South Carolina pitcher Connor McCreery enters Transfer Portal

South Carolina Gamecocks right-handed pitcher Connor McCreery has entered the Transfer Portal, according to On3’s Pete Nakos.

In two seasons with the Gamecocks, McCreery made 23 appearances, all of which were out of the bullpen. He has a career ERA of 4.56 in 25.2 innings pitched with 27 strikeouts to 19 walks. He also has a save.

McCreery’s final game of his South Carolina career came on June 1st against NC State. It was a difficult performance for him, only going 0.1 inning and allowing a run to score. That game ended up being the first of two losses that the Gamecocks suffered in the NCAA Regionals.

McCreery has played Summer ball in the Coastal Plain League for Lexington County. There, he pitched nine innings and had a 4.00 ERA. That came in three appearances, all out of the bullpen.

In 2023, Connor McCreery was on the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll.

Coming out of high school, McCreery was the Ranked the No. 10 overall and No. 5 right-handed pitcher in the state of New York. He was also a 2022 Perfect Game Preseason All American, Northeast, All Region 1^st selection.

South Carolina is coming off a season where the Gamecocks went 37-25 overall with a 13-17 record in the SEC. In particular, South Carolina struggled away from home, with a 9-10 away record and a 6-5 neutral site record. The Gamecocks made it to the NCAA Regionals after a deep run in the SEC Tournament. There, they won just one game before dropping a pair to get eliminated.

After the season ended, South Carolina decided to make a coaching change, moving on from Mark Kingston. He was replaced by Paul Mainieri, who enters the program with plenty of experience, having been a head coach at three different stops between 1989 and 2021.

The Transfer Portal and college baseball

The main Transfer Portal for college baseball opens in May, amid the game’s postseason, and runs for 45 total days. There is also another portal window that opens up in December and remains open for a total of 15 days.

Scholarship distribution in college baseball can be a challenge for coaches to navigate in the portal with NCAA Division I baseball teams getting between 11 and 12 scholarships to use. That’s less than half of the number of players on a team, leaving most players on a partial scholarship. So, amid player turnover in the portal, coaches must manage those partial scholarships and take full advantage of them.