Future Gamecock launches bombs in high school home run derby at MLB All-Star Game

Tyler Callihan can mash baseballs in an MLB stadium.

Now, South Carolina fans have to hope they’ll get to see him do the same at Founders Park.

The class of 2019 commit to the Gamecocks took part in the High School Home Run Derby at the MLB All-Star Game in Washington D.C. on Sunday, and came in a tie for fourth among eight competitors.

Callihan, a resident of Jacksonville, Florida, smacked 21 home runs in the competition, five short of the top two, who will face off in the final on Monday during the nationally-televised MLB Home Run Derby.

The dimensions at Nationals Park, where Callihan and his fellow competitors were hitting, are roughly 10 feet deeper down the lines and deep center when compared to Founders Park, where the left and right field walls are 325 feet from home base down the lines, with dead center at 390 feet.

Callihan has been committed to South Carolina baseball for almost two years now, but his MLB draft stock has spiked as of late, with Baseball American listing him as one of the 10 best high school prospects for the 2019 draft. In the 2018 draft, 10 of the first 19 picks were high schoolers.

Also in the class of 2018, USC and coach Mark Kingston had three of their six signees decide to turn professional, with all three going in the top 11 rounds.

Kingston has more than a dozen commits for this upcoming class, which ranks 23rd in the nation, according to Perfect Game. He’s also recently added to the class of 2020 with two top-100 recruits