Coastal Carolina transfer pitcher Hayden Johnson details picking Gamecocks
When Hayden Johnson was being recruited out of high school, he felt South Carolina wasn’t the fit for him.
That’s despite growing up a Gamecock fan who lived in Myrtle Beach, just under a three-hour drive from Founders Park. Instead, he chose to stay home and play at Coastal Carolina.
“It was really close to home, so that was definitely a benefit to my family being able to come watch the games and everything. Just at the time [Coastal] felt like an amazing fit for me, and it really was for the past three years. I’m very grateful.”
Flash forward three years, and Johnson is set to be a Gamecock in 2027. The left-handed pitcher was the first transfer to commit to new head coach Kevin Schnall and the South Carolina baseball team in June.
Johnson was among a wave of five Chanticleers to announce their intentions to transfer to South Carolina on June 9, the day reports surfaced Schnall was set to be hired by South Carolina (he was officially hired the next day). He’s now one of eight players to announce a plan to follow Schnall from Conway to Columbia.
“We were obviously seeing stuff all over Instagram and Twitter. So among the guys, we’re all talking like, ‘Man, like this could be true,’” Johnson recalled. “Then we had a team meeting and calls over Zoom because some guys were gone, and he told us that was the plan, he was going to be going to Carolina. Then not much long after, it just kind of worked out. I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m definitely going in the portal and following them.’”
Johnson said the allure of playing in a packed Founders Park, combined with the trust and relationships he has with Schnall and pitching coach Matt Williams, made the opportunity of going to South Carolina tough to turn down.
“Growing up I definitely watched (South Carolina),” Johnson said. ”… I played here once or twice, growing up, for a tournament. I just knew the field was just incredible and the atmosphere here is just one of a kind. So whenever the opportunity came up, I was like, ‘Man, this is an amazing opportunity, why not take it?’”
Hayden Johnson’s Coastal career, stats
The 6-foot-5 lefty comes to Columbia with two seasons of baseball under his belt. In 2024, Johnson had a 6.54 ERA in 19 appearances out of the bullpen. But in 2025 he avoided any sign of a sophomore slump and had a 5-0 record with a 2.82 ERA in 24 appearances.
Johnson struck out 55 batters and held opponents to a .197 average at the plate. One of his best performances came when he struck out five batters in three innings of relief work against Auburn to help send Coastal to Omaha.
“I was being put into situations that were high leverage, so that made me feel good, knowing that the coaching staff really trusted me to go in those roles,” Johnson recalled.
Injury and MLB Draft potential
After a strong sophomore campaign, Johnson’s career hit a snag this past season.
Johnson had nagging pain in his throwing arm throughout the fall, he said. Eventually, he found out he had a stress fracture in his olecranon, part of a bone in the back of the elbow.
A preseason All-Sun Belt selection, Johnson was primed to be a pivotal piece of Coastal’s weekend starting rotation. Instead, his junior year was over before it started, and he didn’t play at all.
“It was rough not being able to just be there playing with the guys,” Johnson said. “I just took the role of being the best teammate I could possibly be.”
And that he did. Johnson said he tried to see the game from a different perspective while he was sidelined. He did his best to pick up players’ tendencies and “pick people apart” from the dugout.
Johnson had surgery on his elbow in April and is in the middle of recovering for the 2027 season. Johnson told The State he’ll “for sure” be good and ready to play for South Carolina next season. He said he’ll be able to throw a ball again by the end of July and aims to be throwing in live at-bats/games in December if everything goes accordingly.
Johnson is eligible for the MLB Draft in a few weeks. There’s a chance he could be selected, and if he is, he’ll have to choose between the pros or South Carolina.
Right now, though, he’s focused on recovering. And he’s excited at the thought of being able to help turn South Carolina’s program around.
“Things have picked up a little bit,” Johnson said of the draft process. “ Right now just the whole focus is really getting healthy. If it’s there, it’s there. But if not, go Cocks.”
