Jack's Mailbag Ep. 39: Answering your latest South Carolina baseball questions

As the calendar flips from April to May, South Carolina still has an uphill battle to get itself into the postseason conversation. But with three weeks left in the regular season, is it too late for that?

After taking some time off last week, I’m back to my regular baseball coverage, which includes answering questions from you, the fans, in my weekly baseball Q&A series, Jack’s Mailbag. This week, we’ll be discussing more of the Gamecocks’ season-long issues and much more.

If you would like to have a question featured in the next episode, I’ll create a post on The Insiders Forum at the start of every week, and you can ask your question there. Without further ado, let’s get into the questions for this week.

HopkinsCock56: Welcome back, Jack. Any chance, maybe with 10 SEC wins, the Gamecocks can get into the NCAA Tournament? Our strength of schedule has to be very high. Thank you, Jack.

Not a chance. 10 SEC wins wouldn’t be enough. Realistically, they would need somewhere in the ballpark of 12-13 wins. So we’re talking about them needing to go 8-1 or 7-2 over the final nine conference games. I don’t even know if that would be enough to get them in. They do have the 25th-best strength of schedule, which helps. But they’ve also been swept four times this season and only have one series win in SEC play. At this point, they either have to play flawless baseball and win almost every game the rest of the way or go to Hoover and win the SEC Tournament.

Hampton Rhodes: I find it astonishing how many double plays we hit into (announcers said 28 in SEC games alone, while Kentucky has hit into only 10 all season). What are the hitters told before they go to bat?

In 45 games this year, South Carolina has hit into 31 double plays. 21 of them have come in SEC play, which is the most in the conference. I don’t think it has to do with what the hitters are told, but rather what type of offense they are collectively. This isn’t a team that hits for a ton of power. They’ve hit 20 home runs, 26 doubles and three triples in SEC games. I think the problem is that they tend to hit the ball on the ground a lot, which leads to double plays.

Hampton Rhodes: I see Scobey, Hollins, Braland and Kaczmar as solid pieces to build on. From where I sit, I think we will need at least 3 outfielders and a 2nd baseman. Where are we with respect to recruiting those positions?

For next season, the current 2025 recruiting class consists of four pitchers, one second baseman, one shortstop and one catcher. The year after that, they’ll have a catcher, a few middle infielders and pitchers coming in. I do expect them to be very active in the transfer portal and fill the other voids on the roster. But I do think you’re right. They will be in the market for outfielders if Nathan Hall and Ethan Petry aren’t coming back. The same goes for second base. But I like the young core they have with KJ Scobey and Beau Hollins manning down the corner infield spots. Gavin Braland has gotten better behind the plate. Henry Kaczmar has easily been the most underrated player on this team. He went from hitting around the Mendoza line to hovering around .300.

Hampton Rhodes: From a pitching standpoint, what do you see as being the biggest issue? Looking forward to next year, do you expect to see a lot of turnover on the staff? Any flame thowers headed are way?

I think there are a few issues. I wrote a story recently that goes more in-depth to help answer your question. So I’ll include the link right here. But in short, some of it has to do with how the pitching staff is being managed, what pitches are being called, and facing quality hitters every week.

As far as next year goes, there are some arms on staff that I could see returning as pieces to build around. There are some younger pitchers that I think have potential. But much like with some positions of need, I do believe pitching will be a main point of emphasis in the portal. Paul Mainieri has spoken about it before that they need to recruit like crazy this summer. I expect that to be the case when it comes to pitching.

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Imiraz1979: To follow up on Rhodes’ question, will the coaching staff cut players after the season, or will the turnover happen from players leaving?

It depends on how many new players are brought in. They’ll have their high school recruiting class coming in, as well as a few JUCO players who have already committed. Then they’ll pick up some transfers to fill out more spots on the roster. There were a few players cut before this season started, so I think we could expect the same thing to happen again. Don’t forget, starting next season, the NCAA will allow for full scholarships for all 34 players on the roster. So I do expect some current players not to return for next season. But I think that will have more to do with their decisions as opposed to being cut.

9rushes18yards: Why has Roman Kimball not played really at all? I only remember one game; it’s not like we have ringers out of the bullpen. I think it’s ridiculous he hasn’t been given a chance.

Yeah, he hasn’t gotten many opportunities this season. It’s crazy to think he was a part of the Opening Weekend rotation last year. Now this year, he’s rarely pitched and has only been used when the game is well over. Whatever draft stock he had before this year is all but gone. And that’s unfortunate to see because I don’t think he’s been put in a position to be successful under the new staff.

Some of it has to do with the fall and preseason scrimmages. He got hit around a little bit, but it wasn’t like he was awful. Given the way this season has gone and how the pitching staff as a whole has performed, it’s not like it would hurt them to use Kimball more often. But I don’t see a point in doing that now. He’s only pitched five innings (six games) this year. I think he’s going to be better off entering the portal and finding a better opportunity elsewhere because it’s clear that it won’t happen here.

West Ashley Gamecock: Any chance Mainieri leaves after this year, or we lose our assistant coaches?

I think there’s always a chance that Mainieri could leave, just because he is 67 years old. But I don’t see that being the case. For one, even if South Carolina wanted to fire him, I don’t think it’s feasible right now since he’s in the first year of a five-year contract worth $1.3 million per year. So it’s not going to be cheap to move on from him. As much as you can flip a roster in one offseason, I also think he needs another summer to build the roster now that he knows what the players can do. So I think he’ll be back in 2026. As far as assistant coaches go, it’s always possible one of them winds up somewhere else. It just depends on what Mainieri is thinking.

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