Junior pitcher Jake McCoy is officially out for the upcoming 2026 baseball season, reported by Baseball America reporter Jacob Rudner.
McCoy suffered from a ulnar collateral ligament tear and is expected to miss the entire season. He was expected to be one of the Gamecocks' top arms and locked himself in as a weekend starter in 2026.
“I’m disappointed to share that I’ll be out for the 2026 season after suffering a UCL tear that will require Tommy John surgery,” McCoy said in a press release on Jan. 28. “Even though I can’t pitch, I’m still going to be with the guys every day—supporting them, staying locked in, and doing whatever I can to help the team."
In two seasons at South Carolina, McCoy had a 7.11 ERA and 97 career strikeouts.
Last season as a sophomore, McCoy was the most consistent starter, making 14 starts for the Gamecocks. He had 77 strikeouts in 60 innings pitched and was No. 63 on MLB’s Top 100 Prospect rankings.
Coming off three solid starts in the Cape Cod League with the Harwich Mariners in which he had 25 strikeouts against 54 batters, McCoy had also developed a changeup to pair with his dominant fastball and slider to use against power hitters.
This now marks the second straight year that Mainieri and his staff lost a top arm before Opening Day, as the Gamecocks lost pitcher Eli Jerzembeck for the year just a few weeks before the season began in 2025.
“My heart breaks for Jake because I knew that this was going to be a very important year for him,” South Carolina head coach Paul Mainieri said in the press release from Jan. 28. “He’s worked so hard at becoming the best pitcher he can be and worked so hard on developing a changeup this offseason that we all thought was going to make him a more complete pitcher. He obviously has a great arm and I felt that he was going to blossom this year, so it’s a shame that he’s going to have to go through this."