Paul Mainieri's one lingering concern as South Carolina fall practice begins

Early into Paul Mainieri’s tenure at South Carolina, catching was a big concern for him. He knew it early on last fall, and then it continued to be an issue throughout the entire season in 2025.

But even after an entire summer of recruiting, which saw the Gamecocks upgrade this once-weak spot, Mainieri still feels the same way he did a year ago. He’s still just as concerned about the catcher position.

“It’s still a concern of mine, quite frankly,” Mainieri said on Monday ahead of South Carolina’s first day of fall practice.

In the months after last season ended, South Carolina added two catchers from the transfer portal in Reese Moore from Iowa and Jake Randolph from Presbyterian. Both put up respectable performances at their previous schools and gave the team an immediate facelift at a position of need.

That problem was and still has been seemingly addressed, at least it has been on paper. There’s one issue, though. Neither Moore nor Randolph will be available at the start of fall ball, as Mainieri revealed they’re recovering from various injuries.

“Unfortunately, Reese Moore and Jake Randolph have a little bit of knee situations that we’re dealing with right now, so they’re actually not capable of practicing and haven’t been for about a week,” the second-year coach said. “So we’ll see what the tests show on them. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious.”

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Mainieri said Moore’s injury occurred during a drill where the catchers were throwing to the bases. He felt something awkward in his knee, which forced Mainieri to shut him down for the time being.

Randolph is dealing with more of a hamstring injury, according to Mainieri. But he does feel that it won’t be anything that keeps him out for more than a couple of days.

This now leaves South Carolina in a similar spot to last year. The Gamecocks currently have two healthy catchers, Talmadge LeCroy and Gavin Braland, both of whom return for another season with the program.

“Thank goodness Talmage LeCroy is back. We limited our recruiting because of him coming back,” Mainieri said. “So had he not come back, we’d probably have an additional new catcher. But Talmadge is looking fine. Gavin Braland has gotten a lot stronger, and I think he’s a good receiver. I think he’s a gritty kid. He doesn’t hit for a lot of power, but puts a bat on the ball.”

LeCroy entered 2025 as the team’s starting catcher, but he only played in 17 games as a hip injury ended his season early. In the games that he played in, he hit .188 with nine hits in 48-at bats. Since he missed so much time, he actually qualified for a redshirt and returns for his fifth and final season as a Gamecock.

When LeCroy went down, Braland stepped in and became the everyday catcher, starting in 28 games as a freshman. He mostly struggled, though, as he hit .198 in 86 at-bats and allowed 45 stolen bases in 48 attempts.

While being down two catchers isn’t ideal, it’s very early in fall with plenty of time for Moore and Randolph to return, but more importantly, Opening Day is over four months away. Still, it’s a position that Mainieri says has caused him to lose sleep every night.

“I always tell people, you know, when you’re old, there’s advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantages are obvious. The advantages are that you’ve been through everything,” he said. “One year, when I was coaching earlier in my career, I remember we went through three catchers in a five-day period. So you can never have enough quality catching in my mind.”

At least for the time being, though, this will be an opportunity for LeCroy and Braland to take advantage of while the two newcomers get healthy.

“Talmadge looks better and Gavin looks better as well,” Mainieri said. “So those are our guys, and we’re gonna go with them.”

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