Jack's Mailbag Ep. 36: Answering your latest South Carolina baseball questions

South Carolina hasn’t gotten off to a good start in SEC play, dropping five of its first six games. It only gets tougher from here as the Gamecocks welcome in No. 1 Tennessee this weekend.

The series kicks off on Friday night with first pitch at 7 p.m. on SEC Network Plus. Before then, I’ll be answering questions from you, the fans, in my weekly baseball Q&A series, Jack’s Mailbag. This week, we’ll be discussing what’s gone wrong during the team’s current slump and how things can change.

If you would like to have a question featured in the next episode, I’ll create a post on The Insiders Forum at the start of every week, and you can ask your question there. Without further ado, let’s get into all the questions for this week.

WK: Who do you see at this point as the Gamecocks’ best options on the mound for a Friday, Saturday and Sunday start as well as for the late innings?

As of right now, I think Jake McCoy and Jarvis Evans Jr. give South Carolina the best chance to win on the mound. That’s why they’ll be starting the first two games this weekend. While he’s not in the rotation anymore, Brandon Stone is still going to be counted on plenty for the Gamecocks. He didn’t pitch too well in his last two starts, so it makes sense why Paul Mainieri moved him back to the bullpen. If McCoy or Evans can’t provide length, that’s where Stone should come in, and the hope would be that he can provide solid innings after either of them.

I’m also a firm believer that if this team is going to find success, Matthew Becker must step up. Without an official starter listed for Sunday, I’d like to see Becker get the start if he hasn’t pitched in the series yet. His numbers haven’t been great lately, and some of that probably has to do with the less-than-ideal spots he’s been called on to pitch in. I still think there’s more than enough time for him to get back to where he was before his struggles began.

Hampton Rhodes: Why has the pitching staff seemed to have completely imploded? Is it bad pitch calling? Umps clearly aren’t giving the “Greg Maddux” strike zone, yet our pitchers are continually nibbling the edges.

It’s been a rough recent stretch, there’s no doubt about that. Their numbers have inflated quite a bit because they’ve given up 48 runs and 12 home runs in the last four games. But I don’t think all hope is lost. For most of the season so far, I thought the pitching hasn’t been the problem. However, what they’ve done recently hasn’t been good at all. I don’t think it’s bad pitch calling because the pitchers don’t call their pitches. I think it has more to do with the quality of the hitters that they’re facing. As for tight strike zones, that plays a part in getting squeezed on some close calls. They’ve had to deal with that plenty of times this year. In my opinion, the talent is there. These pitchers have shown they can pitch well before. It’s all about making the right adjustments to better pitch against SEC offenses.

Hampton Rhodes: Why are our hitters continuing to swing at low and outside pitches? Umps aren’t calling them strikes. Look at Arkansas, their hitters are laser focused on the pitches between belt and letters, which umps are calling strikes, and ignoring low pitches. A very good hitting team. Can our players adjust?

I’m sure I’ll sound like a broken record when I say this, but hitting is tough. I think it’s the toughest part of baseball, let alone sports in general. In the SEC, it seems like a lot of pitchers are throwing mid to upper 90s with good offspeed. That’s why I think there’s been some swing and miss at low and outside pitches, as you point out. Then again, the hitters haven’t struck out as much as you might think. The most any hitter has struck out is 19 times this season. They can certainly adjust. They’re going to have to. But it did give me a little more confidence to see them fight back in the last two games, especially coming back from a five-run deficit on Tuesday. There’s still room to improve, though. More consistency.

MC21: Any “ear to the ground” insight regarding Gamecock recruiting? Despite current results, is our staff making inroads with elite talent?

The staff has done a nice job on the recruiting trail. They’ve been on the road a lot during the season, with some coaches having to miss games now and then. There are going to be some nice pieces joining the program over the next few years. The big thing I’ve noticed is that they’re bringing in a lot of in-state talent while also recruiting all over the country. So I’m excited about what’s to come in the future.

