South Carolina Baseball: Watch Gamecock commitment throw 98 miles per hour

South Carolina baseball begins its 2024 season on Friday as the Miami (OH) Redhawks come to town for a three-game series. Even with high expectations for Mark Kingston's team this year, most Gamecocks still have at least one eye on the future as some big-time talent could be arriving in Columbia for next year.

#1-overall prospect PJ Morlando is the gem of the class on offense, and Dalton Wentz and KJ Scobey are also getting some MLB Draft buzz as position players (Wentz is also a stud pitcher who keeps getting better and better on the mound). Pitchers Max McClellan and Carson Messina are real draft candidates, as well.

Amazingly two of these top prospects (Morlando and Messina) play on the same high school baseball team. The Summerville Green Wave have two of the best players in the country on their roster, and both young men signed with the South Carolina baseball program this fall. With Morlando and Messina both being so highly regarded by MLB scouts, it remains to be seen if they make it to school, but if they do, they could go on to become legends in garnet and black.

Messina's draft stock appears to be on the rise again as he has seen another bump up in his velocity. In recent days, Diamond Prospects posted a video of the senior right-hander hitting 98 on the radar gun.

Perhaps even more impressively, Messina was routinely hitting 95-97, indicating that the 98 miles per hour number might not be his arm's velo ceiling.

With nice velocity on his fastball, a hard-biting slider that sits in the upper 80s, and a frame that is built to hold up throwing lots of innings, Carson Messina is a big-time talent. If he goes pro out of high school, he will join a long list of former USC signees who skipped school, and Carolina fans will wish him nothing but the best.

However, if he makes his way to Columbia, he could be one of the most talented pitchers to ever step on the mound for the Gamecocks.