South Carolina baseball lands one of the top freshman recruits in the country

South Carolina landed a baseball commitment Tuesday night from 2021 shortstop/pitcher Drake Varnado (6-foot-2, 155 pounds) of Port Neches, Texas.

He visited USC Sunday. Perfect Game considers him to be among the best players in the country for his age group. Here’s part of the scouting report:

“Primary shortstop, fields the ball out front and shows athleticism to actions, stays low fielding the ball and does a nice job of getting on top of the ball with throws, ball comes out clean, nice arm strength and carry on throws across especially for grad year. Also pitched and shows potential as two-way; side step into delivery and gets tall on back side while generate some whip to arm action out front. Full arm action through the back working to a three-quarters release point, ball comes out clean and shows subtle life to fastball which topped out at 84 mph. Flashed 11-5 shaped curveball with depth up to 69 mph with similar release point. Righthanded hitter, begins with a wide base and a high hand set and back elbow at the plate; loads hands back at start of swing. Full and easy swing path through the zone and did a nice job of working the middle of the field. Shows quickness to hands in turning around inside fastball, shows a feel for the barrel and squares ball up well.”

Vardado is the Gamecocks’ first commitment for the 2021 class.

This story was originally published January 9, 2018 at 10:11 PM.