re: Baseball Recruiting Discussion

Coach Holbrook and the program have gotten some commitments in recent days for the 2017 & 2018 classes:

LHP Bryce Hulett of Lake Wales HS in Frostproof, FL. will join as part of the 2017 class.

RHP Daniel lloyd (Summerville, SC), and Catcher Wesley Clarke of Lynchburg, VA have pledged to join the Gamecocks for the class of 2018. Here is the article from The State:

LINK

Not really recruiting related, but former SC Pitcher, Tyler Webb, just got Rule5'd by Pittsburg. Webb was drafted by the Yankees in the 10th Rd of 2013. He spent most of his time on their AAA team in Scranton.

What the Rule5'd means is that Webb is guaranteed a spot on the Pirates starting 25 man MLB roster for the season. They can't move him down. They could waive him and he'd go back to the Yankees org. Basically, the Pirates are banking on Webb being a starting pitcher, b/c they really wouldn't have made this move for a reliever.

Here's more info on a Rule5 Draft for anyone interested.
https://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/minorleagues/rule_5.jsp?mc=faq

Braves claimed Christian Walker off waivers today.

I had friends hearing from colleges in 8th grade all the way up to senior year. It all comes down to talent. Most d1 kids begin hearing late freshman early sophomore year.

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JW at 247 thinks we're going to (at this point in time) sign all 3 of our Top50 guys:
No. 17 OF Kyle Jacobsen
No. 38 UTIL Noah Campbell
No. 42 RHP Hunter Ruth
If that happens that would be amazing. Personally, I'm always weary of us signing any Top50 guys b/c often they're drafted in the top 10 Rds.

We need to do whatever is necessary to keep Coach Jerry Meyers. He's put together another elite and Pitching class for '17. He identified rising Pitchers early and several of them shot up the rankings this year or earned AA Honors.
No. 42 RHP Hunter Ruth - shot up 154 spots int he rankings.
Then these guys below all moved up a good bit in the rankings.
No. 224 RHP Brady Scott (Powder Springs, Ga./Mt. Paran Christian) He's 6'6" 260 lbs and only getting stronger.
No. 227 RHP Carmen Mlodzinski(Hilton Head/Hilton Head) Has a top 3% FB for HS RHP's.
No. 255 LHP Tyler Mettetal (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North)
No. 330 RHP Shane Roberts (Jupiter, Fla./William T. Dwyer)
No. 394 LHP Chase WIlliamson (Lexington/Lexington) - has a top 1% FB for HS LHP's, and went from an Honorable Mention to 3rd Team Underclassmen All American. JW thinks the way his stock is moving that he might sign an MLB contract before our Top50 guys.

Meyers is bringing in some power Lefty's and elite Pitchers who are going to make sure the '16 to '17 season's production isn't a complete dropoff. (We'll be Elite in Pitching nationally in '16 with Schmidt, Crowe, Hill, Johnson, Haire and company, but Schmidt and Crowe (and possibly Johnson) are most likely leaving after '16.) Meyers is probably one of the best recruiting and coaching Pitching Coaches in college ball.

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Right now it looks like we'll only lose one prospect from the 2017 class to the draft: C Luis Campusano-Bracero was picked early in the 2nd Rd. (39th overall) by the Padres, where his projected slot is around $1.7 mil. Campusano-Bracero was a late addition to the class, and was committed to Missouri for quite awhile, but wasn't being shown the love by the recent staff and re-opened his recruitment back up. He might not have been expecting to play college ball anyways, as he was a top 40 national rated player by most online sources, and tabbed the #1 catcher prospect out of high school by some of them.

As for the above: Kyle Jacobsen - haven't seen if he has been drafted, but reports are that he's already announced he's signing with USC and coming to play. Perhaps he waited to see if he'd make the top 3 rounds, because he waited to make the announcement this morning. EDIT: he was drafted by the Brewers in the 33rd Rd...

Noah Campbell - was drafted 111th overall in the 19th Rd., but he's also stated that he's coming to play at USC "100%"...

Carmen Mlodzinski - per The State, Mlodzinski told MLB teams last weekend that "he wouldn't sign if drafted":

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“I just felt more comfortable with college at this point,” Mlodzinski told the website. “I didn’t think I was fully ready to be a professional.”

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Also, LHP commit Corey Stone was drafted in the 27th Rd. (824th overall): I would expect him to come to USC as well....

I can only imagine how Kingston will use Bradley and Pearce out on the recruiting trail.

What a series for the Gamecocks.

South Carolina's 2019 recruiting class (for this coming 2020 season) has been ranked as the #3 recruiting class in the nation by Collegiate Baseball.

2019 NCAA Div. I Top-40 Recruiting Rankings by Collegiate Baseball

1. Vanderbilt
2. Florida
3. South Carolina
4. Ole Miss
5. Texas Christian
6. Louisiana State
7. Alabama
8. Arizona State
9. Auburn
10. Oklahoma State
11. Arizona
12. Texas
13. North Carolina
14. Clemson
15. Miami (Fla.)
16. Arkansas
17. Mississippi State
18. Utah
19. Georgia Tech
20. Virginia
21. UCLA
22. Louisville
23. Oregon State
24. Tennessee
25. Kentucky
26. Stanford
27. N.C. State
28. Coastal Carolina
29. Oklahoma
30. Grand Canyon
31. Florida St.
32. Missouri
33. Dallas Baptist
34. Rice
35. Missouri State
36. Michigan
37. Texas A&M
38. Texas Tech
39. Houston
40. East Carolina

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TUCSON, Ariz. – The University of South Carolina baseball team's 2019 recruiting class has been selected as the third-best in the country by Collegiate Baseball Magazine, the publication announced this afternoon (Monday, Sept. 23). The Gamecocks' class is now nationally ranked by two publications after Baseball America had Carolina at No. 11.

South Carolina is one of 13 schools from the Southeastern Conference in CB's top-40 list. The SEC also comprises the top four (Vanderbilt, Florida, South Carolina, Ole Miss) and seven of the top-10 classes. The recruiting class features six players (Andrew Peters, Brennan Milone, Noah Myers, Brannon Jordan, Thomas Farr and Jeff Heinrich) that were selected in the 2019 MLB First-Year Player Draft.

This is the third time in the last five years the Gamecocks have had a top-three recruiting class by Collegiate Baseball. Carolina had the second-best class in 2015 and was third in the country in 2017.

Carolina will scrimmage today (Monday, Sept. 23) at Founders Park with first pitch set for 3:15 p.m. The Gamecocks head to N.C. State for its first scrimmage against outside competition Sunday, Sept. 29 at 3 p.m. in Raleigh.

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LINK

Good work done by the staff - we didn't even rate the postseason, but will pull in a strong class just the same. Lots of JUCOs in this class - Coach Kingston stated that it's the most talented group of JUCOs in the nation. Hopefully it all translates into the program getting back to it's winning ways, and a post-season berth for 2020.....

Opening day on Friday boys and girls! Looks like it will be about 55° at first pitch.