A Breakdown Of The Infield For South Carolina's Baseball Team
We're just four days away from Opening Day at Founders Park, as Mark Kingston and the South Carolina Gamecocks will look to parlay last season's success into another deep postseason run. Fans are excited about the prospects of what this year's team could do, knowing that injuries greatly limited the ceiling of last year's squad.
Over the next few days, we will be diving into the different groups the roster comprises to give our readers an in-depth analysis, or a refresher, of who could take the field in 2024. Today, we're going to talk about the Gamecocks' infield.
Notable Returners
Catcher Cole Messina
First Baseman Gavin Casas
Middle Infielder Will Tippett
Third Baseman/Catcher Talmadge LeCroy
Carson Hornung (moving from outfield)
After losing just two starters to the MLB Draft this past Summer in Braylen Wimmer and Will McGillis, Carolina returns both of their corner infielders in LeCroy and Casas and most importantly, their on-field captain in Cole Messina. The strength of this group, without question, is their collective power at the plate, especially the pull-side when talking about Casas & Messina.
Both LeCroy and Hornung have excellent plate discipline and can get on base in various ways, and Tippett is probably the best fielder of the bunch and has gotten stronger over the offseason.
Notable Newcomers
Lee Ellis (HS)
Parker Noland (Vanderbilt Transfer)
Tyler Causey (North Carolina Transfer)
Jordan Carrion (Florida State Transfer)
Tyler Zedalis (HS)
The most notable newcomer in the infield this Winter is one that the Gamecocks are pretty familiar with: Vanderbilt transfer Parker Noland. Noland played in 192 games for the Commodores and set multiple new career highs in 2023 both at the plate and in the field, batting .277 in 231 plate appearances with an OPS (on-base + slugging percentage) of .822, nine home runs, 39 runs batted in, and a fielding percentage of 98.4 percent.
The other notable newcomer is Jordan Carrion from Florida State. Carrion made 103 total starts with the Seminoles over the past two seasons, and made his impact primarily felt with his plate discipline (2.02 strikeout-to-walk ratio). The biggest question that remains is who will start at both of the middle infield spots. It's fair to expect Tippett to take one place and the other be up for grabs between the transfer upperclassmen.
You Might Also Like:
- Baseball Coaches Slot Gamecocks In The Middle Of The Pack In SEC East Preseason Poll
- Ethan Petry, Cole Messina Discuss How Petry Has Improved Over The Offseason
- South Carolina Head Baseball Coach Mark Kingston Previews Upcoming Season
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