While Florida State baseball has added some promising young lineup pieces through the transfer portal this offseason, the Seminoles added some valuable offensive experience through the portal Wednesday afternoon.
Longtime USF first baseman/outfielder Daniel Cantu announced on his Instagram that he will be spending his fifth and final year of college baseball eligibility at FSU as a graduate transfer next spring.
"I feel so grateful for my USF family that made Tampa feel like home these last four years. I have been immensely blessed to have been surrounded by such incredible coaches and mentors. The friendships, memories, and lessons I made here will last a lifetime," Cantu said. "With that being said, I will be using my final year of eligibility to continue my baseball journey at Florida State University #gonoles."
Cantu, who measures in at 6-foot-3, 214 pounds, brings a tremendous plethora of experience to the Seminoles as their likely first baseman for the 2024 season. He appeared in 178 games over four seasons at South Florida, starting 163 of those games and posting a .271 career batting average with 25 career home runs and 37 doubles.
The Jacksonville native is coming off a 2023 season which was far and away the best of his collegiate career with the Bulls. This past season, Cantu hit .301 with career highs in home runs (11), doubles (14), slugging percentage (.557) and runs batted in (41). Cantu also committed just three errors in 2023, posting a career-best .988 fielding percentage.
Cantu is FSU's ninth transfer addition who is expected to make it to campus. He's the fifth position player, joining infielders Drew Faurot and Alex Lodise, catcher Jaxson West and outfielder Max Williams. However, he's the first offensive transfer addition this cycle for FSU who has played more than one season of college baseball.
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