Dalton Reeves' advice for any newcomers joining South Carolina next season
Dalton Reeves knows exactly what it’s like to come in and be the new guy on a team. He’s done it more than once as a two-time transfer in college.
Ahead of the 2024 season, Reeves transferred to South Carolina for his final year of eligibility. He was joining a team that was coming off a trip to a Super Regional. No pressure, right?
While he didn’t play much at first, Reeves eventually got his chance and never looked back. In his first start, he hit a pair of home runs against his former team, Presbyterian, on March 26. From there, he finished hitting .294/.370/.597 with 11 homers and 34 RBI in 119 at-bats.
Now that Reeves’ time as a Gamecock is over, he shared his piece of advice for the many newcomers that will be going through the same experience he did.
“The biggest thing is just get in and get after it. Don’t try and be the new, loud, cool guy or anything,” Reeves told GamecockCentral. “Just hang around the guys, get to know everybody pretty quickly. I mean, all of them, we love to have a good time. It doesn’t really matter if it’s your first day or your last day. They’re going to make sure you feel welcome, feel comfortable.”
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It’s been a hectic offseason for South Carolina to say the least. Less than 24 hours after the season ended, former head coach Mark Kingston was fired. This led way to the Gamecocks tabbing Paul Mainieri to come out of retirement and be the new leader for the program.
Since Mainieri was hired, it’s been nonstop work to fill out the roster for next season. The team has brought in 15 players from the JUCO ranks or transfer portal. That’s without mentioning all of the incoming freshmen as well, outside of PJ Morlando and Carson Messina, who will likely be moving onto pro ball.
Needless to say, next year’s team is going to look quite different. Although, there will still be some familiar faces out there.
“You might get a little bit of this, or they might say a few things, but it’s just because you’re the new guy. You see that everywhere in baseball,” Reeves said. “I would get to know some of the guys and find where you’re going to fit in the locker room. That’s a locker room that has a lot of fun, no matter who you are.”
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Reeves said while the team enjoys to have plenty of fun, they still have a job to do, which is winning ballgames. As long as everyone does their part, that’s all that matters, he added.
“As long as you’re a part of the dudes, you’re a part of the dudes,” he said. “I mean it doesn’t matter what you’re doing as long as you’re having a good time and you’re not kind of trying to bring everybody down. If you got their back, they’ve got yours.”
As Reeves turns the page to the next chapter of his life, whether that be continuing to play or whatever else, he couldn’t be happier about his decision to join South Carolina. And he hopes the new guys can have that same feeling.
“I can’t say enough about the loyalty of those guys,” Reeves said. “It’s a really fun environment, so get ready to have a lot of fun. But also come in and work your tail off.”
