What Austin Brinling can add to South Carolina next season

South Carolina added a relatively major piece to its transfer portal class Wednesday afternoon, adding North Florida’s Austin Brinling to the fold. 

It’s one of the first gets for South Carolina since the portal opened and someone that will help in a lot of ways next season. What are the Gamecocks getting? Let’s look.

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For starters, he’ll give the Gamecocks an experienced, high-level bat at the top of the lineup. He can serve as a table setter for a South Carolina team that struggled for consistency at the leadoff spot this year. 

The Gamecocks had essentially a revolving door at the leadoff spot for most of the season with no one really thriving there consistently. 

PlayerStats in leadoff spotStats when not leading offDylan Brewer53 AB, .245/.420/.396, 14 R, 6 RBI, 14 BB, 21 K, .367 BABIP98 AB, .245/.395/.469, 30 R, 16 RBI, 21 BB, 34 K, .305 BABIPBraylen Wimmer43 AB, .232/.327/.465, 10 R, 9 RBI, 5 BB, 10 K, .359 BABIP150 AB, .307/.417/.553, 46 R, 30 RBI, 22 BB, 39 K, .359 BABIPCarson Hornung34 AB, .147/.341/.265, 9 R, 5 RBI, 9 BB, 10 K, .174 BABIP80 AB, .300/.517/.463, 15 R, 22 RBI, 33 BB, 30 K, .429 BABIPWill McGillis29 AB, .276/.382/.759, 8 R, 9 RBI, 3 BB, 4 K, .190 BABIP48 AB, .292/.507/.729, 15 R, 13 RBI, 13 BB, 10 K, .250 BABIPMichael Braswell28 AB, .179/.281/.179, 2 R, 1 RBI, 4 BB, 7 K, .238 BABIP105 AB, .267/.391/.400, 16 R, 17 RBI, 21 BB, 26 K, .342 BABIPCaleb Denny26 AB, .038/.194/.154, 5 R, 4 RBI, 4 BB, 11 K, 0.000 BABIP119 AB, .269/.380/.437, 23 R, 29 RBI, 17 BB, 43 K, .392 BABIPTalmadge LeCroy3 AB, .000/.500/.000, 1 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 0.000 BABIP158 AB, .291/.421/.430, 32 R, 36 RBI, 24 BB, 40 K, .362 BABIP

Brinling brings a disciplined approach and a bat that can provide RBI opportunities for a middle-of-the-order that should include guys like Cole Messina and Ethan Petry. 

Brinling got on base in 50 percent of his 253 plate appearances this season with a 14.23 percent walk rate and a paltry 7.91 percent strikeout rate. 

He struck out on just 20 of his plate appearances this season and walked in 36 of those. That walk rate would have ranked sixth among regular contributors this season for South Carolina. Only Carson Hornung, Dylan Brewer, Jonathan French, Michael Braswell, Gavin Casas and Will McGillis were better. 

The strikeout rate would have easily been the best on this year’s team with McGillis (13.59) the only player on the current team below a 15 percent strikeout rate. 

That 7.91 number should go up given he will be facing elite pitching on a nightly basis. But South Carolina is getting someone who’s experienced with bat-to-ball skills and knows the strike zone. 

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He’s faced high-level pitching before, having started his career at Florida. But he did face the Gators, Florida State and South Carolina this season. 

In those three games, he went 6-for-15 (two hits in each game) with two runs scored, three RBI, one double, a triple, two walks and a stolen base. That’s a slash line of .400/.471/.600 with no strikeouts.

Brinling doesn’t hit for a ton of overt power–just three home runs this season–but slugged .540 with 18 doubles and has a .417 batting average on balls in play (BABIP). 

That means he can really give the Gamecocks an on-base guy who can spray the ball around and typically give the offense productive at-bats. He also stole 20 bases, something the Gamecocks can certainly use.

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South Carolina has lacked a true, prototypical leadoff man for a few years and the Gamecocks seemed to have landed him out of the portal Wednesday. 

Brinling is an outfielder and played primarily center field for the Ospreys in 2023 and seems like he can play there for South Carolina as well. 

The Gamecocks have a great defensive centerfielder in Evan Stone, although the sophomore has struggled at the plate this season. Whenever he plays, he’ll add a veteran bat to the order. And he gives South Carolina confidence in the field in either center or one of the corner spots. 

Regardless, it seems to be a very solid pickup for the Gamecocks who are not close to done in the portal. 

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