Caden Grice Poised to be Next Two-Way Star at Clemson
Caden Grice could very easily have chosen to start his professional baseball career this year.
Even with the MLB Draft being shortened to just five rounds, Grice would have almost assuredly heard his name called at some point if he had chosen to go that route. Instead, the elite-level player chose to go the collegiate route and stick with his commitment to play for Monte Lee and Clemson.
At 6-foot-6, 230 pounds, Grice is an imposing figure. He is a hard-throwing left-handed pitcher whose fastball tops out in the mid-90s. He is currently battling for a spot in the starting rotation.
At the same time, Lee says Grice also happens to have one of the biggest bats on the team. On the days that he is not pitching, he will likely be seen playing some first base, as well as seeing time at DH.
"He's incredibly strong, so when he touches the ball he can hit it out from pole to pole," Lee said on Friday. "He can hit it a long, long way. He's raw, as a hitter, he's gonna swing and miss some, gonna strike out some, but he is a better pure hitter right now than he was in the fall. I would say he's certainly made some significant strides."
Grice's power has been on full display since the moment he stepped onto campus. Not only did he reportedly hit two long home runs in his first two at-bats during an intra-squad scrimmage on Friday afternoon, but Lee also credits him with the hardest-hit ball to the opposite field in an earlier practice that the Clemson head coach has ever seen.
"We played on Tuesday (last week), so one look Caden had three at-bats," Lee said. "He had a double into left-centerfield at 114 miles an hour. That's the hardest ball I've ever seen a player hit to the opposite field. And then he hit a ball 111 miles an hour out of the ballpark to right field in his third at-bat today. So he's got extra-base damage written all over him."
Grice plays the same position in the field as Clemson's other two-way player, Davis Sharpe. However, Lee says finding each player enough at-bats shouldn't be an issue and that he considers having both guys playing the same position a good problem to have.
"You have a guy like Caden Grice, who is certainly in the mix to be a weekend starter, and he's also a premier power bat that can play first base," Lee said. "And you have a guy like Davis Sharpe, who is arguably the best two-way player in the nation in my opinion. They're big-time competitors and they want to help our team win in all facets. It's my job to pull the reins back on both of those guys to just make sure that I can keep them as healthy as possible throughout the course of the season. When you have those two guys at first base, I think you have a good problem on your hands."