COLUMBIA — Paul Mainieri will enter his season at South Carolina not desperately behind in the count, but really in need of a generous strike zone.
A week after losing ace pitcher Jake McCoy for the season due to needing Tommy John surgery, and a week before the season-opener, Mainieri updated his ailing team. The good news is it’s not nearly as bad as it could be.
The bad news is it’s not much of it will be cleared up by 4 p.m. Feb. 13, when Northern Kentucky is in town to start the season. Even Mainieri wasn’t feeling great on Feb. 5, due to the incessant cold in the Midlands.
“I’m doing okay,” he said. “I’m feeling a little bit under the weather, but I will it away when it’s baseball season.”
The list, other than McCoy (who had successful surgery this week, performed by the New York Yankees’ team doctor):
RHP Alex Philpott: The junior, considered as one of the five bidding for a weekend pitching role, threw one scrimmage and then skipped the next due to soreness. After seeing doctors, he has some minor irritation of the ulnar nerve (the one that tore in McCoy’s elbow). He is being shut down for two weeks to let it rest, and then he’ll start a throwing program in the third week.
“But it could be expedited if he feels great,” Mainieri said. “I don’t think we’ll probably have him the first four weeks of the season.”
That’s the first four non-conference series (including Clemson) but that would have him back before the first SEC series at Florida — where Philpott transferred from.
SS K.J. Scobey: One of the two most indispensable players USC had to return after the disaster of last season, Scobey went down on Feb. 3 when he dove for a ground ball and made a great play. Yet his left shoulder popped out of socket, just when Mainieri got the good news about Philpott’s test results.
“It popped right back in. But he went to the doctor the next day, had X-rays,” Mainieri said. “His pain’s been very minimal for him.”
Mainieri said he would be “shocked” if Scobey wasn’t able to play Opening Day. He was fielding ground balls (but not throwing or swinging a bat) on Feb. 5.
1B Beau Hollins: The other half of the indispensable duo from last year, Hollins has yet to play in a scrimmage of swing a bat. He fell on his right shoulder in a “freak injury,” and while it’s getting better every day, it’s doubtful he’ll be ready to play on Feb. 13.
“He actually got some medication from (the doctor), but it’s just been a lot slower process. So I’m not really sure when he’s going to be ready,” Mainieri said. “He hasn’t swung a bat at all.”
Hollins was throwing on Feb. 5. Patrick Evans has been playing well at first base in Hollins’ absence.
INF Will Craddock: The freshman has stood out during preseason practice, nuking a couple of home runs including one, Mainieri said, that left his bat at 113 miles per hour and took about “half a second” to land in the left-field bleachers. But two at-bats later, he swung and came up grimacing.
“He pulled a muscle in his abdomen. So I don’t even think he’s going to be able to play in the scrimmages this weekend,” Mainieri said. “So I’m sure that by next weekend he won’t be in a starting position.”
LHP Hudson Lee: He tweaked an old football injury in his foot. But he’s scheduled to thrown an inning this weekend.
Mainieri mentioned that projected third baseman Dawson Harman was out with the flu, and a few other players are fighting the winter weather as well. Those shouldn’t linger.
Starting rotation
Mainieri has chosen his weekend pitching rotation for the NKU series. Riley Goodman will start Game 1 and be followed by Amp Phillips and Brandon Stone.
Josh Gunther will be the first arm out of the pen in Game 1 and will have the chance to pitch extended innings. He and Stone were nose-to-nose for the Game 3 spot.