FADocCock: When hired, you posted a thread about ‘it all goes as planned, how do you feel?’ … I said at the time my worry was that if it didn’t get out to a great start and it became a rebuild, how hard would Mainieri work in recruiting to get it back up massive mountainside that is SEC baseball, given he could just go back into retirement. The argument was made that it didn’t matter much because he doesn’t recruit.

So now that we’re here, and it’s clear this is a rebuild… do you think this is an easy sell given what we know about baseball recruiting these days and how early it starts? Are these assistants going to be able to easily pitch playing for a coach who isn’t active in recruiting, it’s known he’s not a long-term guy, and this isn’t considered the program it once was? Or do you think this is going to be mostly about focusing on portal and JUCO for the foreseeable future? And how much impact does that have in terms of HS recruiting?

We’re still going to see South Carolina go after a lot of high school talent. It already has six commits for next season and 11 more set to join the team the following year. So players are very much still interested in playing for a coach like Mainieri. In some of the recruits I’ve spoken with in the past, one of the things that usually gets brought up is how impressed they are by his track record and winning everywhere he’s been. Now, I see how it could be tough for a recruit to decide on South Carolina because they may be uncertain of how long Mainieri is going to be here. But still, the staff is doing a good job in recruiting, like I said before.

As for the last part of the question, the transfer portal and JUCO will always be a factor when building a roster. That’s where you will find some real hidden gems and talented players. There’s so much turnover in sports like football and basketball that I don’t really feel that way about baseball. Of course, players come and go every year, but not at the same rate as other sports, at least to me. So I think there will always be a focus on that end of recruiting after the season ends. The way I could see it impacting high school recruiting is if it becomes clear that going after players with college experience is the way to go to build a winner.

Hobcawcreekcock: This Mainieri experiment isn’t going well at all. Did he not realize the mess Kingston had left him? Does he have the energy to flip this roster in the offseason? We are woefully short on SEC talent IMO. A few younger guys like Scobey and Hollins look like they are very solid position players, but I don’t see a lot of help on this roster for next season. Your thoughts?

It’s been 26 games. We haven’t even hit the halfway point in the regular season yet, much less the season in general when you include the postseason. It was never going to be a simple fix to turn things around with the snap of a finger after how last year went. I think the staff is doing the best they can with what they’ve got. A lot of the players are from Kingston’s tenure. So I look at this season as Kingston’s fingerprints still being found everywhere. As we move forward, that will obviously change as Mainieri brings in new players in future years. I like what they have with Scobey and Hollins. Those are going to be the corner infielders of the future. There are also some younger pitchers on the staff that I think can develop into solid arms. Since this isn’t a one-man job, more so the entire coaching staff, they will have the “energy” to flip the roster in the offseason. But it’s still very far out to look at the roster for next season.

_jtmathwig: What do you think Donati’s thoughts are on all this?

Probably like most everyone else. It hasn’t been a good start to SEC play. It’s important to remember that Donati didn’t hire Mainieri; that was all Ray Tanner last summer. So I do wonder what that means for the future in terms of how long Mainieri will be around. Ultimately, I think Mainieri will be able to get things turned around before he calls it a career. It takes time to build a winner, and South Carolina hasn’t been to the College World Series in 13 years. Much like how Donati has talked about working with Lamont Paris to get men’s basketball back on track, I think we’ll see the same thing with baseball. Mainieri isn’t going to be fired after year one. That’s just not a realistic or smart move. But I do think he’ll have the support of his new athletics director to put together an even better roster in 2026 and beyond.

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HopkinsCock56: Easy questions, huh, Jack? You asked for them – but thank you for taking our questions !! You don’t deserve this after having to cover the disaster that was Men’s Hoops this year.

