Northwestern sophomore commits to play baseball at South Carolina

It all happened very fast over the weekend for Northwestern sophomore John Gilreath.

The left-handed pitcher was playing in the Palmetto Games in Columbia, when he caught wind of South Carolina’s interest in his talents on Sunday. By Monday, Gilreath was committed to play college ball for the Gamecocks.

“I grew up a South Carolina fan my entire life and that’s always been my No. 1 school,” he said on Wednesday. “I just didn’t know what kind of talent I had until this year.”

Gilreath, who stands about 5-foot-10, 160 pounds, was clocked at around 84 miles per hour over the weekend. While that’s not super fast, it’s more difficult coming from the left side.

Gilreath pitched for the Trojans’ varsity squad this past spring, allowing just four earned runs in 16 1/3 innings of work (1.71 ERA) and earning a pair of saves. He plans to add strength in the coming years, and is waiting on a potential growth-spurt. That’s why Austin Alexander, who runs Diamond Prospects, a scouting service in South Carolina, thinks so highly of Gilreath.

“Two of our area scouts, both of whom I obviously have a lot of respect for, got a chance to see him this spring pitch for Northwestern,” said Alexander. “Obviously they liked what they saw. He came to our June showcase, loved what I saw and invited him to the event this past weekend and the rest is history.”

Projecting a rising sophomore as a potential college baseball player isn’t easy. But neither is scouting.

“You kind of know what to look for,” said Alexander. “John is the guy that you just kind of know it when you see it. He just showed everything, from his secondary stuff to just his delivery; it was clean and you can look at him and tell there’s a lot of room for growth. It’s pretty clear this guy’s got a chance to be good.”

Gilreath was talking with his family after the Palmetto Games tournament ended Sunday when South Carolina assistant coach Sammy Esposito and director of baseball operations Tyson Lusk approached them. They gave Gilreath a tour of the baseball facility before a 45-minute chat, and later offered him a scholarship (through an intermediary). Apparently, the Gamecock coaching staff had been eying Gilreath since he performed well at a pitchers/catchers camp in January.

Gilreath confirmed his commitment the next morning.

“‘Holy cow, this is crazy,’” he thought. “But I just went straight to thanking God. Definitely I was shocked.”

As long as the Gamecocks’ offer remains, Gilreath said he’s not interested in looking elsewhere. There is a long way to go before he would arrive on campus in Columbia, but he plans on continuing to work as if he didn’t have anything to bank on. Gilreath wants to further develop his curve ball, “and get better with my mechanics, and bring that velocity up a little bit.”

This story was originally published August 12, 2015 at 12:30 PM with the headline "Northwestern sophomore commits to play baseball at South Carolina."