The Coronavirus isn’t good for really anybody, but because of the unintended consequences from it, Mark Kingston thinks there’s going to be a “golden age” of college baseball coming.

Because of sports leagues getting canceled, the MLB draft is being shortened likely to five rounds, which means more juniors and high-level high school players are returning and coming to school than ever before.

“There probably will be more players not moving on to pro baseball at this point than you anticipated a month ago when all this started or a year ago or two years ago when you signed a lot of these kids,” Kingston said. “It’s a factor. It’s a challenge for every coach around the country. There will be a lot more players in college baseball this year that would have normally been in professional baseball.”

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Because of that, the shortened MLB draft could significant impact who the Gamecocks bring onto their roster for the 2021 season.

If the draft is shortened to just five rounds, it means just 167 picks this year, which means a lot of juniors and high school seniors going undrafted.

The Gamecocks have a few current players—Carmen Mlodzinski, Brannon Jordan, Thomas Farr, Noah Campbell—and fve signees—Luke Little, Will Sanders, Mag Cotto, Jackson Phipps and Brandon Fields—who are listed in Baseball America’s top 400 prospects.

Only four of those guys total—Phipps, Little, Fields and Mlodzinski—are listed in the top 167.

Mlodzinski is the headliner of that group, coming in at No. 21 overall and a projected first-round pick; that hasn’t changed despite the draft being curtailed.

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“I think he’s still a first-rounder. He did enough between the Cape Cod League, spring ball and how he pitched early in the season. I think he’s still a very solid first rounder,” Kingston said. “We would expect him to move on because that’s still well within the range of what this draft’s going to be. I would encourage and expect Carmen to be drafted at a level to where he’s moving on with his professional baseball career.”

There still isn’t date set for the MLB Draft, but it’s usually in summer, sometime in June or July.

With summer league statuses still up in the air, it might be hard for draft-eligible guys to get in front of scouts.

Kingston said if summer leagues don’t happen, he’d be in favor of a combine of sorts to allow scouts to evaluate players.

“If they come up with a combine or something gives guys the ability to show what they can do, I would be all for it. That’s part of our job,” he said. “We’re here to win baseball games and get players a degree that will serve them the rest of their lives but we’re here to help them chase dreams of professional baseball. Anything that helps them in that vein we would be in support of.”

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The Gamecocks have scouts at the facility a lot, hosting a scout day every year in the fall and having multiple on hand for scrimmages and games throughout the season.

“I think anything that helps players get exposure is good. We as a staff are always invested in getting our guys to the next level,” Kingston said. “We provide a scout exposure day for our players in the fall. We have an open door policy and as open to communication with scouts as anyone in the country. I think that’s greatly appreciated in their profession.”