South Carolina Baseball: Tracking Gamecocks In The Pros
By Tradd Jones
In 2014, we have seen a lot of former South Carolina Gamecocks in professional baseball, from Minor League rising stars to current Major League stars. Here you will see some notable Gamecocks through the past week for their respective teams, starting with a couple of recent guys taking no time to flourish in the minors.
Joel Seddon
A Gamecock of two months ago is already piling up stats in his short professional appearance thus far, tossing 1.2 scoreless innings on July 13 with two strikeouts for the Beloit Snappers, Class A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. Throughout the week, Seddon appeared in three games, going 1-0 with 4.2 innings pitched, two walks and four strikeouts. So far this season in seven games, he has only a 0.84 ERA giving up an average of a hit per appearance with two strikeouts to every walk ratio.
Grayson Greiner
Like Seddon, Grayson is taking no time to get his feet wet with the professionals. Catching for the West Michigan Whitecaps, class A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, Greiner went 2 for 3 on July 10th, with a run scored, a walk and a strike out. This past week has been forgettable, hitting only .167 with an RBI, three walks and three strikeouts. His overall season numbers overshadow the past week, however, hitting .321 with two HR and nine RBI.
Whit Merrifield
Every Gamecock has a special place in their hearts for this guy, the walk-off hero that led to first National Championship in Columbia. Now he is tearing through the Minor Leagues and is up to AAA currently. Merrifield is shredding offensively for the Omaha Storm Chasers, class AAA affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. This past week he has been hot (3 for 5 in consecutive nights on July 7th and 8th) combining for a double, a triple, two RBI and a walk from the leadoff spot. Since last Sunday, he has compiled an average of .343 with 11 hits, five runs, two doubles, a triple, a HR, three RBI and four walks. All of that adding to a season total hitting an insane .370 in AAA in only 33 games. Call up soon?
Now onto the Major League where we all know who will be mentioned first.
Jackie Bradley Jr–Boston
In his second season with the Red Sox, it sure looks like the guy we all knew at Carolina is starting to show in Boston.
This past weekend (July 11th through 13th), Houston had to put up with Bradley going a combined 5-12 with three runs scored, an RBI and a walk. That weekend series was just a continuation of the whole week in which JBJ hit .369 with nine hits, five runs, three walks and two absolutely ridiculous catches in center field, both featured as “Top Plays” on ESPN and the MLB Network. Overall this season, he has stacked up a .227 average with 16 doubles, two triples, a HR, 26 RBI and a perfect 6-6 stealing bases.
Sam Dyson–Miami
Dyson is a name quietly being brought back out to Gamecock fans.
A key pitcher in the killer rotation that brought the first National Title to Columbia, Sam is currently pitching for the Miami Marlins out of the bullpen and doing some work, tossing two scoreless innings at St Louis last weekend with three strikeouts. The week and season has been dominant thus far for Dyson: throughout last week he appeared in two games, tossing 1.1 innings with a strikeout allowing no runs. In fact, he hasn’t allowed a run at all this season. In six appearances, he is 1-0 sporting a 0.00 ERA with 6.1 innings pitched while only giving up three hits, one walk and striking out seven.
Justin Smoak–Seattle
Welcome back to the show! Recently called back up July 11th, he went hitless in two games and although only hitting at an average of .202, he has his usual power with seven HR and 29 RBI. The All-Star break may be just what Justin needs to get back into the every day form at first base for the Seattle Mariners.
Steve Pearce–Baltimore
What a surprise Pearce has been for the fans of Baltimore. Behind the red hot America League East division leaders, Pearce has been on a critical tear, posting a .337 average over the last 23 games, starting in 21 of them and sending seven over the outfield wall helping Baltimore go 16-7 in those games. This is a guy who has played over 600 games in the Minor Leagues, and is now contributing heavily, hitting .319. Look for the trend to continue. Judging by the past couple weeks of baseball, there are no signs of the O’s slowing down.
All statisitics and info are from Minor League Baseball, Major League Baseball and twitter page @GamecockBasebll