Monte Lee: Braylen Wimmer 'hands down the leader of the team'

People will make a lot about South Carolina’s large crop of transfer portal additions at the plate. But one of the biggest pieces offensively is a very familiar face. 

The Gamecocks lose most of their offensive production from last season. They do get back Braylen Wimmer–someone who’s impressing Monte Lee after the fall. 

“The first thing you see with Wimmer is just how much his teammates respect him. He is hands down the leader of the team,” Lee told GamecockCentral. “That was one thing you noticed early on. He leads by example. Braylen’s not a big talker. He’s more of a quiet guy. But the thing I noticed with Braylen early on is the intensity at which he practices and the pace at which he practices with.”

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Wimmer has been a mainstay in the Gamecocks’ lineup since he arrived, essentially a day-one starter who’s played in 110 games over two seasons with 522 career plate appearances at South Carolina. 

He’s a career .294 hitter for the Gamecocks but is coming off the best season of his career. After a solid summer in the Cape Cod League, Wimmer posted career-highs in batting average, on base percentage, RBI and walks. 

He slashed .312/.361/.466 with 35 RBI, seven homers while walking 15 times. Wimmer’s biggest issue has been striking out while he punched out 126 times in three seasons at South Carolina on nearly a quarter of his collegiate plate appearances. 

That’s an area, though, Lee’s seen a ton of improvement in the short time they’ve been together. 

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“Braylen Wimmer had the lowest chase rate on the team in the fall. That’s a major, major, major win for him and for me. You have a guy that’s that dynamic of an athlete. He had a super low chase rate this fall because he started to understand he can’t cover everything and can’t go up there and just swing at everything,” Lee said.

“He had to dominate the middle of the plate, and he started taking more pitches and he walked more. His hard contact rate was super high because he put himself in better counts to hit. The quality of his at-bats increased dramatically simply by focusing on his approach more.” 

The Phillies drafted Wimmer this offseason. But turned down good money to come back and be the anchor for the Gamecocks at the plate and in the middle of the defense. 

He also played a quality shortstop in the fall and could cement himself as a starter there with a good performance in preseason scrimmages. 

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“He did a heck of a job of not taking his offense on defense with him. That’s one of the characteristics of a leader,” Lee said. “He played shortstop the whole fall and he was just incredible on defense the whole fall. He never took an at-bat with him in the dirt. That was the first thing that stood out to me.”

The Gamecocks also ranked at or near the bottom as a team in most offensive categories. They will need Wimmer and the rest of the veterans to step up. And Lee is also planning to use Wimmer in a lot of ways to get things back on track. 

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“He wants to be very good in all areas of the game. He can bunt for hits, he can hit for power, he can play defense, he can run. He’s a very, very well-versed player and multi-dimensional player. This fall he wanted to be good at all of it. He was just a complete player,” Lee said. 

“That’s the thing that stood out to me. His teammates saw that and can see that in him, how he goes about his business every day. He’s very professional, very consistent, very quiet. He leads by example and is very well-respected in the clubhouse and on the field.”

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