Florida State baseball opens its 2024 season Friday in a three-game series against Butler at Howser Stadium.

In Link Jarrett's first season as head coach, the Seminoles went 23-31, missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1977. However, FSU has a very different look coming into this spring, returning only 16 players and adding 26 new ones.

The Seminoles had a lot of roster rotation this offseason.

Eight players transferred out of the program, Nander De Sedas exhausted his eligibility, Sebastian Jimenez joined the staff as an undergraduate assistant and Colton Vincent joined the San Diego Padres as an undrafted free agent.

Sizable gaps were left in the roster leading to a flurry of additions from the NCAA transfer portal and even more were added out of the recruiting Class of 2023. There are a lot of new additions to the roster, and Jarrett said he is happy with what he sees, but there are a few concerns about getting guys developed

"I like what I see," Jarrett said.

"Some of the younger arms, how well they acclimate to what this is going to feel like Friday at Dick Howser Stadium. It's different than the scrimmages...we're going to have to get those young arms into this thing quickly. I think they're advanced, good dynamic arms, and we need them but it's still new."

Jarrett announced Wednesday that UCF transfer Cam Leiter gets the nod on opening night at 5 p.m., left-hander Jamie Arnold will start on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Conner Whitaker will earn the start for Sunday's noon game.

Off the mound, defense is a key focus for Jarrett this season and adjusting to unexpected and awkward moments. FSU committed 69 errors last season, averaging 1.2 per game.

"Defensive cleanliness and instincts I've talked about it before. I still feel at times, that's something we need to ratchet up a little bit," Jarrett said. "There are things that happen that are quirky, that are off script that you have to be able to adapt and handle. At times, I have concerns about our ability to manage those things and adapt as awkward moments happened in these games, which they did every game."

A big part of making sure that there is a strong execution on defense is getting the team used to playing together according to Jarrett. FSU has brought in a large group of players, trying to figure out things for the first time this weekend.

There are challenges posed when working with a largely new group from last season, but Jarrett feels confident in the Seminoles finding a rhythm as the season goes on.

"When you onboard 26 new players. There were times were playing here where I don't know that we had 26 guys on the postseason team roster, so that's a lot of newness," Jarrett said. "There are things that come up with the communication and the sense of how other people handle situational baseball."

How to watch Florida State baseball vs. Butler

When: Friday, 5 p.m.; Saturday, 2 p.m.; Sunday, noon

Where: Dick Howser Stadium

TV/Radio: ACC Network Extra/100.7 FM

Jack Williams covers Florida State athletics for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at jwilliams@tallahassee.com or on X @jackgwilliams.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida State baseball takes on Butler with 26 new additions to roster