Re: TNET: SEC transfer pitcher commits to Clemson

TigerNet News® · 2025-06-29T00:12:27.657Z

SEC transfer pitcher commits to Clemson Read Update »

DougKingsmoreCrusade

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Jun 29, 2025, 10:04 PM [ in reply to Re: TNET: SEC transfer pitcher commits to Clemson ]

Clemgalalways® I agree with some of this. It is cool to get a guy from Tennessee, but I will admit, outside of the previous school, I don't see much that inspires me here. It looks like he was a midweek starter/low leverage reliever who pitched almost exclusively against inferior competition. Apparently, his velocity also isn't great, as he's got a high 80's/low 90's fastball. When a significant portion of the highlight video is pickoff throws, that's not a great sign. The other issue is that he's already a senior, so it's not like he's got a lot of room for development left as potential long-term project.

Looking at his game log, I like this even less. In his only action against power-4 competition, he faced 1 batter vs Auburn, whom he walked on 4 straight pitches before being pulled. Against LSU, he faced 2 batters, giving up a double on the 2nd pitch. The next hitter was intentionally walked, then Sharman was taken out. He fared better against Kentucky, retiring the only batter he faced on 4 pitches. Looking at the rest of the mid-major teams he faced, he was alright, but not spectacular. For the season, he pitched 22.2 innings, giving up 19 hits, 8 earned runs, 10 walks, 25 strikeouts, and a .229 average against. He made 17 appearances, 3 starts. Most of his outings went an inning or less, and his longest appearance was 4.1 innings.

I don't know if the comparisons to McGovern and Garris are sensible though. I'd certainly say Garris is better; he's a proven, high leverage reliever with pretty good velo, good stuff, and command. But I don't know if that's even the role they'd want Sharman in; they seem like different types of players. McGovern would actually be a lot more comparable to him, in my opinion. I don't want to knock Jacob because he's been very effective when used properly as a change-of-pace reliever, and he was the difference in the game for the Tigers in that regional opener against Upstate. And all this is being said about a guy who wasn't regarded as a significant recruit. But to an extent, he's still a gimmick player. The off-speed stuff is great, but his velocity is nonexistent. As we've seen multiple times, when the coaches try to start him or extend him too far, he gets shelled. He does a lot better when used as a versatile, change-of-pace reliever. I imagine Sharman could do well in a similar role since they seem like similar players.

I don't agree with the sentiment that we're "leaking oil" with transfers, draftees, and seniors. I honestly don't think we've lost much aside from what we all expected. Obviously, Cam's getting drafted. Listi, Ciufo, and Paino have exhausted eligibility, but respectfully, I don't think any of them will be missed greatly in the batter's box, except maybe Listi to an extent. As for transfers, Bissetta showcased good power in the '24 season, but never demonstrated good contact or consistency. The injury this year certainly played a part in that, but he still regressed either way. I don't think that loss really hurts much. And frankly, the coaches have brought in some great portal hitters that should already have that covered and then some, and ought to by and large be better players than the ones we lost.

TP was the one that was more unexpected. He's certainly one I'd rather still have. He showed power potential, a great arm, and some pitching ability. His ceiling is high, but he's still very raw. As we all saw, he was in the mix, and he came on a bit at the plate at the end of the year. But he certainly wasn't great yet as either a pitcher or a hitter. He hit .224 with a .642 OPS and 0 homers, while pitching to an 8.00 ERA. Again, he's certainly got potential, and I wish he'd stayed. It'll be fascinating to see how he does at Oklahoma State. But I also think the impact of his departure has been somewhat overblown by fans. Maybe he'll go on to be great, but right now at least it's all just potential. Those numbers were not great. So the jury's still out on him.

As for pitching, Mahlstedt and Garris are out of eligibility, but we knew that would be the case before the season. BJ Bailey did also transfer out. I admired his toughness, and he had a great start to the season in the bullpen, elevating himself to a starting role. His first few starts went well, but in his later starts he really began to struggle. All told, he finished with a 5.46 ERA, giving up 65 hits in 61 innings. He likely entered the portal in pursuit of more playing time at a lower level. As far as Chayce Kieck is concerned, I don't want to bash the kid, but as you said, he didn't look good this year. And I saw no real indication that he'd be a guy who'd turn into much of a contributing piece later.

