MLB Draft projections prove South Carolina baseball's struggles weren't about talent

37. 28. 12. 34. 27. 42. 37. For those unsure about what those numbers mean, those are the total number of wins each season for the South Carolina baseball program during Mark Kingston's tenure as head coach.

Those numbers are unacceptable (even when considering the 12-win campaign was the Covid-shortened 2020 season) and are why athletic director (and former Gamecock head coach) Ray Tanner fired Kingston last month.

Kingston finished his time in garnet and black with a losing record in SEC play, a losing record against the rival Clemson Tigers, a losing record in the SEC Tournament, and a losing record in the NCAA Tournament. He made 0 College World Series appearances, led the program to 2 of its 4 total non-losing seasons in the last 55 years and 3 of its 6 losing SEC campaigns in the last 28 years, and guided the program to more bottom-2 finishes in the SEC standings than top-6 finishes.

There has been a lot of disagreement over the past several years about what the biggest problem was under Kingston's leadership, but one thing is certain: it wasn't a lack of talent.

According to recent MLB Draft projections from Baseball America, the South Carolina baseball program is 2nd in the country in most current draft-eligible players on the top-500 prospects list. They also are 8th nationally in most class of 2024 commitments (the class signed under Kingston, including both high school and junior college players) on the top-500 list. Combining the two numbers, the Gamecocks have 15 players who made Baseball America's list, a number good for 3rd-most in all of college baseball.

Of the 15 current and potential future Gamecocks, familiar names like Cole Messina, Carson Messina, PJ Morlando, and Eli Jones made the list of 500 prospects.

There has been plenty of talent recruited to Columbia over the years. Unfortunately, for reasons that have perplexed the fanbase the past seven years, the talent on the roster didn't equate to quality production on the field and wins in the standings.

Carolina won 40 games just once under Mark Kingston—something Ray Tanner accomplished 13 years in a row to end his time in the dugout and something Chad Holbrook did in 3 of his 5 seasons at the helm—and, despite all of the talent on the team, only two players made the All-SEC 1st team under Kingston (Ethan Petry and Cole Messina).

The talent-to-production ratio was abysmal under Kingston, and that speaks to a lack of development within the program. New South Carolina baseball headman Paul Mainieri and his staff (Monte Lee, Terry Rooney, and John Hendry) will be tasked with fixing that issue. If a decent number of these draft-eligible prospects make their way to (or back to) Columbia for the 2025 season, the Gamecocks could be a solid team in the SEC in Mainieri's first year leading the program.

With the best junior college recruiting class in the country, a strong crop of incoming transfer portal players, a solid group of new freshmen, and several returning starters, USC has the makings of a team ready to compete for a Regional hosting spot next year.