Justin Parker pleased with progress for South Carolina baseball's second-year pitchers
South Carolina is returning two of the better starters in the SEC last season, and there will be a lot of pomp around Will Sanders and Noah Hall, but pitching coach Justin Parker is also incredibly happy with his young core.
The Gamecocks have top-end, draft-eligible talent but a swath of younger, second-year arms ready to make another jump in 2023.
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“If you look at the nucleus of guys who were with us last year who performed and performed at a high level–Will Sanders, Noah Hall, Cade Austin, Matthew Becker, Eli Jones,” Parker told GamecockCentral. “Those guys all spent the summer here working at their craft and getting better.”
There is a core trio at the moment with one redshirt sophomore and a pair of true second-year players.
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Cade Austin, who experienced his first real action in 2022, led the team with just a 3.17 ERA and 1.31 WHIP in 54 innings as arguably the team’s best and most consistent bullpen arm.
Matthew Becker is another who bounced from starter to reliever and back again at times in 2022. Thrust into a larger role than most expected due to other injuries, Becker performed well.
He made 21 appearances with five starts with a 5.21 ERA and a 1.60 WHIP. South Carolina will ask Becker, who could start or be a high-leverage lefty out of the bullpen, to shoulder even more of a role in 2023.
“Becker, because of the workload, and Jones too got off to slower starts this fall, Becker especially. By the end, the maturation we wanted to see out of both guys they had great falls. I don’t know if Becker gave up a run,” Parker said. “His command has much improved. He’s developing a fourth pitch. He had a really good fall and looking forward to see him in the preseason see him get stretched out a little bit.”
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Eli Jones is the last but not least of the trio, showing progress in 2022 despite Tommy John surgery limiting him early. His strict rehab plan limited him to just 12.2 innings and a 5.68 ERA. But he had some really productive midweek starts and parlayed that into another strong fall.
“Eli Jones had a great fall as well. He threw the most innings on the staff this fall, finished a lot stronger,” Parker said. “If you take out the first outing he was almost unblemished all fall. I like where both of those kids are at. They’re great workers. They’re great athletes. I couldn’t be happier with where they’re at.”
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South Carolina will likely use Austin as a reliever this season. The role right now for Becker is still to be determined. He certainly has starter qualities but a lefty-strapped pitching staff might need his versatility too.
Jones seems tailor-made as a midweek starter this year. But South Carolina could ask him to serve as a weekend reliever.
Regardless, all three were in Columbia this summer and give Parker hope for the future of the Gamecocks’ staff.
“When those guys decided to stay here, workout, invest in each other and build a bond but also physically get themselves in the best shape of their lives, those guys were part of that group,” he said. “Noah Hall, he’s a ring leader in that group as well. It started in the summer for those two guys.”