We aren’t going to the College World Series this year (news flash, right?), but I think there is a decent team here that is really struggling with confidence against the better teams. That Sunday Oklahoma collapse really seemed to hurt this team mentally, even more than just one loss worth. If we can somehow get a little positive mojo, do you think we can become a decent 12-15 win team in the SEC? We are not world beaters, but we have some decent players. Thank you for your coverage, Jack.

Thank you for the kind words! I love covering baseball, so I’m glad you’re enjoying it. Look, it’s been a bit of a tough stretch for South Carolina, but don’t all teams go through them at one point or another during the season? I know it’s not ideal. That’s why the season doesn’t end after 26 games, just because a team is in a rut. Even if this weekend doesn’t go great, there’s still an entire second half of the regular season to go, plus the postseason. All it takes is one great game to get things going. Baseball is funny that way.

SirSpur12216: Am I the only one who’s more than just a little concerned by the fact that guys can’t consistently throw strikes and have serious control issues? Coming into the game and not being able to throw strikes, hitting batters, then falling behind and grooving pitches that get hammered is seemingly a huge issue with this team. Is that a miss in recruiting, development, or a combination of the two?

You’re definitely not the worried one. It’s never good when your pitching staff finishes with more walks than strikeouts. Going back to Tuesday against North Carolina, Gamecock pitchers threw 231 pitches, 108 of which went for balls. That means only 53.2 percent of those pitches were strikes. It’s tough to win when pitchers are consistently putting runners on base. Furthermore, they’ve been giving up a lot of runs lately, 48 in the last four games with 12 home runs. Going back to the offenses they’re facing, it’s fair to say that opposing hitters in this league are very selective and take pitches. So I think that’s part of it.

To answer the question, it’s not a miss in recruiting or development or any of that. I disagree with that. You’re talking about a 26-game sample size where pitchers are still figuring out their roles. There’s already been so much movement on this staff that no one has been able to settle into one spot that works best for them. It’s happened with a lot of different arms this year. This is a conversation to be had whenever the season ends and we have a full sample size to examine.

CarolinaD: Is Rooney a great pitching coach or a great pitcher recruiter? Seems like our returning pitchers have regressed.

Both. He’s done a nice job working with this pitching staff, in my opinion. The numbers don’t tell the whole story. But watching some of the pitchers from last year to this year, there have been noticeable changes and improvements. Eskew is a perfect example of that. He went from only having three pitches to now having five. He has the lowest ERA (1.77) on the team. Some arms have been hit lately, but they’ve been pretty solid otherwise.

I would also say the same for how Rooney has done as recruiting coordinator. We won’t be able to fully judge how that pans out until we see the next few recruiting classes take the field. But in talking with a couple of commits, they’ve had nothing but good things to say about him. I feel like that can be said in general about him. He’s good at what he does.

1Mcreekcock: Jack, do you care to offer up a prediction on how many SEC games this team will win…this season.

Not really. It’s hard for me to say. I don’t see them finishing .500 or better in SEC play, especially not with how they’ve started. I think they’ll win a few series the rest of the way. But it’s super tough and competitive in this conference to where I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a rough year. Who knows, though. Things can always get better. We’ll see.

Baseball1010: Has any hitter surprised you from early intrasquad to now? Has any pitcher surprised you from early intrasquad to now? Those that you thought wow to hmm?

Jordan Carrion has been a pleasant surprise. I didn’t know how much he would contribute this year, but he’s been excellent ever since he earned the starting job at second base. From the pitching, Jarvis Evans Jr. has surprised me with how he’s quickly progressed after transferring from Georgia. You could argue he’s been the team’s most consistent pitcher this season. I’m looking forward to seeing him pitch in the rotation moving forward.

Pepsicock: DH Saturday? Rain at around first pitch Sunday.

I originally thought the same thing earlier this week, but after checking the weather again, the chances of rain have gone down significantly to where I don’t think it’ll be an issue on Sunday. I expect them to play when they’re supposed to each day this weekend.

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