Joey Holcomb shares what his offensive approach will look like at South Carolina
Baseball is an ever-changing game. It’s nowhere near what it used to be. Pitchers are throwing harder and hitting is as good as its ever been.
Someone who understands this well is South Carolina’s newest assistant coach, Joey Holcomb. He knows he must adapt to today’s game. Otherwise, it’ll leave him behind.
“I think when you’re establishing a lineup with today’s college game, and the arms becoming what they are, it’s hard to score a lot of runs and walk out of the stadium with 15, 16, 17 hits,” Holcomb said. “Those days are over with because the level of pitching is so good.”
In a conference like the SEC, bad pitching is hard to come by. It gets even harder when the postseason starts. So to get the most out of his hitting, Holcomb’s philosophy is simple.
“I think it’s important to have a lineup of physical athletic players,” he said. “You’re not going to be able to stand up there and hit singles and doubles and score a bunch of runs. You’re going to have to rely on being able to hit the ball out of the park and have that three-run home run that’s the difference in the game, or even be able to do short game start type stuff to be able to get guys off the mound, make them field their position.”
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Holcomb believes in putting pressure on an opposing pitcher by doing the little things that make a difference.
“When you get on base, make them feel your presence that this guy might run, this guy might take advantage of this breaking ball that I’m throwing in the dirt. And so it really puts pressure on that guy on the mound to be able to be at his best,” Holcomb said.
“So to be extremely well-rounded is important to me — physical, athletic guys that we can train to help do all phases of the game. So that when one thing’s not working, we have plan B, we have plan C. And so, that’s something that I think South Carolina has, and I’m excited to jump on board with that.”
Holcomb will be tasked with helping an offense that had a solid season in 2023. South Carolina slashed .273/.408/.499 with 117 homers and 469 RBI as a team.
“To be honest with you, they were really, really good last year,” Holcomb said. “I won’t know what I’ll be able to bring to the table until I actually get in there and get to work with those guys.”
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Holcomb’s track record shows that he could be the right fit for this group. In his years of coaching hitters, his teams have batted .311 with 7.4 runs and 10.9 hits per game.
Beyond just Holcomb’s hitting philosophy, establishing those player-coach relationships is important for success.
“If you’re going to try to be on the field and help a player improve, the first thing you’re going to do is you’re going to point out your weaknesses,” he said. “If you don’t have a relationship with that player, and that player doesn’t know in their heart that he wants what’s best for me, then sometimes it just comes across as criticism. And then those players can immediately go into his shell and they don’t want to listen.
“If you don’t have that relationship, they’re not going to be open to hearing your thoughts and ideas and understanding that you’re not criticizing them. You’re trying to point out weaknesses to help them become a more well rounded player.”
