After a year of waiting, Stokes getting his professional shot

Madison Stokes remembers the pain and the “hatred” he felt last year, watching name after name pop up on the screen as teams passed him by during the MLB Draft.

So this year, after his best statistical year on campus, he wasn’t even watching or paying it any attention. He was with his girlfriend when the texts started to pour in after he was drafted No. 287 overall to the Phillies, wiping away the anger he felt at this point a year ago.

“I was extremely frustrated at the draft process at first and then I turned to myself,” he said. “I said, ‘Hey, dude. This is all on you. You put yourself in this position. You have to do more…If you want this bad enough, you’ll do it.’ That’s what I had to do. I’m very grateful for where I am today.”

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Stokes was the fourth Gamecock taken off the board, at the time joining Carlos Cortes, Adam Hill and Cody Morris as selections from South Carolina.

He was also the team’s first senior selected.

Getting the text marked the end to a tough year where Stokes changed his eating habits, changed his workout routine and got better as a player and culminated in getting drafted.

A year after scouts wouldn’t give him the time of day, he said, Stokes is getting his chance in professional baseball.

“It was humbling, it was gratifying and it gave me an opportunity,” he said. “Now I have to go out there and prove myself and finish strong here and that starts this weekend.”

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A career .244 hitter heading into his senior season, Stokes revamped almost everything about his offensive game and had a breakout senior season despite being bogged down during the middle of it with a hamstring injury.

He’s third on the team hitting .331 through 47 games and has six home runs, two more than he had his first three years on campus combined.

“He put in the work and he’s getting his just due at this point,” head coach Mark Kingston said.

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But before Stokes can start his professional career, he and the rest of the Gamecocks have business to take care of in Arkansas.

The Gamecocks will take on the Razorbacks in a best-of-three series starting Saturday with the winner punching their ticket to the College World Series.

It’s extremely exciting for Kingston, who will be in his first Super Regional as a head coach, as he gets to have his team compete with a trip to Omaha on the line as well as see players get drafted the same week.

“As a coach, there’s a lot of things you’re motivated by,” Kingston said. “You’re motivated by helping your players achieve their dream of getting to pro baseball; you’re motivated by helping your team try to get to Omaha. To see all those things happening right now, it’s a great time.”