Talmadge LeCroy injury update: Paul Mainieri shares alarming decision on South Carolina catcher

South Carolina will be without a key piece for the rest of the baseball season. Catcher Talmadge LeCroy has been ruled unlikely to play the rest of the way by head coach Paul Mainieri.

LeCroy will likely need a medical procedure to repair a hip injury. He hasn’t played since March 25.

“I’m afraid to announce that he’s probably out for the season. Unfortunate,” Mainieri said. “I met with him today and he got an injection before we went to Mississippi State, in his hip, and it just didn’t really help him much at all. So I think he’s resolved to having to have a procedure that’s going to have a six- or seven-week type of recovery, which takes us to the end of the season.”

LeCroy had a relatively limited impact this season for the Gamecocks. He has made 17 appearances, hitting .188 at the plate with six RBI. The future is relatively unclear for the senior, in part because eligibility is in question. Mainieri pointed out some of the hurdles.

“Now we’re talking about the possibility of medical redshirt,” Mainieri said of LeCroy. “He actually does qualify for it, but barely. I think he would have had to have played in 18 or less games, and he’s played in 17. That wasn’t by design, that was really just kind of blind luck. And then there’s another factor.”

As a junior, before he was impacted by the hip injury, LeCroy was a lot more productive. He hit .242 a year ago, blasting three home runs, eight doubles and a triple. He drove in 28 runs.

South Carolina would love to get him back at some point, especially with a healthy hip. But that remains to be seen.

“He’s going to make it. He’s going to graduate this summer, so he’s going to have to make a decision whether or not he’s going to play and go to graduate school or get on with his life,” Mainieri said. “But I think the season’s over for him this year.”