Compared to other Division I sports constructing a baseball roster in the offseason include more ways to shape it than others.
Typically baseball teams farm high school talent but bring in junior college players at a higher rate than some sports, and now with the free one-time transfer in play for college athletes, the baseball program has another tool to use to build its 2022 roster.
“I think it’ll not only play a factor for us but for everybody. Most schools will have guys going into the portal and guys coming out of the portal back to them. It’s just the way in all sports right now. The transfer portal is in the conversation,” Mark Kingston said. “That’s obviously going to be another piece of the puzzle to improve rosters.”
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The Gamecocks have already benefitted from and been hurt by the transfer portal, landing a commitment out of it while losing a handful of players from it.
App State right-hander Noah Hall committed last week to the Gamecocks while Josh Shuler, Brandon Fields, Magdiel Cotto, Travis Luensmann, Jeff Heinrich, Noah Myers and Michael Robinson all hit the portal.
Of the seven former Gamecocks to enter the portal, only Heinrich saw consistent playing time in 2021.
With the offseason now in full swing, the Gamecocks are actively exploring the portal for potential additions with fit being important.
“There are a lot of reasons why guys go into the portal and reasons why guys come to your school from the portal,” Kingston said. “Just like hitting, everyone’s an individual case. If there are guys in there who can move the needle for us and help us, we’ll explore it.”
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The Gamecocks also have to survive the draft with a handful of highly-rated prospects headlined by top 100 draft prospect Cooper Kinney and shortstop Michael Braswell.
The draft, which starts July 11, will dictate not only what members of the team’s 2021 recruiting class but which veterans return for next season.
“We’re in a good place. We have a lot of guys on our team who can go either way and our share of recruits who can go either way,” Kingston said. “All we can do is try to present what we think are the benefits of coming to college an guys have to make the decisions they feel are best f or them and their families. We support our guys whichever way they go.”
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Now comes the part of the offseason full of scouting and recruiting with the evaluation period going on the entire months of June and July outside of the weekend of 19-21 and again July 3-5.
South Carolina can also have prospects on campus, and already have trying to build the upcoming year’s roster and future recruiting classes.
“It’s recruiting now, it’s bringing guys to campus now that the NCAA has relaxed the dead period and we’re into the recruiting phase. We’ve had guys on campus visiting already. We’ve been off-campus recruiting,” Kingston said.
“We want to be the best, so we have to continue to work in that fashion. The way our calendar is set up you go right into the season, right into recruiting and into the summer, managing the draft."
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