NC State baseball roster prospectus: Infield

With the MLB Draft now in the books and the transfer portal activity starting to slow, NC State baseball is beginning to get an idea of how the roster is shaping up. The infield will have a new look next season. Three departures via graduation and transfer mandates that.

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NC State Baseball Infield Prospectus

Two primary starters are back, including versatile star LuJames “Gino” Groover III. Last season, Groover led NC State baseball with a .364 batting average and .440 on-base percentage while also topping the Pack with 86 hits. He added 10 home runs 16 doubles and a triple in 236 plate appearances.

Groover has the capability of starting in multiple positions but played primarily first base last season.

In his freshman season, Payton Green started all 57 games, one of just three players for NC State baseball to do so. The touted prospect batted .256 in 207 at bats with seven homers, 12 doubles and a pair of triples. He also led NC State with 10 stolen bases, never once getting caught.

Fielding, however, will be where Green will seek the most improvement. He led NC State with 16 errors in 2022. Struggles with the glove led Green to be moved from shortstop to third base.

Gone via the MLB draft is another player who started all 57 games and switched with Green from third to short — Josh Hood. Hood batted .268 with 13 homers and was second on the team with 52 runs batted in (RBI).

At second base, J.T. Jarrett finally exhausted his eligibility. The strong defensive performer hit .258 with six homers in 2022.

Also leaving with much disappointment among NC State baseball fans was star infielder/designated hitter Tommy White, who set a NCAA record for homers by a freshman with 27. White announced he was transferring to LSU during the offseason.

However, NC State baseball had made some potential transfer additions on the infield, notably potentially versatile Old Dominion star Carter Trice.

Trice played all over the field last season as a sophomore, starting 34 games in right field, 13 at second base, three in left field and one at designated hitter. Given the stacked outfield for NC State, one wonders if second base is where Trice is best suited next season in Raleigh.

Trice recorded a .288 batting average, belted 17 home runs, including a pair of grand slams, and stole 18 bases in 2022. He added 49 RBI and 13 doubles while landing a spot on the All-Conference USA second team.

Trice was named to the Collegiate Baseball All-America second team and the Freshman All-America team after leading the Monarchs in batting average at .355 and hits with 83 in 2021. Perfect Game Baseball also awarded Trice with a Freshman All-America First Team selection. 

Texas A&M shortstop Kalae Harrison will also join NC State. Harrison started all 56 games at shortstop for Texas A&M in 2021, his freshman season. He batted .224 with a couple of homers and 26 RBI while scoring 25 runs. He also had five doubles and walked 23 times for a .311 on-base percentage. In the field, Harrison had a .943 fielding percentage and led the team with 120 assists while committing 11 errors.

A back injury limited Harrison to just 19 games, 13 of them starts, in 2022. He was 6 of 37 at the plate with a pair of doubles and 4 RBI. He had an impressive .962 fielding percentage. Texas A&M reached the College World Series this year.

A couple of returning wildcards to watch include Carson Falsken and DeAngelo Giles. The former impressed NC State baseball coaches in 2021, but on a loaded squad that made the College World Series, Falsken made just 10 appearances with two starts. He then missed 2022 with an injury.

Falsken, though, is a good athlete who was a football standout in high school in addition to setting a single-season record for stolen bases in a season (26) for southern California high schools.

Giles is another who has earned praise from NC State coaches since arriving in 2020 but has had to wait behind crowded infields. In 11 at bats in 2022, Giles had three hits — two homers and a double.

NC State baseball also signed aIsaiah Barkett. The son of former NC State baseball player and current Chicago White Sox hitting coordinator Andy Barkett, is rated No. 337 by Perfect Game nationally. He hails from Oviedo, Fla.