South Carolina baseball head coach Paul Mainieri and his staff have assembled a squad that should be more competitive in 2025 than most programs are in their first year under a new coach.
Since his appointment in June, Mainieri and his team have secured some much-needed pledges from the transfer portal and junior college ranks that will benefit the Gamecocks next spring, but they have also been hard at work recruiting the program’s future members.
Over the weekend, during the Palmetto Games showcase, associate head coach Monte Lee teased that USC had earned a commitment by posting on Twitter/X his normal “Cocks on Top” statement to Gamecock fans. In his article, he revealed that the new pledge was “un Upsate gunslinger,” indicating that the ‘Cocks had signed a pitching talent from South Carolina’s Upstate.
@easley_baseball @EHS_GamedayLIVE @CoachTRooney @CoachMonteLee @YardCocks3 @GamecockBasebll @jhendry25 @diamondprospect @trey_daly @PrepBaseball_SC Very Blessed! Spurs Up Baby!!!🤙 pic.twitter.com/6wqsbd8DKr
— Walker Cox (@WalkerCox12) August 13, 2024
The commitment came quickly. Walker Cox, the right-handed pitcher for Easley High School, made the announcement on Monday night.
Cox, who also plays first base, is a 2026 prospect with a highly projectable frame as a pitcher. He is listed at 6’6″ and 180 pounds, but he can easily carry more weight. His fastball is in the upper 80s but tops out in the low 90s, and he has two breaking pitches: a curveball, a slider, and a change-up.
Cox was one of six players at last weekend’s Palmetto Games to throw a fastball faster than 90 miles per hour. Fellow Gamecock commit Seth Manning, a class of 2025 promise, was another.
Cox is the fourth athlete to commit to the South Carolina baseball program in the ’26 cycle, as well as the class’s first right-handed pitcher. Ironically, he is the second 2026 Gamecock promise from outside of Clemson, following TL Hanna High School product Jackson Robinson, a left-handed pitcher.
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