South Carolina baseball product earns MLB call-up

South Carolina baseball product Carlos Cortes is heading to The Show. On Tuesday, the Athletics organization (formerly known as the Oakland Athletics) announced that they were calling up Cortes to the Major League squad. Both he and outfielder Colby Thomas are heading to Sacramento to replace IL-bound Denzel Clarke and Max Muncy.

Cortes, 28, was having a career-best year for the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators. A switch-thrower (yes, you read that correctly), Cortes has played in the outfield all season and has swatted 17 home runs and 24 doubles through 71 contests. He also registered a strong slash line of .322/.414/.603/1.017 with Vegas. Now heading to the Big Leagues, Cortes is the 60th Gamecock to earn the call to the MLB level.

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Throwing from the left side as an outfielder, Cortes also has experience playing in the infield, where he throws right-handed. As he has been just a corner outfielder in recent years, he is expected to play there with the Athletics. He will join an Athletics team with a 42-60 overall record.

Cortes played two seasons during his South Carolina baseball career before becoming a third-round pick of the New York Mets. He stayed with the Mets organization through 2024. While in garnet and black, Cortes hit 27 home runs and was a Freshman All-SEC contributor. He spent most of his time in Columbia in the outfield and was an important piece on the 2018 Super Regional team.

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