High school baseball around the state of South Carolina finished up on Friday. Less than 24 hours later, the elite of the state invaded Spring Valley High School for the first Diamond Devils practice of the summer. South Carolina’s top travel organization, home of nine USC commits, welcomed well over 100 players ranging in age from 15 to 18 to compete against the top talent in the country. (Photos and video highlights included.)
Led by head coach John Rhodes, the Devils have sent some of their top talent to the Gamecocks in their 17-year existence. Names like Reese Havens, Justin Smoak, and Matt Campbell have passed through the organization and made their mark on the program in Columbia.
From class of 2010 middle infielder Wil Leathers all the way through 2013 commit Nick Ciuffo, the Devils have much of the top talent in South Carolina in their organization and many of those players are future Gamecocks.
This time last year, only three of the nine future Gamecocks would have been on a Diamond Devils roster. However, the organization merged with the Carolina Cyclones to form a super power in this state.
“It’s very exciting to bring the new teams in,” Rhodes, who founded the organization in 1993, said. “We’ve spent a lot of time in the last six months doing the off-the-field stuff, which isn’t the fun stuff. We’ve gone from six teams to having nine, which has increased the work load. It’s neat because we’ve picked up some great kids and some really talented kids to go with it.”
With the influx of players come new coaches. Rhodes is excited about the staff that has been assembled, which includes a mix of Devils, Cyclones, and new coaches altogether. Former USC slugger Phil Disher is on the staff as are former Wofford and Brookland-Cayce standout Sterling Dye and Barry Mabry, a six-year pro who spent time in the Braves organization before a shoulder injury ended his career.
“The guys that we have from a coaching standpoint, we have a number of guys who have been here before and a number of guys who have played in our program,” Rhodes said. “When we talked about putting staff together, it was who could work well together and who could team up together. They’re just about as excited as I am at the size and potential we have.”
With more teams and more talent to flaunt, the Diamond Devils have been able to expand their reach.
“It allows us to broaden our tournament exposure in the summer and play in more places,” Rhodes said. “We have more teams to send to more places.”
The Devils are a gold mine for coaches looking to see the state’s top talent. Coaches from around the southeast will have their opportunity to take in games as tournament schedules include USC, Charleston, Coastal, and other local spots.
Later in the summer, some teams will travel as far away as Omaha, Ne. for a tournament the same week the College World Series is going on. Of course, there is also the World Wood Bat Association tournaments in Georgia, which will have coaches from across the country present.
“With the talent we have, we feel like we can compete nationally and that’s our goal,” Rhodes said. “We want to compete on the national stage, not just the local stage. It’s a two-pronged approach we have. The first part of the summer, we play basically in the tournaments we run around the state. Then we have some guys going off to places like Nebraska and going to catch the first four games of the College World Series.”
The top talent has come through the Devils program in the past and that hasn’t changed. The U17 group is ranked the No. 4 team in the country by PerfectGame, which is the top ranking in the organization. The U18 team is No. 10 in the country, the U16s are 22nd as are the U15s.
“The talent level is good,” Rhodes said. “The state of South Carolina, where about 95-percent of where our kids come from, has a talent level that’s under appreciated. The talent here is good. When we won the Perfect Game event in 2004, we were called the Cinderella team but we were a Cinderella team with three first-round draft choices. I think that shows the lack of appreciation at times.”
The Devils are five-time national champions and have sent 267 players to Division I schools. They have had 39 players drafted, six of which were first rounders, and currently have 24 players in the minor leagues.
This group, led by nine Gamecocks and a bevy of USC targets, will add to those totals in due time. Current football and baseball recruit Shon Carson is also in the organization and announced his presence with a homerun onto the tennis courts at Brookland-Cayce in his second at-bat.
“We feel like we can compete on a national level, we like to do that, we try to do that, and that’s what we’re about,” Rhodes said.
Future Gamecocks
Class of 2010
MIF Wil Leathers (U18 Black)
Class of 2011
C Grayson Greiner (U18 Black)
RHP Taylor Guerrieri (U18 Black)
RHP/Util Alex Satterfield (U17 Blue)
RHP/3B Austin Gambrell (U17 Blue)
RHP Alex Pridemore (U17 Blue)
C Kevin White (U17 Blue)
SS/OF TJ Costen (U17 Blue)
Sorry - should have been a bit more clear. Saturday's practice was at Spring Valley. On Sunday, teams were split up at various fields in Columbia. Carson's team was at Brookland-Cayce.
