South Carolina baseball signee George Wolkow talks reclassification, MLB Draft process
When George Wolkow first brought up the possibility of reclassifying and coming to South Carolina early, Mark Kingston was all for it.
One of the Gamecocks’ highest signees in the 2024 class, Wolkow had a few reasons why he wanted to move up to 2023. And now that he’s a few weeks away from his next steps, he thinks it was the right decision.
“I started going through the process and I talked with different coaches, different scouts and South Carolina,” Wolkow told GamecockCentral.
“I really figured out there were more pros than cons to the decision. I’m super excited it worked out great. I was able to get all my credits without having to take any summer school or any online courses. On the South Carolina side, coach Kingston was super excited to hear I wanted to do that, especially for me to get on campus.”
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Wolkow, a top 100 prospect now in 2023, wanted to move up for either the draft or to start his college career sooner than if he stayed in 2024.
If he doesn’t ultimately sign a professional contract, he would head to South Carolina. Then he’d be draft eligible at 20 years old after playing three seasons with the Gamecocks.
And that decision will have to come sooner rather than later. With the MLB Draft two weeks away, Wolkow will have interest from MLB teams. He will have to choose whether or not to go straight to professional baseball or head to South Carolina.
“I think right now I’m just approaching it that no matter what God has a plan that I’ll go through. Whether I have a reason to not go to school and an opportunity to sign that’s more valuable than playing SEC baseball, I have a decision to make then. But my plan right now is to go down to South Carolina and hopefully win a College World Series,” Wolkow said.
“For me, I can only control so much about what will happen in the draft. I can’t force a team to love me. But it can only take one. It’s just falling in love with the process, going day by day and trying to get better. Whether the opportunity presents itself in July or not, I feel like I have a lot of great opportunities ahead to get better. Eventually, it’ll come.”
For Wolkow, he’s not dead set on going pro and has no issue if he does come to South Carolina.
“Really, making sure it’s the right opportunity developmental-wise with whatever organization it is as well,” he said. “I’m not a guy just selling out and reclassifying for the draft. For me, I’m completely fine going to school and coming out three years later. It’s got to be a great opportunity than an SEC education and time playing in the SEC.”
Wolkow is coming off a 2023 season at Downers Grove North (Ill.) where he hit .363 with an OPS of 1.211. He hit seven homers, drove in 32 runs and had 33 strikeouts to 32 walks.
That’s helped put him at No. 68 on the MLB’s top 100 draft prospects list heading into July. This summer, he’s playing in the Northwoods League and just recently participated in the MLB Draft combine.
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“The year went pretty well. We lost in a sectional semifinal a little too soon, but overall it was a great year. It was fun to play with some of the guys I grew up playing with one last time. After that, just getting up north. I feel like I’m just getting better and better,” Wolkow said.
“I’ve been playing in the Northwoods now for a couple of weeks. I’ve been barreling a lot of balls and having fun. You learn a lot from these older guys and I feel like I’m growing up pretty quickly. I feel like overall this experience coming up here has really helped me.”
If he does enroll at South Carolina, he could chisel out a role early as a corner infielder and lefty bat who has the frame to hit for power at the high-major level.
He picked the Gamecocks over a slew of ACC, Big 10 and other SEC schools. And he’s eager to potentially get down to Columbia.
“Coach Kingston and coach (Trip) Couch at the time were the first SEC school to reach out to me. I went through the process…I figured out South Carolina was the best opportunity for me. The business school there, being able to go in and get a degree in business is something I want to do. Then it’s the relationship I built with coach Kingston is something that I trusted would still be there by the time I get to school,” Wolkow said.
“Also, the facilities there speak for themselves being an SEC school and being the best of the best. Development-wise I felt like it’s a great opportunity for me to go in and compete and try to start as a freshman. As well as having a coach who trusted me and trusted the decision I was making of wanting to graduate a year early.”
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