South Carolina Baseball: How Will MLB Draft Effect Gamecocks?
By Jacob Elsey
The MLB draft starts tonight at 7pm. Where will South Carolina baseball players and recruits land?
There hasn’t been a professional game played this year but the Major League Baseball draft will air tonight at 7 pm. The draft has been cut from 40 rounds to just five amid the Coronavirus pandemic, which will have a huge effect on both college players making decisions to return to school, and recruits choosing whether they should sign with a university or test the professional waters.
This year, a total of only 160 players will be selected. Undrafted players will be able to sign for a maximum of $20,000, which may deter high schoolers from heading to the minor leagues. Instead, many are expected to sign letters of intent with a university of their choice.
That relates to the Gamecocks as well. They’ve already seen some effect on their recruiting class, as highly sought-after outfielder Brandon Fields has opted to enroll at South Carolina rather than enter the draft. He had been projected by Baseball America as the 135th best draft-eligible prospect.
Others in the recruiting class that might have a decision to make include junior college pitcher Luke Little (No. 119), left-handed pitcher Jackson Phipps (No. 165), and right-handed pitcher Will Sanders (No. 189).
Draft-eligible players on the roster include Carmen Mlodzinski, Noah Campbell, Thomas Farr, and Brannon Jordan. Mlodzinski will likely be taken over the first two rounds, meaning he’s probably be moving on, but Campbell, Farr, and Jordan may not have that luxury.
In a normal draft year, those players may have been taken among the top ten rounds, where they’d have a decision to make regarding their collegiate future. In this shortened draft, though, they may have to wait another season for that opportunity.
Should the majority of the recruiting class and roster players return, it could bode well for the Gamecocks. South Carolina’s class currently sits at seventh in the country according to PerfectGame.com. Should most decide to enroll, in particular, those highly-rated pitchers, coach Mark Kingston could have his most talented roster since taking over the program in 2017.
The draft will air tonight on ESPN (Round 1), and will continue tomorrow on ESPN2 (Rounds 2-5). We’ll keep you up to date on both Gamecock targets and current players as the draft transpires over the next two days.