Baseball wasn't part of Landry Stamps' plan. Now he's committed to play at South Carolina

Baseball was never Landry Stamps’ main sport when he was growing up. He stopped playing when he was 11 years old and instead played as a quarterback in football.

Stamps wasn’t half bad either. He played at Keller High School in Texas, a state that is deeply ingrained in that level of football.

“I feel bad even saying that I was a really good quarterback, because it was in eighth, ninth grade,” Stamps told GamecockCentral. “But I was at some quarterback camps with like invite-only, with guys all over Power Five now. I wouldn’t say I was the best one there, but I’d say I was a pretty good quarterback.”

But two knee surgeries during his freshman year derailed those dreams he had of playing under center on Friday nights. He ended up switching positions to linebacker the following year, still intending to play long into the future.

Heading into his junior year, Stamps was all set to gear up for another season of football at Keller. At that point, baseball was more of an afterthought than anything. That was until he started messing around with a wiffle ball bat, which attracted the attention of Jason Moore, who played baseball at Tarleton State.

“He was like, ‘Hey, man, you’ve got to think about playing baseball again,'” Stamps said. “I was like, huh, interesting thought, but didn’t pay much attention to it.”

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Stamps’ mind quickly started to shift to baseball when, by random luck, Rob Stramp, Keller’s head baseball coach, saw him swing a bat. Stramp immediately liked what he saw and knew there was some untapped potential waiting to be discovered.

“He was like, ‘Hey, man, I can switch your schedule tomorrow if you want to come join baseball,'” Stamps said, recalling his conversation with Stramp. “And so I was like, you know what? I want to do it. I’m going to go for it. I always loved the game growing up.”

Stamps took up on Stramp’s offer and showed up to practice the next day. He didn’t have a glove or a bat; he just wanted to play ball. In the three years since he started playing baseball again, he’s turned out to be quite a good player, good enough for South Carolina to take a chance and offer him a scholarship.

“When I started playing, it was rough. But I was always pretty blessed to have a little bit of just natural baseball ability, I’d say,” said Stamps, who officially committed to the Gamecocks on Oct. 18. “But man, it was a lot of work, and still working at it, but it was definitely a huge difference from then to now.”

So how did Stamps go from high school quarterback with no thought of playing baseball to committing to an SEC program to play that very sport? After playing his junior and senior seasons at Keller, he earned an opportunity to play at Tyler Junior College, where he’d get a chance to develop plenty as a player.

“I needed to see a lot of ABs,” he said. “Just talked with some guys who kind of knew JUCO baseball, and they really recommended it.”

During his freshman year, Stamps slashed .321/.435/.495 with six homers and 35 RBI in 159 at-bats. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound left-handed hitter struck out 40 times, walked 28, and stole 11 bases in 13 tries.

“My power right now, and I think it can continue to improve, is a huge asset for me, but I also think I have tools that most big power hitters don’t have,” Stamps said. “I think I play really good third base, and I think I’m really athletic for my size. And so I think I bring a mix of power, but also kind of hit ability and athletic ability to play third base, I can play outfield and be a versatile player with real pop.”

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With the success he had, Stamps didn’t know if he’d be back for another season at Tyler. His coaches believed that if he came back for his sophomore year, he’d turn into one of the top JUCO recruits in the country. So he decided to return, but then South Carolina came calling and eventually offered him, leading to his commitment to the program.

“This place is special. They have an interest in me,” Stamps said. “I love talking to Coach Monte (Lee) and the rest of the staff, getting the call from (Paul) Mainieri throughout that time as well. This was all in the past four weeks or so. Honestly, going out on my visit, I was like, man, it’s a special place, something I really could see myself being a part of and really helping build something really special here.”

Stamps will be back at Tyler for one more season before joining South Carolina next fall. When he gets to Columbia, his main goal is to develop more into a home run hitter. Like all players, he also wants to be part of the team that helps the Gamecocks get back to the College World Series.

“I wouldn’t have committed to South Carolina if I didn’t think that was a place we could do that,” he said. “I think we have the staff and the resources to do that. I have 100 percent confidence we can go to Omaha and really do something special there.

“I want to be a guy who makes that big play in the ninth inning to help us win a game. I want to have that clutch hit against the rival, Clemson fans screaming at me, and I want to come in with that big hit and win the game for the team. So I want to be a big-time player that comes in and does something special and is able to be a part of something special at South Carolina.”

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