One question looms for USC slugger Ethan Petry in 2025. The answer doesn’t really matter
The only question about Ethan Petry is what position he’s going to play in 2025. It’s a valid question. It’s also not all that important.
No one went to a Van Halen show so they could watch Eddie sing. They wanted to have their mind blown at the sounds he could induce finger-tapping his guitar. Anything else was gravy.
In a similar but far different way, Petry wows because of what he does at the plate. He was a preseason All-American because of his bat. He is likely going to be a first-round MLB Draft pick primarily because of his offensive power. He is South Carolina’s top player because he is South Carolina’s best hitter.
Which brings us back to the field. Petry will play somewhere — that is a given. And it’ll all be sprinkles on top of whatever he does offensively.
Perhaps it’s third base, where he’s been during recent scrimmages as freshman KJ Scobey deals with an injury. Maybe right field, where he started the majority of the time in 2024. Or first base, where he spent almost the entire spring. Or it’s a combination — a little first base, a little right field, a few innings at third.
“I think probably Petry’s long-term career in the big leagues is going to be as a first baseman, but he doesn’t care where he plays,” South Carolina coach Paul Mainieri said. “Whether it’s right field, first base, third base, that kid just wants to win.”
Well, Petry’s bat is quite the aid to winning.
Think about this: If he stays on his current pace, at the end of the season Petry will become South Carolina’s all-time leader in home runs … in just three years.
After slugging 23 home runs as a freshman and adding 21 last season, Petry already has hit the sixth-most home runs of any Gamecock and is just 19 away from breaking Justin Smoak’s program record (62 home runs).
Sure, Petry’s stats dipped a bit from his sensational freshman season to 2024, but that’s natural. Opponents had the book on Petry. They threw him fewer strikes. Dared him to chase. And, well, his batting average dipped because of it — falling all the way to .306. What a shame!
If there was worry that the baseball world had figured out Petry after a sophomore season that included 21 home runs along with 76 strikeouts, the 6-foot-4, 235-pound Florida native went to the Cape Cod League this summer and became the alpha of the best collegiate summer league in America.
He won the Home Run Derby and then finished the season batting .360, hitting 11 dingers, leading the league in five offensive categories en route to becoming the Cape Cod League MVP.
“You play every day and you can’t dwell on your 0-for-5 game,” Petry said of his experience on the Cape. “You go out there and you’re tired, not mentally locked in sometimes. You just give 100 percent of you, 50 percent, 100 percent of you, 70 percent. You’ve gotta go out there and try your best every day.”
How that mentality will show itself at South Carolina in 2025 is yet to be seen, but it seems to fit the themes Mainieri — who gets mad at his players if they bring up the weather — has brought to the Gamecocks.
Heck, Petry might be one of the strongest proponents of the 67-year-old coach, praising the discipline and work ethic Mainieri has demanded of his players.
To have Petry’s backing is massive. Mainieri, who spent 15 years at LSU, knew that when he decided to come out of retirement and accept the Gamecocks’ job. After he accepted Ray Tanner’s job offer, Mainieri’s first call went to Petry.
“I wanted to make sure he was still in the fold with us,” Mainieri said on the “Southeastern 16” podcast.
To Petry, that was never a question. No coaching change or anything else, Petry said, was going to tempt him into the transfer portal.
The slugger was actually at a Tampa Bay Rays game when he answered the phone to Mainieri introducing himself and explaining he was going to be the next coach at South Carolina.
“I didn’t really know who he was. I’m not gonna lie,” Petry told The State. “I wasn’t a big follower of college baseball in high school. … I was like, ‘Can I call you back because I’m at a Rays game.’ Then I look him up and he’s got the prestigious awards and everything. I was like, ‘This guy is perfect for the job.’ ”
So far, he has been. It helps that his best player bought in immediately.
USC baseball early schedule
- Feb. 14 vs. Sacred Heart, 4 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- Feb. 15 vs. Sacred Heart, 2 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- Feb. 16 vs. Sacred Heart, Noon (SEC Network Plus)
- Feb. 18 at Winthrop, 4 p.m. (ESPN+)
- Feb. 19 vs. Queens, 4 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- Feb. 21 vs. Milwaukee, 4 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- Feb. 22 vs. Milwaukee, 2 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- Feb. 23 vs. Milwaukee, 1:30 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
This story was originally published February 4, 2025 at 8:00 AM.
