Gamecock baseball starting infielder enters transfer portal
The South Carolina baseball roster continues to be in flux this offseason as another player is leaving the team.
First baseman David Mendham has entered the transfer portal, a school spokesperson confirmed to The State on Tuesday.
Mendham started in 52 of the 54 games he played in this season and hit .243 with five homers and 28 RBIs. Before coming to USC, Mendham played two years at Connors State Community College in Oklahoma and was a JUCO second-team All-American in 2019 after hitting 14 homers and driving in 85 runs.
Mendham is the latest South Carolina player to leave the program since the season ended. The school confirmed infielder Brennan Milone was leaving the program last week. Jeff Heinrich, Michael Robinson and outfielder Noah Myers also have transferred. Pitchers Magdiel Cotto and Travis Luensmann and outfielder Brandon Field entered the transfer portal in May.
South Carolina has added two transfers since the end of the season — Missouri outfielder Brandt Belk and Appalachian State pitcher Noah Hall.
USC is expected to lose a lot of 2021’s biggest contributors to the Major League Baseball Draft, which will be July 11-13. Among those from South Carolina who could be taken include hitters Wes Clarke, Brady Allen and Andrew Eyster, and pitchers Brannon Jordan, Andrew Peters, Thomas Farr, Daniel Lloyd, Julian Bosnic and Brett Kerry.
Farr, Bosnic and Allen are ranked in MLB Pipeline’s Top 200 MLB draft prospects for this year. Clarke had a good showing in last week’s MLB Combine in North Carolina.
South Carolina’s incoming recruiting class ranks 14th in the country by Perfect Game, including three top 100 prospects. The top two hitters in USC’s class, second baseman Cooper Kinney and shortstop Michael Braswell, both rank as top 200 draft prospects by MLB.com and could have difficult decisions to make. Outfielder Thad Ector and right-hander Hunter Parks from Florence-Darlington Tech are in that conversation as well.
Kinney was named Tennessee’s Gatorade Baseball Player of Year on Tuesday and USC signee Owen Washburn was named Wisconsin’s Player of the Year.
The Gamecocks went 34-23 this season and hosted an NCAA regional for the first time since 2016. USC went 1-2 in regional and its season ended against Virginia, which went on to play in the College World Series.
Gamecocks coach Mark Kingston was given a two-year extension last week.
“We’ve started to talk, but obviously we’re gonna let it breathe a little bit,” Kingston said in addressing offseason change. “We’re gonna take all summer to really put things together and understand what we think are the absolutes that need to continue and where we can make some adjustments. It doesn’t happen today.”
This story was originally published June 29, 2021 at 1:23 PM.
