Erik Bakich reveals ideas on who could play shortstop for Clemson in 2025

The 2025 college baseball season is around the corner. Before that, however, the Clemson Tigers and head coach Erik Bakich need to make some major decisions around the infield.

Perhaps the most important defensive position, shortstop, is open this offseason for Clemson. Now, with the regular season rapidly approaching, Bakich has shared some insight into who will start there while making sure to praise his infield and its depth as a whole.

“The infielders, we’ve got some really good infielders,” Erik Bakich said. “Not just Jarren Purify but Trystan McCladdie has made a huge jump and he can play on the right side of the infield as well as third base. Then, Andrew Ciufo came back. He tore his ACL halfway through the year. We were 28-3 and I think he was going on a streak of 22 or 25 errorless games. He was really consistent. Just a Steady Eddy defender at short before he got hurt, but he’s back from injury and certainly a great candidate to play shortstop.”

Andrew Ciufo is a senior who is in his second season at Clemson after previously playing for Georgetown. In 27 games last season, he hit .280 with a .378 OBP and a .387 slugging percentage. That was in a season where he hit two home runs and had 16 RBIs. Meanwhile, he had a 0.955 fielding percentage.

For now, it would appear his strongest competition for the shortstop position is Josh Paino. A graduate transfer in his first year at Clemson, he played three seasons at California Baptist and spent two seasons at St. Mary’s, though his time there was disrupted by injuries. Last season, Paino hit .296 with a .377 OBP and a .535 slugging percentage. In 60 games, he hit 11 home runs with 38 RBIs. He also had a .974 fielding percentage.

“The other guy we got was the WAC Defensive Player of the Year Josh Paino. He’s also a great candidate that can play shortstop. Whoever’s not playing short can also play third as well,” Bakich said. “And then we have the emergence of a couple of other guys as well. Jay Dillard was hitting in our three-hole against the [Savannah] Bananas and Alabama when we played them this fall because he had really earned it and played well this fall. Then, we have a newcomer, a kid named Josh Castellani that has got a very bright future in this program. He’s one of those kids that you don’t know how, but you just know at some point he’s going to factor in. He’s going figure out how to get onto that field.”

Ultimately, that depth is a good problem to have for Bakich. It gives Clemson room to mix and match in the infield and find their best lineup options. It also provides depth in case injuries become an issue again.

“So, the infield is crowded at second, third, and short for sure. We also have lots of guys that can play first. So, good problems to have but we’ve got some problems right now in a nine-man lineup.”

Clemson will open its season on February 14th against Oklahoma State in Arlington, Texas.