Earlier this week, Baseball America released its Top 400 prospects for the upcoming MLB Draft. The list includes four members of the current Carolina roster, as well as nearly half of its 2020 recruiting class. In a typical draft year, we’d probably see all of these players selected within the first 15 rounds or so, which would significantly affect how roster looks like heading into 2021.
This year is different, though. With the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down College and Major League Baseball, a decision was made to shorten the draft to as few as five rounds. That means less than 200 players would hear their names called. The shortened draft will have a large impact on the landscape of college baseball heading into next season.
Let’s start with the players that are currently on Carolina’s roster. The four who made the cut are RHP Carmen Mlodzinski, RHP Thomas Farr, RHP Brannon Jordan, and INF Noah Campbell. Mlodzinski is considered a first-round talent, coming in at No. 25 on the Baseball America rankings, so we probably won’t see him back in a Gamecock uniform. The other three, however, may be on the outside looking in. Farr (No. 237), Jordan (No. 271), and Campbell (No. 327) all rank outside the top 200, so there’s a strong possibility that all three return to Columbia next season.
The recruiting class is where you’ll see even more of an effect. Head coach Mark Kingston has put together a top 15 class, and there are currently eight players listed in that top 400.
LHP Luke Little, a 6’ 8” JUCO prospect from San Jacinto Community College, is the jewel of the class, ranking as the 119th-best draft prospect. Little is followed by OF Brandon Fields (No. 135), LHP Jackson Phipps (No. 165), and RHP Will Sanders (No. 189), who all crack the top 200.
These four players may be faced with a decision between continuing on to a college career, or pursuing the MLB.
The rest of the class listed on the draft board includes LHP Magdiel Cotto (No. 212), C Alex Boychuk (No. 254), INF Jalen Vasquez (No. 306), and OF Josh Shuler (No. 400).
If we see more than half of those eight players in a Gamecock uniform, it will be a huge win for coach Kingston and his staff. Carolina is in search of left-handed pitching, and this class could fill that need. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out in July.
In the shortened 2020 season, South Carolina stood at 12-4 right before the SEC portion of the schedule was set to start. Look for most of these players to be in the Carolina dugout when the first pitch is thrown next year.