Shilo Sanders explains his side of South Carolina baseball tryout situation
A few days after there was some social media drama surrounding South Carolina football player Shilo Sanders and the Gamecocks baseball team, the USC freshman gave his side of the story Saturday.
Gamecocks coach Mark Kingston, in his preseason press conference Tuesday, indicated Sanders would not play baseball this season. Sanders’ father, Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, later that day via Twitter offered some impassioned language about his son and the subject of playing baseball at USC.
Shilo Sanders played football and baseball in high school, and his father is one of the most famous of all time to play both sports professionally.
There was some reporting about the nature of Shilo Sanders’ tryout with the Gamecocks, and he tweeted Saturday to shed some light on his side of things.
“Just to clear things up, I was told that after the winter break I would have a tryout so I went home for the holidays and worked by butt off over the entire break,” Shilo Sanders tweeted. “I returned excited to compete and I never even got an opportunity to go on the field, put on a glove, field a ball or run bases. I hit in front of coach Kingston once and he walked into the cages on another occasion when I was hitting getting ready for the tryout. So the only thing I actually did for a tryout I guess ended up being me hitting off a machine and never actually practicing with the team. I don’t know what else I could have done to make the team. I’m not happy how this played out and the lies that were told but life goes on.”
South Carolina baseball started official team practices and scrimmages for the 2020 season this week. Opening Day is Feb. 14 at Founders Park.
“He won’t be on our team this year,” Kingston said. “He’s trying to work his way up on the football team. He’s a guy who has some baseball talent, and we’ve watched him take some batting practice, but right now he’s still full-time football.”
Deion Sanders’ in his tweet Tuesday said of Shilo: “He’s been working tirelessly to get ready for his baseball tryout that only consisted of about 30 swings in the cage which I have all the footage.”
It’s not unusual for USC students with baseball backgrounds — even if they’re not a football player — to try out with the Gamecocks. What each tryout looks like or consists of is ultimately up to the coaching staff.
Shilo Sanders is coming off his first season as a Gamecocks football player. The defensive back out of Texas redshirted while playing in four games and making one tackle.
South Carolina in recent years has had a few football players dabble in baseball, but they were all considered pro prospects on the diamond — and several were selected in the MLB Draft. That included running back Shon Carson, cornerback Ahmad Christian and quarterback Brandon McIlwain. Former USC receiver Kwinton Smith, a one-time 14th-round MLB Draft pick, tried out but didn’t make USC’s baseball team.
Offensive lineman Donell Stanley was a standout baseball player at Latta High. He tried out with USC baseball but did not make the team.
Last spring, Shilo Sanders tweeted several videos of himself playing baseball at South Carolina’s baseball account.
“I don’t want to try baseball — I want to play baseball,” Sanders told The State in the spring.
But he said he had not talked to Kingston at that point. According to 247Sports, Sanders “did not communicate his intention to play baseball until last summer.”
USC baseball legend Michael Roth offered some thoughts on the matter via Twitter this week: “30 swings seems like a solid amount based on some of the walk on tryouts I saw while at SC,” Roth tweeted. “I’m not trying to roast the kid but baseball is hard. It’s a craft. Guys that play in college and beyond have been fine tuning that craft for quite some time. Not many people have the “talent” to get back on the field when they want without honing that craft. And if they did, it would be immediately recognizable (less than 30 swings).”
This story was originally published January 25, 2020 at 11:07 AM.
