C
Collyn Taylor
Guest
The Gamecocks got a big piece of good news Saturday with Brandon Fields announcing his decision to remove his name from the MLB Draft, officially announcing he's coming to school and enrolling this fall.
This was something he'd been thinking about for a while, even discussing the possibility of summer school before Coronavirus canceled that which is a good indicator of guys coming to school, but this was a decision he made this week after meeting with the Gamecock coaches.
The coaching staff got a chance to pitch South Carolina and talk about some of the benefits he gets by coming to school. That really helped push things in South Carolina's favor, even though it was trending that way a little more this spring.
He and his family really like the coaching staff and think they can develop him even more to earn an even bigger signing bonus whenever he's ready to go pro. Even if he were going to get picked in this draft, he wouldn't see much of his signing bonus now with a lot of that money getting deferred over the next couple years.
As for what he's bringing, it's a guy who has a lot of tools to succeed at the next level with really good athleticism, speed and instincts to play centerfield and some serious pop in the bat. The biggest question is if that hit tool will translate to the college game and SEC pitching.
Regardless, this is a big, big win for South Carolina baseball in getting a really good, high-ceiling player to campus.
This was something he'd been thinking about for a while, even discussing the possibility of summer school before Coronavirus canceled that which is a good indicator of guys coming to school, but this was a decision he made this week after meeting with the Gamecock coaches.
The coaching staff got a chance to pitch South Carolina and talk about some of the benefits he gets by coming to school. That really helped push things in South Carolina's favor, even though it was trending that way a little more this spring.
He and his family really like the coaching staff and think they can develop him even more to earn an even bigger signing bonus whenever he's ready to go pro. Even if he were going to get picked in this draft, he wouldn't see much of his signing bonus now with a lot of that money getting deferred over the next couple years.
As for what he's bringing, it's a guy who has a lot of tools to succeed at the next level with really good athleticism, speed and instincts to play centerfield and some serious pop in the bat. The biggest question is if that hit tool will translate to the college game and SEC pitching.
Regardless, this is a big, big win for South Carolina baseball in getting a really good, high-ceiling player to campus.
