Noah Campbell didn’t live up to hype in 2019. Why he thinks 2020 will be different
The patterns are familiar — a summer spent dominating the Cape Cod League, an encouraging fall and some preseason All-American hype.
South Carolina baseball’s Noah Campbell did that all last year. A disappointing season followed as the second baseman struggled in 2019 to a .239 batting average, 19 RBIs and a .378 slugging percentage with 47 strikeouts compared to 18 walks in 50 games. The player coach Mark Kingston said was the kind he could build his program around as a freshman instead had one of the biggest letdowns in a season full of them.
And as the start of the 2020 season approaches, the first part is happening again — Campbell was named a Cape Cod League All-Star again, showed out well in fall games and earned a third-team All-American preseason nod from Baseball America.
So how do Campbell and Kingston plan to break the cycle and get better results in 2020?
“I think we’ve tailored how we train him now more to what will benefit him. In other words, he’s a guy that needs to just spray the ball around,” Kingston said. “When you put a wood bat in his hands, he really didn’t think a whole lot about power during the summer playing the Cape Cod League. He just sprayed the ball around, took his hits where he could get them, and he’s had success.
“Here, you know, maybe it’s a little bit of my fault, as we’ve asked him to drive the ball maybe more than he needs to. And so what we’re trying to do is just make sure we understand the kind of player he needs to be, he has a good grasp of who he needs to be and how to prepare for that.”
That’s in line with what Kingston said throughout the fall after spending his first two seasons heavily emphasizing analytics, technology and more modern metrics — he wants to keep some of those principles and blend them with an old-school approach.
It’s a style that naturally fits with Campbell’s strengths as a twitchy, toolsy athlete who may not have elite power but can still hit at a high level. But Campbell doesn’t think he’s the only one who will benefit.
“I talked to (hitting coach Stuart Lake) and coach Kingston a good bit at various points throughout the year, just about what works for me, and they know what works for me, and I feel like they really tailored various things to help me,” Campbell said. “But I feel like a lot of things that helped me also help other guys, so I feel like it’s really worked out for us.”
As for what went wrong for him in 2019, Campbell honed in on one particular detail that “spiraled” over the course of the season.
“It was my stance. I was a little too narrow, and I noticed my stride gets to the same spot every time, no matter if my feet are two inches apart, three feet apart, two feet apart, it doesn’t matter. My stride’s always getting the same spot,” Campbell said. “So last year, towards the end of the spring scrimmages, my stance was getting a little narrower, and I didn’t notice that my stride was getting extra long. So that’s longer I got to be in the air when the pitch is coming, and my swing’s not getting off the way I want it to.”
That issue, Campbell said, made it look like he was lunging for the ball and trying to swing for the fences. Instead of identifying the problem, however, he tried to “rep it out,” spending more time in the batting cage instead of the film room.
The goal now, Campbell said, is to focus less on quantity and more on quality — he wants all swings, from batting practice to scrimmages to games, to be the same.
And for Kingston, the hope is Campbell won’t feel pressure to be the main engine of South Carolina’s offense. After working together for two years, the coach and player say they’re in a good place with each other.
“I don’t think we’re gonna have to ask him to be the whole offense. I think he’s going to be one of nine guys on any given day that can really help us,” Kingston said. “So, I think I think as a junior now he’s relaxed, he knows what he is, and I think he’ll have a good year for us.”
South Carolina baseball Opening Weekend
Who: South Carolina vs. Holy Cross
When: 4 pm Friday, 2 pm Saturday and noon Sunday
Where: Founders Park in Columbia
This story was originally published February 12, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
