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2021 MLB Draft Updates

ConwayGamecock

ConwayGamecock

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The opening round of the 2021 MLB Draft was completed Sunday. The only Gamecock that went in the 1st Round was 2021 signee INF Cooper Kinney. He was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays 34th overall. He's in line to get at least a $2 million signing bonus, so expect him gone. Also expect anyone selected in the 2nd Round today to be gone as well, based on past drafts....

 
2nd - 4th RD:

No selections

5th RD:

P Brett Kerry - 141st overall (LA Angels)

OF Brady Allen - 149th (Miami Marlins)

P Thomas Farr - 150th (Cincinnati Reds)

6th - 7th RD:

No selections

8th RD:

2021 class signee P Hunter Parks - 240th (Cincinnati Reds)

9th RD:

P Brannon Jordan - 267th (Milwaukee Brewers)

10th RD:

P Andrew Peters - 291st (LA Angels)

INF Wes Clarke - 297th (Milwaukee Brewers)

Here is a recap write-up on the official USC website:

https://gamecocksonline.com/news/2021/7/12/baseball-six-gamecocks-picked-on-day-2-of-2021-mlb-draft.aspx

 
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By many online accounts, we had a pretty good draft. As for the incoming class, it was a smaller class to begin with, and not expected to be a roster-impacting class, but it was still a fairly strong ranked class (15th per Perfect Game) and did have some jewels in it including three top-100 rated prospects per Perfect Game. One of those prospects - INF Cooper Kinney (52nd overall) was selected in the 1st round, and he's gone. But the other two - SS Michael Braswell (63rd) and OF Thaddeus Ector (74th) have tweeted they are still coming in, as will SS Carson Hornung, who is just outside of the top 100 at 102nd.

As for current Gamecocks, Pitcher Julian Bosnic was expected to get drafted but wasn't in the top 10 rounds, and pitcher Daniel Lloyd - who took over the top closer role once Kerry was moved to the starter's rotation, wasn't picked up as well. Those two along with freshmen newcomer sensations Jack Mahoney, Jackson Phipps, and Will Sanders will help the team overcome the loss of stellar pitching to the draft....

 
11th RD:

2021 class signee P Andrew Baker - 325th (Philadelphia Phillies)

12th-13th RD:

No selections

14th RD:

P Daniel Lloyd - 407th (Baltimore Orioles)

15th RD:

No selections

16th RD:

P Julian Bosnic - 476th (San Francisco Giants)

17th-20th RD:

No selections

 
So the draft is concluded. Bosnic and Lloyd got drafted after all. The later rounds in which they were drafted most likely will involve little to no signing bonuses - players drafted after the 10th rounds get a minimum $125,000 bonus, unless teams have money left over from their bonus signing pool intended for the higher round selections, then they can spread and add that for the lower selections - their bonuses are mostly the opportunity for the players selected to earn their way onto a major league ball club.

The questions will be will Bosnic and Lloyd choose to forego their final years of college, taking the opportunity and moving on with their careers, or do they feel they can improve their positions with another year at South Carolina. Bosnic started out as a weekend starter and moved into the bullpen towards the last half of the season. He will be again a top choice for a weekend starting role next season, and the opportunity to secure it with a better season could raise his stock into the top 10 rounds for the 2022 draft. Plus, Bosnic was red-shirted for 2019, and the covid-shortened 2020 season gives Bosnic an extra year of playing eligibility, so he'll be in effect a Super Red-Shirt Junior next season.

That means it'll be similar to regular juniors in college - having the options of either going to the pros, or staying for another season should they not like their draft position and/or signing bonus guarantee, and work to improve those positions. And THAT gives juniors the negotiating power that seniors usually don't have, which explains why college players typically leave for the pros after their junior seasons, and not after their final seasons. So Bosnic gets to double-dip, and his first dip in this years' draft may not be to his liking. We'll see.

The Gamecocks had 8 total players on the 2021 roster drafted, which tied them with NC State as the programs with the 4th-most players selected in the draft. UCLA led the way with 10 players drafted, and Arkansas and Texas Tech each had 9 players selected. Of the Gamecocks' 8 players picked, 6 of those were pitchers, giving testimony to the depth of talent in the pitching staff this past season. Of the three signees for the 2021 class that were taken, two of those were pitchers and both were JUCO pitchers, so our staff depth for 2022 has taken a sizable hit. Again Bosnic's decision will play a huge role here.

The 2021 MLB draft consisted of only 20 rounds this year due to the pandemic, instead of the typical 40 rounds.....

 
If you're a P, you have to decide whether to stay with a college team and risk injury before graduation or taking the money from an MLB draft pick.

Not really the same scenario for other positions.

 
kingofnerf said:
If you're a P, you have to decide whether to stay with a college team and risk injury before graduation or taking the money from an MLB draft pick.

Not really the same scenario for other positions.
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You're correct King. I am expecting that we lose both Bosnic and Lloyd. And now especially with pitching coach Meade leaving to take the Troy HC job, I would be surprised if they actually stay and try to improve under a new coach with a new coaching philosophy.....

 
ConwayGamecock said:
You're correct King. I am expecting that we lose both Bosnic and Lloyd. And now especially with pitching coach Meade leaving to take the Troy HC job, I would be surprised if they actually stay and try to improve under a new coach with a new coaching philosophy.....
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I can understand Meade's desire to move on after losing so many Ps to the draft.

Although our pitching staff was much improved this year, we still could have used 2 more innings out of the starters to be competitive.

There's no way to tell what Meade's trajectory as a HC will be, but if he is one of those guys who's a better HC than position coach we might be okay.

Hopefully Kingston finds an equal or better replacement for Meade.  Was Couch our batting coach?

 
kingofnerf said:
I can understand Meade's desire to move on after losing so many Ps to the draft.

Although our pitching staff was much improved this year, we still could have used 2 more innings out of the starters to be competitive.

There's no way to tell what Meade's trajectory as a HC will be, but if he is one of those guys who's a better HC than position coach we might be okay.

Hopefully Kingston finds an equal or better replacement for Meade.  Was Couch our batting coach?
Click to expand...
Couch was our recruiting coordinator and outfield coach, and he held those positions primarily also at Houston where he coached before coming to USC. He was also in control of the Cougars' "short game" offensively - I guess that means small-ball, and "coordinated the offense" with Houston's head coach, per his bio. Whatever that means - I guess it has to do with the small ball portion of their offense, but it doesn't necessarily mean hitting instructor.

Stuart Lake was the team's primary hitting coach this past season. He used to work in coordination with Mike Current, who was an assistant coach as well as director of player development, but moved into the latter position solely and out of an on-field coaching position prior to the 2020 season. The last 2 seasons it has just been Lake.....

https://southcarolina.rivals.com/news/q-a-with-stuart-lake

 
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Couldn't find any tweets regarding 11th Round pick Andrew Baker, a Gamecock incoming freshman with the 2022 class - he was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies. However, several other online sources show he has signed for a $200K signing bonus. The Phillies announced they signed their top 11 draft picks on basically the same day:

https://phuturephillies.com/2021/07/19/2021-post-draft-discussion-july-18th/

Also the official MLB Draft Tracker website also showed Baker as signed:

https://www.mlb.com/draft/tracker/2021/all/round/11

Also couldn't find tweets about Gamecock player Daniel Lloyd signing - he was drafted in the 14th Round by the Baltimore Orioles. But he did indicate that he was ready to move on to the professional level. However, the MLB Draft Tracker does NOT show him as signed yet. The signing deadline is August 1st, so we still have a week to go....but it looks like Lloyd's future is the last one up in the air......

 
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