, one side of the game's got to come easier than the other.
"With Caden, I haven't figured it out yet, honestly. He's just playing really well. We're going to ride it as long as we can."
Luksis has seen McDonald's two-way powers catch fire not once, but twice.
Caden McDonald earned a spot on the Cape Cod League All-Star Team last summer. (Photo: Cameron Merritt via Imagn Images)
McDonald played on the Sickles junior varsity team as a freshman and earned a spot on the varsity his sophomore season. With a team loaded with hitters – the Gryphons also had current UF outfielder Hayden Yost and his brother, Jordan Yost, Detroit's first-round pick in last year's MLB draft – Luksis focused on developing McDonald as a pitcher initially.
"I kind of saw that he was probably going to be our ace his junior year,'' said Luksis, a former pitcher at the University of Tampa. "But he needed a ton of work. Probably about three-quarters of the way through his sophomore season, we gave him the bat back, and he started to swing it and ultimately finally got into the lineup for that postseason run. And his junior year, he just freaking took off. He was outstanding."
Meanwhile, last summer in the Cape Cod League with the Wareham (Mass.) Gatemen, McDonald and Luksis reunited.
Luksis is the team's pitching coach and convinced manager Ryan Smyth that McDonald, while rusty after Tommy John surgery cost him his freshman season at UF and a lack of at-bats with the Gators as a redshirt freshman had his timing off at the plate, was worth keeping around for the summer.
As the New England temperatures spiked, so did McDonald's production. He ended up making the Cape Cod League All-Star Team as a two-way player, going 3-1 with a 3.51 ERA on the mound, and hitting .256 with six home runs and 18 RBI.
"It took him a couple of weeks to start seeing some sliders again, but it was a great situation,'' Luksis said. "He turned into our three- and four-hole hitter, kind of what's going on right now at Florida."
*****
McDonald's path to Florida took a detour when he originally committed to UCF out of high school. However, after UCF parted ways with then-coach Greg Lovelady after the 2023 season, the Gators were quick to call.
There was no hesitation on McDonald's end.
"It happened really quickly, like in the span of a week,'' he said. "This was my dream school. I always wanted to come here."
McDonald raised his profile considerably in the Class 6A state tournament. In the semifinal win over Winter Springs, McDonald needed only one swing of the bat in the first inning to announce his presence.
"We got the first two guys out and felt pretty good,'' Bradley said. "I wanted to challenge him right away. I figured everybody else pitched around him. So, a first-pitch fastball and he hits it out of the ballpark down the right-field line for a home run. That was like, 'Boom, here I am, guys.' When we faced him again, we just put him on."
As good as McDonald was with the bat, he was better as the starting pitcher that day. He pitched a one-hit shutout, and only a single by Winter Springs catcher Jacob McKenzie in the fifth inning spoiled a perfect game. In the state championship against Viera the following day, McDonald went 1-for-2 with a double and a run scored while making two defensive gems at first base.
Caden McDonald is greeted by his Sickles teammates after a first-inning home run in the 2023 Class 6A state semifinals in Fort Myers. (Photo: Tampa Bay Times)
Luksis and McDonald still talk regularly. They spoke for 45 minutes on Tuesday afternoon when Florida's practice got rained out. And while Luksis still has his team to coach, he keeps a close eye on the Gators.
When McDonald's name comes up with scouts, reporters, coaches or Sickles fans, Luksis knows what's coming. Is McDonald a better pitcher or hitter?
"I've been asked that question for four years,'' Luksis said. "This kid can do both. He's a strike thrower. He throws four pitches for strikes. And offensively, he's just an outstanding hitter. He hits to all fields. He hits for power. He hits for average. The swing-and-miss is low. The barrel stays in the zone. Early on in his career, it was probably that he was more of a pitcher. Now it's just both. You're seeing it at the SEC level.
"He says he wants to be a doctor. He went to school to be a doctor. That was going to be his future, and baseball was just something that he was great at. He's got two great options."
McDonald may want to reconsider if he keeps this up. After all, organic chemistry is no joke.
Is it harder than hitting a home run and pitching a shutout in the same game?
