Jordan Carrion will have to 'make the team' in return to action. But where has he been?

In Jordan Carrion’s own words, his college baseball career has been an interesting one to say the least.

“This is my fifth year now. My fifth year in college baseball and actually my fifth head coach that I’ll be playing for. So, it’s been an interesting ride,” Carrion said in a recent interview on the Gamecock Club Hour on 107.5 The Game.

“It’s been a blessing, though. I can’t take anything away from it. It’s been an interesting ride and I wouldn’t change anything.”

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Carrion started his career at Florida where he played for one season in 2021 before transferring to Florida State where he spent the next two years. The veteran infielder decided to hit the portal again and join South Carolina for the 2024 season. But he never suited up for the Gamecocks last season.

It wasn’t because Carrion was hurt or anything. He was fully healthy. For the longest time, it was believed that he was ineligible to play as a two-time transfer. But that wasn’t entirely the case either.

“The reason they came back saying that I couldn’t transfer,” Carrion said, “is because when I transferred, they said that because I transferred in the middle of the season, which I guess wasn’t really in the middle of the season but in the middle of the semester, which was in December-January. They weren’t allowing myself to play.”

Carrion called it an “unfortunate situation” since he said there had been other players in the past that were able to play after transferring twice by the NCAA. But in his case, he had to sit out the entire 2024 campaign.

“It was just because of when I transferred. I mean, it wasn’t because I transferred multiple times,” he said. “They didn’t really give me much of an explanation to be honest with you. They just pretty much told me no and that was kind of that. We definitely appealed it. We fought it. And it just didn’t go our way.”

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But as South Carolina has been going through fall practice, Carrion has been out there with the team. He’s been participating in all team scrimmages as a regular everyday player.

“Well, he’s a full-fledged member of the team and he’s going to get as much opportunity as everybody else,” head coach Paul Mainieri said.

So far this fall, Carrion has primarily been working in the infield. He’s been playing at second base, shortstop and third base, though Mainieri noted he’ll be working at second base and competing for the open starting spot.

“We brought in a young man by the name of Cayden Gaskin, who looks like a really nice ball player, as well. … So, he and Jordan are competing at second base right now,” Mainieri said. “If neither one of them win the job, I could potentially move somebody else over there, because we’ve got two third basemen, two shortstops, two second basemen right now. So, it’s going to be a lot of competition this fall.”

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Even though Carrion seems to be good to play again ahead of next season, there are still hoops to jump through. South Carolina has already made some cuts to trim down its roster to 45 players before Saturday’s exhibition game against Air Force. By Opening Day, five more cuts will come to bring that number down to 40.

“Jordan’s going to have to make the team,” Mainieri said. “He knows that. It’s been made very clear to him.”

However, in his opportunities this fall, Carrion is 3-for-26 (.115) at the plate with one extra-base hit.

The one thing Carrion does have though is experience, and plenty of it at that. Throughout his career, he’s played in 141 games with 474 at-bats. He’s a lifetime .268 hitter with 127 hits, three homers and 62 RBI.

Carrion will have another chance to show he belongs, this time against outside competition when South Carolina plays Air Force on Saturday. First pitch is at 4 p.m. from Founders Park.

“Wherever Coach Mainieri needs me, I can play short, second, third, first, outfield,” Carrion said. “Wherever he kind of needs me to play, that’s where I want to play at. I don’t really have a sense of where I’m going to be at this year.”

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