Where Mark Kingston and the Gamecocks stand coming off historic MLB draft
A historically short MLB Draft is over, and South Carolina baseball is stuffed to the gills as a result.
No current Gamecocks joined right-handed pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski, taken No. 31 overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates a day earlier, in being selected Thursday. Junior college signee Luke Little, a fire-throwing right-hander, was taken 117th overall by the Chicago Cubs, but that was it.
Because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s draft lasted just five rounds with 160 total picks, compared to 40 rounds and more than 1,000 selections in a typical draft.
As a result, many high schoolers, junior college players and draft-eligible college players, including ones with ties to the Gamecocks, will likely wind up in school rather than signing with an MLB team.
The resulting influx of talent could very well raise the quality of baseball, both for South Carolina and teams across the country. But it also has brought up questions of how programs will handle overcrowded rosters.
The NCAA provided some flexibility on that front Wednesday just before the draft, as the Division I council approved several relief measures — the roster cap of 35 players will be lifted in 2021. The number of players who may be on scholarship will be temporarily raised from 27 to 32, and the 25% scholarship minimum will be cut for one year as well.
The Council had already granted a year of eligibility back to spring sport athletes and ruled that returning seniors would not count against roster limits. South Carolina has four senior players who could return — pitcher Graham Lawson, shortstop George Callil and catchers/utility players Bryant Bowen and Dallas Beaver.
But there will likely still be issues — teams are still only able to give out 11.7 scholarships, and expanded rosters will still have to deal with playing time concerns.
Thus far this offseason, the Gamecocks have added a grad transfer — pitcher Jaret Bennett from Charleston Southern — and lost two reserves to transfer. With only Mlodzinski getting drafted out of the 2020 roster and only Little getting taken out of the incoming recruiting class, South Carolina is currently projecting to have 51 players on its roster this fall if all the seniors return.
That number is likely to change with transfers, and it’s still possible for undrafted eligible players to sign with a pro club for $20,000. Still, it’s a large group that includes two-thirds of this past season’s weekend rotation and most of the starting lineup, even if all of the seniors do move on.
The majority of those 51 players are pitchers. There was some pre-draft buzz around current pitchers Brannon Jordan and Thomas Farr and commits Will Sanders and Magdiel Cotto getting selected. With all of them returning/coming to campus, though, pitching coach Skylar Meade is set to have a staff with a lot of talent that might have been drafted any other year, even with the loss of Mlodzinski and Little.
And before the draft even kicked off, coach Mark Kingston got good news when his top-ranked high school commit — outfielder Brandon Fields — announced he was withdrawing from the draft completely and coming to school. Both he and catcher Alek Boychuk, who was considered a top-275 prospect for this draft by two publications but went unselected, were ranked in the top 100 nationally in their class and could also make an impact in the field.
All of that incoming talent now officially set to come South Carolina’s way could set up a busy summer and fall as players jockey for spots in the lineup and valuable innings.
South Carolina baseball in 2020 MLB Draft
Carmen Mlodzinski, RHP — Pittsburgh Pirates, No. 31 overall, Competitive Balance Round A
Luke Little, RHP — Chicago Cubs, No. 117 overall, Round 4*
*Signees in italics
This story was originally published June 12, 2020 at 8:46 AM.
