New South Carolina baseball pitching coach Terry Rooney is reshaping his pitching staff.
After a subpar effort on the mound last season (largely due to lack of talented depth), the Gamecocks have brought in two pitchers from the transfer portal in Caleb Jones (right-handed pitcher, Winthrop Eagles) and Wyatt Evans (left-handed pitcher, Tennessee Volunteers) and flipped Vanderbilt Commodores class of 2025 right-handed commitment Luke Roupe.
On Monday, a third portal arm announced his pledge to the South Carolina baseball program as former Miami Hurricanes lefty Ashton Crowther posted on social media that he was on his way to join the Gamecocks.
SC let’s ride pic.twitter.com/Jikteiblk4
— Ashton crowther (@Ashtoncrowther2) June 24, 2024
Crowther, originally part of the high school class of 2022, spent two seasons with the Miami Hurricanes. He redshirted as a true freshman in 2023 and then had a tough year in 2024. Even with the struggles this spring, though, Crowther flashed some big-time potential.
Walks were Crowther's biggest issue as he allowed a whopping 29 free passes in 36 2/3 innings, a big reason for his ERA being north of 7.00 on the season. That control was a big problem as he had multiple outings on the year in which he threw more balls than strikes.
On the bright side, Crowther didn't give up a ton of hard contact, allowing just 4 home runs and 8 doubles on the season. When he was locating his pitches down in the zone (especially his 2-seam fastball), he induced a lot of grounders. There is something left that Coach Rooney can unlock in his slider, as well, as the pitch has a lot of potential coming from his 6'4" frame.
Crowther can touch the mid-90s with his fastball and has experience both as a starter and as a reliever. He will have three years of eligibility remaining in which to play with the South Carolina baseball program.