Joey Wittig ready to come in and grind at South Carolina
Joey Wittig’s commitment to South Carolina all happened so fast, and it started with a mutual connection.
The right-handed pitcher, who recently de-committed from the Air Force, was working out for the Padres and the director of international scouting started talking with Wittig.
College came up. And Wittig mentioned he was still looking for a home and his family was moving to South Carolina.
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Kemp brought up Gamecocks pitching coach Matt Williams–who worked with the Padres–the two linked up and Wittig was in the class a little over a week later.
“When I saw the facilities and I saw the people in the weight room and I saw their football stadium and I saw everything was just like, ‘Yeah, it it definitely lives up to the hype of the SEC,’” Wittig said.
“I think just the coaches were really awesome and met Coach (Mark) Kingston, Monte Lee and Matt Williams. I met everyone. They were awesome people and they told me all about the school, the history, the culture, the baseball team. And it was all very appealing.”
Wittig came on his visit and committed incredibly soon after that trip, a potential instant impact arm in the 2023 class.
He’s already been up to 95 miles per hour on the mound as a high schooler. He has a quality slider to pair with it. Getting into a college weight room–he’s about 175 pounds now–can only help his game.
“I think I have I have some tools that are good,” Wittig said. But I can definitely be developed. They can kind of see the potential in my frame for the next few years.”
Wittig was a two-way player back home in California, hitting .354 with a 1.069 OPS and 13 RBI last season. Wittig obviously excelled on the mound, finishing with a 1.75 ERA in 12 starts with three complete games. He struck out 94 and 25 walks.
He only allowed two home runs in 64 innings pitched.
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“I think if I just get my head down and grind, I think I could do some pretty special stuff over there,” Wittig said. “And that’s the goal.”
He certainly got some looks in the draft, which wrapped this week, but ultimately chose college.
“I think there are just so many opportunities in college. Just missing out on the college experience and getting drafted, although it’s good for some people, I think it would be it would be great for me to just build myself and go to college and get that experience.”
The Gamecocks need pitchers to come in and make an early impact. They have to replace a bevy of production from last year’s staff that ranked second in the SEC in ERA.
And Wittig hopes to be one of those guys.
“I mean, it’s always good to see a program with a track record of putting guys in the league. Obviously, when you go in there that’s a huge, huge goal to work towards getting drafted get your name called,” Wittig said.
“And I think that’s a great opportunity for people to get some innings against the best baseball in the country.”
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