Every team has to face turnover from year to year; that is just part of college sports. However, this South Carolina baseball team faces an especially daunting task as it tries to replace sluggers like Kyle Martin, Max Schrock and Elliott Caldwell in its lineup.
The players currently on the fall roster accounted for just 279 of 706 total bases posted by last season’s team. No one player can be expected to account for all of that missing production, but if you are looking for an underclassman to take a step forward this spring, look no further than sophomore slugger Alex Destino.
There is no denying that the Gamecocks will receive a new infusion of talent from their star-studded recruiting class, but the fate of their season will likely come down to how the sophomores perform as they move into veteran roles. Being a freshman in the SEC is tough — even for a supremely talented player like Destino.
The showcase circuits can only prepare high school players so much for the grind that comes at the next level. While prep players might see a mid-90s fastball a few times before arriving on campus, it is unlikely that they will see that velocity commanded the way collegiate aces master all of their weapons.
So while Destino did struggle at times last season, with a .288 on-base percentage and 25 percent strikeout rate, Destino still performed quite well — his six home runs were tied for second on the team. This year, the expectations for Destino are much greater. Head coach Chad Holbrook expressed a high degree of confidence in his left-handed slugger.
“Alex is going to be a good player for us,” Holbrook said. “He is going to hit in the middle of our lineup, and he is probably our main power threat.”
As Holbrook mentioned, Destino’s calling card is his light tower power from the left side. While the length in his swing can leave him vulnerable to well-placed velocity on the fringes of the zone, it also generates leverage in his swing that enables him to launch the ball out of any stadium. The rare combination of bat speed, sheer strength and swing leverage makes him a lethal power threat.
Holbrook also praised Destino for the physical work he put in over the offseason.
“He’s been great all fall,” Holbrook said. “He’s in much better shape physically. He's lost a lot of weight. He's more athletic. He's learning to play first base, and he's doing a darn good job of that.” Destino also acknowledged that this past offseason was critical for him.
“My send-off meeting with Coach Holbrook was very important to me, telling me what he wants to see out of me from a body standpoint,” Destino said. “I really worked on that this summer and I felt like I put myself in a pretty good spot coming into this year.”
In additional to the physical transformation, Destino worked on his mental approach while playing for the Wilmington Sharks of the Coastal Plain League. After a year of making adjustments against SEC pitching, Destino prioritized control in the batter’s box this past summer. He described his particular philosophy as “trying to be more aggressive earlier in the count and less aggressive in later counts.”
That approach worked well for the North Carolina native, as he managed to hit .320 on the summer and earned a nod to the league’s All-Star team.
In addition to being a slugging first baseman and outfielder, Destino doubles as a left-handed reliever. The southpaw made just one appearance out of the pen last season as he focused on developing as an everyday position player, but Destino should get the ball more in 2016. Holbrook is excited about Destino’s progress on the mound.
“[Destino’s] velocity is up,” Holbrook said. “He hit some 90 and 91s (miles per hour) yesterday, and that's pretty good for Alex — in the fall especially. And he's throwing strikes and commanding the strike zone a lot better than he has before.”
While it is premature to anoint Destino as the next Kyle Martin, Destino is trying his best to become that type of player, both with his work in the field and at the dish. On the other hand, Destino arguably has even louder tools than Martin, and he may just have a higher ceiling. With all the hard work he has put in to unlock his raw talent, 2016 could very well be the season Alex Destino elevates his game to the next level.