This offseason, new South Carolina baseball coach Paul Mainieri and his staff of assistant coaches Monte Lee, Terry Rooney, and John Hendry, have been involved with a large number of players from the transfer portal.
Pitchers Caleb Jones (Winthrop Eagles), Wyatt Evans (Tennessee Volunteers), and Ashton Crowther (Miami Hurricanes) and position players Jase Woita (Kansas City Kansas Community College Blue Devils), Dalton Mashore (St. Mary's Gaels), Cayden Gaskin (Northwest Florida State College Raiders) all have committed to the Gamecocks in recent weeks as transfer portal players.
It is expected that Carolina will continue mining the portal for players who can help immediately in 2025, and after picking up a commitment earlier in the day on Monday (pitcher Ashton Crowther), it only took a few more hours for Coach Mainieri's team to receive another pledge.
On Monday night, former Clemson Tiger outfielder Nathan Hall announced his transfer portal commitment to the South Carolina baseball program.
New opportunity🐔 🤙 pic.twitter.com/ci5KYuH6mA
— Nathan Hall (@nathanhall_22) June 25, 2024
Hall will join the South Carolina Gamecocks after spending two years with their arch rivals.
In his two seasons at Clemson, Hall has spent time as a starter and as a bench player, and he has played right field as his primary position. Coming out of Lexington High School, Hall was a top-500 national prospect and had played almost every position on the diamond at some point during his prep career.
Hall was recruited to that team in the Upstate by Monte Lee back when Lee was the head coach of the Tigers. Now, with Lee firmly entrenched as the top assistant and (potentially the head coach in waiting), Hall is going to get a chance to play for Lee for the first time.
A right-handed bat with decent speed, Hall hasn't had a ton of offensive success so far in college, but his athleticism and defensive versatility could make him a valuable piece of next year's team in Columbia. If he can be a passable hitter, he will compete for playing time somewhere on the diamond.