Gators Land High-Profile Transfer Catcher for 2027

The Florida Gators baseball program on Wednesday landed its first transfer commit for the 2027 in Florida Gulf Coast catcher Jon Embury, who was on campus for a visit earlier this week. Embury (6-0, 224 pounds) has two years of eligibility remaining.

Embury announced his commitment on social media. He is ranked as Baseball America's No. 16 overall transfer for the 2026-27 portal cycle.

Let’s Work. @GatorsBB pic.twitter.com/A27ZwdxZkF
— JonEmbury4 (@JEmbury4) June 4, 2026

Embury is the reigning ASUN Player of the Year and was a semifinalist for the Buster Posey Award, which is given to the nation's top catcher, after hitting .364 with 17 home runs and 60 RBIs as a sophomore. His home run total, RBI total, hit total (80), total bases (126) and extra-base hit total (27) all led FGCU.

Behind the plate, Embury was a standout defender with a 55.6 percent caught-stealing rate (20-for-36) and a .993 fielding percentage with three errors in 2026.

Embury is the first commitment in what is expected to be an active portal period for the Gators, who lose a number of contributors at multiple spots for 2027. Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan said after the season-ending loss to Troy on Monday that the Gators have already begun to recruit transfers and will be holding official visits this week.

Positions of priority will be left-handed pitchers and "middle-order bats," O'Sullivan said.

"We'll have to get together with all the players, we'll have to mix in exit meetings, and we'll have official visits starting tomorrow all week long. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and this weekend," he said. "So, there's not a whole lot of time to reflect. We got to get better. Certain areas we got to get better at."

Embury fills a hole at catcher for Florida after starter Karson Bowen and backup Cole Stanford exhausted their collegiate eligibility this season. The Gators are set to return AJ Malzone, who missed all of 2026 with an injury, and hold a commitment from Saint Johns (Fla.) Bartram Trail's Luke Labbe at the position.

Meanwhile, the Gators have seen three players announce their departures from the program via the portal in junior right-handed pitcher Matthew Jenkins, sophomore left-handed pitcher McCall Biemiller and freshman right-handed pitcher Cooper Moss but have a large number of contributing players returning for 2027.

Of note, rising junior infielder Brendan Lawson, rising junior pitcher Aidan King, rising senior infielder Landon Stripling, rising junior two-way player Caden McDonald, rising junior reliever Jackson Barberi and rising sophomore reliever Joshua Whritenour, among others.

"We’ve got a really good nucleus," O'Sullivan said. "I do feel good about it."

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