I see where you're coming from about the desperation part, and that was something I'd thought about earlier when that article came out. But I actually do like that more than I dislike it still. At least that way we know that EB isn't just content to stand pat. He's actively committed to bringing in big-time transfer pitchers. And he's not shy about Omaha being the expected goal, regardless of any past failures. I like that. I also don't think it's fair to say he's renting a team. Yes, he's bringing in several transfers, but why not? Most of them have been very good. If you can get big impact players that still fit the culture, why not do it? The goal is to be as good as possible. And he's still got plenty of long-term high school recruits on the team, like Purify, Jarrell, Crighton, McCladdie, Dillard, Castellani, Prather, McGovern, LeGuernic, Bell, Bennett, Moehler, etc. You could make that same defense of Brownell too, I think. You see more transfers by percentage in basketball across the board anyway, so part of that is just the nature of the sport. Also, last year was particularly egregious because of the number of seniors combined with the number of bench pieces and fringe starters who proved to not be good enough.

But long story short, when you hear "Tennessee starting pitcher," Sharman isn't the guy you think of. Having said all that, I do hate to be this negative about a guy who just transferred in. I hope he makes me eat crow this season. At the very least, I think he could have a useful role on the team, just probably not as a starter or as a conventional high-leverage reliever.

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That's a valid point. We definitely didn't see the bench depth this year that we were told existed prior to the season. In fairness, some of that was due to injury. Among that group of 15 or so hitters, Bissetta had a massive regression at the plate, and then had the bulk of his season shut down by injury. I know you and I were very excited to get to see Prather play this year, and he actually looked good in the 3 plate appearances he got, but then he reinjured his arm and was done for the year. McCladdie at least made more of an impact than those 2 guys did, but his hitting was streaky at best, and he made a couple of costly baserunning and defensive errors that took him out of the lineup. He did re-emerge a while later when Purify got banged up, and he was actually looking good, but then unfortunately he himself got injured. Dillard and Castellani were talked up a great deal during the fall, but when the season rolled around, we barely saw either of them. In the very limited plate appearances they did receive, they each looked lackluster. Wentworth wasn't even expected to be much of a factor, but he came on a bit offensively at the end of the season. His overall numbers still weren't good though.

As for the regular starters, Paino was a disappointment. He had that hot start, but after that it was pretty rough. Ciufo got a little bit better at the very end of the season, but by and large he had a dismal offensive year. Gaffney was a massive disappointment. Purify did improve, but ultimately not to the level we first thought based off of his hot start. Priest was mediocre. He did provide some power, but he was very hot-and-cold, struck out a lot, and didn't have good contact. He didn't improve the way we hoped he might after his last season at Michigan. I actually thought Jarrell played better than people gave him credit for; he showed some excellent power. But he was still strikeout prone, still not a good contact hitter, somewhat streaky, and some people weren't thrilled with his defense. On the other hand, I never understood all the love for Crighton. He proved to be versatile defensively, but he also had a big regression at the plate. He had virtually no power at all, and his overall hitting was pretty average, especially for a 1B/corner outfielder.

Listi was good. He wasn't much of a power threat, but we didn't expect that. His OBP was excellent, and his average was good. The one knock on him is that he wasn't quite as good of a contact hitter as we first thought. He wasn't aggressive enough with the bat for some people's liking, and he didn't have as many hits as we expected. But overall, I'd say he was quite good. Cam was also good, though he was wildly inconsistent. For the 1st half of the season, he looked very underwhelming. A .280-.290 level hitter with no power, mediocre baserunning, and no arm. But of course, he came roaring on at the end of the year, with his contact re-emerging to what we expect, and some power returning as well.

But that basically sums up the season. Relative to what we expected, I'd say about 3 of those guys had good years. Maybe 4 if we're being charitable. But the other 10-11 of them ranged from mediocre to downright disappointing. And that's not even addressing pitching at all.

I'd say 2023 and 2024 were both steps in the right direction; last year was a step back. Although, I do believe we can negate that step back if the transfers hit better this time around.

I agree completely on the money. I don't think we're Texas A&M, but we should be at minimum a top 10 level team in terms of funding and fan support. I believe there was some concern raised about less money being there than Bakich expected, and I don't know if that's true or not. But on paper, I don't think that ought to be an issue for us. We're not number one, but we should have enough cash to compete with the big boys.

As for the recruiting/portal balance, I think EB is bringing in just about the right number of transfers: not too few, not too many. I love getting 4-5 new proven hitters each year. However, I do still think he needs to do a better job getting pitchers in the portal. As for high school recruiting, I like some of what he's doing. I like that he's gotten some great individual pieces from all over the country, especially up north and out west. He finds guys that are athletic, and he's gotten several 2-way players, which I absolutely love. But I think he has struggled recruiting the south, and that's something I think he needs to do a much better job of. That's the main talent pool for baseball, and especially being a southern school, you really need to be able to take advantage of that. Our rivals certainly are. That's probably been my biggest gripe with Bakich thus far. I've liked most everything else. Clemgalalways®

TNET: SEC transfer pitcher commits to Clemson