C
Collyn Taylor
Guest
--South Carolina picked up a commitment last Wednesday from junior college pitcher Hunter Parks, who officially announced his decision on social media.
To say this is a big recruiting win for the Gamecocks would be an understatement with South Carolina plucking him away from a handful of ACC and SEC programs that were pushing hard for Parks’ services.
He’s a guy who played high school baseball at York before going to Florence Darlington Tech for two years before coming to South Carolina as part of the 2021 class.
As for what South Carolina is getting, he’s going to be widely considered a top 10 junior college prospect in the country, if not the best JUCO prospect for the 2021 class.
He has a fastball that tops out in the upper 90s, up to around 96 miles per hour and should get to the point where he’s consistently sitting at 95-96 miles per hour by the time he gets to South Carolina.
Parks also throws a changeup and a slider to pair with an explosive fastball with both of those plus pitches.
The biggest question will be if he even gets to school. In talking with him right after he committed, he definitely wants to get to South Carolina. That tends to mean a high price point for the MLB Draft.
Things won’t be settled there for a while, and a lot will depend on the build up to the 2021 draft, but it’s not a forgone conclusion he’s gone and could end up in school.
--I had the chance to watch Andrew Peters’ second appearance for the Blowfish this season and it lived up to the hype for a guy who came to South Carolina with a lot of fan fare.
He pitched just over an inning, giving up two hits but registering three strikeouts. In his first inning of work he allowed one base runner on an error and struck out the other three guys he faced.
The biggest thing for him was his fastball getting up to 94 miles per hour with a breaking ball at 77. In his first appearance with the Blowfish Sunday he was already up to 95 miles per hour.
For Peters, his biggest thing last year was finding his rhythm coming off Tommy John surgery and he never got the chance to do that with just a four-week season. He’s going to be a major factor in this year’s pitching staff, it’s just a matter of where.
He looked absolutely explosive in his outing Wednesday and just needs to continue to get reps against live hitters.
--We recently did a story on Jack Mahoney, who is part of the 2020 class and is coming to campus next month as a two-way player as an infielder and right-handed pitcher. He has the talent to impact at both positions but early in his career pitching seems to be the easiest way to get on the field.
Mahoney's still developing as a pitcher (as any 18 year old should be) but you can't teach low-90s on a fastball with command. Once he gets to campus he'll be able to really refine his breaking pitches and his changeup and has a shot to be in the weekend rotation by the time his career is over.
He can still play shortstop and play it well, but with George Callil still potentially returning, a junior college shortstop coming in and a few other shortstops on the roster it'll be harder to get on the field in the infield.
To say this is a big recruiting win for the Gamecocks would be an understatement with South Carolina plucking him away from a handful of ACC and SEC programs that were pushing hard for Parks’ services.
He’s a guy who played high school baseball at York before going to Florence Darlington Tech for two years before coming to South Carolina as part of the 2021 class.
As for what South Carolina is getting, he’s going to be widely considered a top 10 junior college prospect in the country, if not the best JUCO prospect for the 2021 class.
He has a fastball that tops out in the upper 90s, up to around 96 miles per hour and should get to the point where he’s consistently sitting at 95-96 miles per hour by the time he gets to South Carolina.
Parks also throws a changeup and a slider to pair with an explosive fastball with both of those plus pitches.
The biggest question will be if he even gets to school. In talking with him right after he committed, he definitely wants to get to South Carolina. That tends to mean a high price point for the MLB Draft.
Things won’t be settled there for a while, and a lot will depend on the build up to the 2021 draft, but it’s not a forgone conclusion he’s gone and could end up in school.
--I had the chance to watch Andrew Peters’ second appearance for the Blowfish this season and it lived up to the hype for a guy who came to South Carolina with a lot of fan fare.
He pitched just over an inning, giving up two hits but registering three strikeouts. In his first inning of work he allowed one base runner on an error and struck out the other three guys he faced.
The biggest thing for him was his fastball getting up to 94 miles per hour with a breaking ball at 77. In his first appearance with the Blowfish Sunday he was already up to 95 miles per hour.
For Peters, his biggest thing last year was finding his rhythm coming off Tommy John surgery and he never got the chance to do that with just a four-week season. He’s going to be a major factor in this year’s pitching staff, it’s just a matter of where.
He looked absolutely explosive in his outing Wednesday and just needs to continue to get reps against live hitters.
--We recently did a story on Jack Mahoney, who is part of the 2020 class and is coming to campus next month as a two-way player as an infielder and right-handed pitcher. He has the talent to impact at both positions but early in his career pitching seems to be the easiest way to get on the field.
Mahoney's still developing as a pitcher (as any 18 year old should be) but you can't teach low-90s on a fastball with command. Once he gets to campus he'll be able to really refine his breaking pitches and his changeup and has a shot to be in the weekend rotation by the time his career is over.
He can still play shortstop and play it well, but with George Callil still potentially returning, a junior college shortstop coming in and a few other shortstops on the roster it'll be harder to get on the field in the infield.
