South Carolina baseball: portal notes as dead period ends Wednesday
After a littel bit of downtime, South Carolina baseball and portal recruiting is about to kick back up again in a big way.
The dead period ends July 5 and college programs will be able to begin hosting prospects again starting Thursday. The Gamecocks already have a few visits lined up over the course of the next few days.
–South Carolina’s staff will have a virtual visit with Canisius right-handed pitcher Matt Duffy, a newer name to the recruiting board. Duffy was the MAAC Pitcher of the Year with a 4.13 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP in 80.2 innings this year. He struck out 119 over 14 starts to just 28 walks. Duffy did give up a few extra-base hits (12 homers). But he could compete for starter innings or, at worst, be a high-leverage bullpen arm.
Duffy is pitching this summer in the Cape Cod league. In 14.1 innings (three starts) he has a 1.88 ERA and a 0.907 WHIP. Duffy’s struck out 16 with four walks for Bourne. Duffy is draft eligible, and could ultimately be selected in the MLB Draft.
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–The Gamecocks will also get Miami right-hander Karson Ligon on campus for a visit over the weekend. He’s someone South Carolina immediately showed interest in once he went into the portal. He’s talked with two Gamecocks coaches, including head coach Mark Kingston, within a day or so of entering the portal.
Injuries limited Ligon to just 50.1 innings this season. But he finished with a 4.82 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP in 10 starts. He only walked nine percent of batters he faced while striking out 16.7 percent. A high-level guy like Ligon will get a ton of Power 5 interest. But South Carolina being in the first wave of visits is a good thing. He’s another person who could compete immediately for a weekend starter role in 2024.
–One guy who could be very close to making a decision is Dominic Niman, who the Gamecocks are pushing hard for. Going into the weekend, it seemed like Georgia was the school most detrimental to South Carolina’s chances based on a few conversations. The Bulldogs are breaking in a new coach–Wes Johnson, who helped build the LSU national title pitching staff–and there are personal connections with Niman at Georgia.
But speaking with someone connected at Kentucky, the Wildcats feel like they’re in the top two of Niman’s recruitment along with South Carolina. Time will tell where Niman goes. But South Carolina is still firmly in the mix with now the Wildcats making a push.
Kentucky is coming off a similar season to South Carolina, a 40-win year that ended in a Super Regional. The Wildcats are also going to need to find a few more arms for its staff next year like the Gamecocks are. Alabama was the other school most connected with Niman outside of South Carolina, Kentucky and Georgia.
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–As it stands right now, South Carolina is close to done with its offensive portal class. At most, there will be one more addition either a Billy Amick or potentially another bat. The attention largely turns to the pitching, which is confirmed by who the Gamecocks are bringing on visits after the dead period.
The Gamecocks are looking for quality arms to try and round out the staff and help bolster a staff set to lose a ton of production from last season.
The draft–which runs from Sunday through Tuesday–could change South Carolina’s approach based on who and which spots the staff targets.
–A few notes as well, but Xavier’s Ethan Bosacker committed to Oklahoma State Wednesday. Bosacker is a draft risk there for the Cowboys and was on the Gamecocks’ radar. But nothing ultimately came from it on either side. East Carolina’s Jordan Little–who had some South Carolina interest–committed to Virginia Tech. Little has a very live arm, although he didn’t put up great numbers in his time at ECU. The Gamecocks have a ton of more veteran arms with track records on the board, too.
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