Starting catcher Colin Burgess entered his name into the portal Thursday, a source within the baseball program confirmed to The Greenville News. He's the first starter for USC to enter since the end of the frustrating 2022 season, when the Gamecocks went 27-28 and missed the NCAA Tournament.
This past season wasn't Burgess' best at the plate as he was returning from offseason labrum surgery, hitting .205 with 31 strikeouts, but where USC will feel his loss is behind the plate.
Burgess is the one of the top defensive catchers in the SEC with a .994 career fielding percentage. In three years, he threw out 27 runners attempting to steal.
Nine players from South Carolina have entered the transfer portal since the end of the season.
South Carolina baseball starting catcher Colin Burgess enters transfer portal
South Carolina baseball catcher Colin Burgess is the first Gamecocks starter to enter the transfer portal this offseason and the ninth player overall.
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I guess he got tired of catching for bad pitchers in marathon innings of losing efforts. I had also heard that Kingston brought a Clemson catcher in for a visit. Maybe that was the last straw.
Burgess was the veteran glue that held this team together this season. I wish him well and all that BS, but this is a tough loss to the portal for us.