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Dantin bringing 'bulldog' mentality to South Carolina

South Carolina’s freshman class has officially arrived on campus this summer with eight freshmen either on campus or expected before school starts in August.

Before fall ball starts, GamecockCentral is profiling each freshman by talking to someone who knows them best in their high school coach.

We caught up left-handed pitcher RJ Dantin’s head coach at Spartanburg Wesley Brown, who talked about Dantin’s sped up development the last three years, his work ethic and where he fits into next year’s pitching staff.

Photo by Katie Dugan
Photo by Katie Dugan

GC: What do you like about Dantin’s game?

WB: He’s a bulldog; he competes, and the longer he goes in a game he typically gets stronger and stronger. That’s an added benefit to the velo he’s going to bring and the pitch selection he has. I think that’s his biggest upside.

GC: What’s he really improved on since you’ve been able to work with him?

WB: His velo has jumped tremendously the last three years. I know after m first year there, his freshman year, he was about 72 to 73 then he jumped up sophomore year to 81/82 and of course that summer he jumped up to about 87 or 88 and between his junior and senior year he touched 90 a few times. His physical attributes have changed as well. He worked out really hard; I’m also one of the strength coaches there and he worked out really hard to pursue a division one opportunity. Probably his biggest attribute is his character. He’s a high-character kid and probably one of the better teammates I’ve been around coaching high school.

GC: How important is it to have a high character guy like that on a team?

WB: To me that’s the difference between the teams going to the Super Regional and World Series every year. If you have a team full of guys like that with high character and are good teammates, they’re going to play hard for one another. I think that’s an attribute he has.

GC: What’s the biggest thing he has to work on now that’s he’s pitching in the SEC?

WB: I think he’s got to get a little more consistent with all four pitches. He just has to get bigger and stronger. That’s only going to add velo and it’s only going ot be able to help him last longer in the SEC.

GC: What types of pitches were he throwing with you his senior year?

WB: He was throwing fastball, slider, changeup and a split-finger.

GC: How effective can those pitches be at the next level, especially from the left side?

WB: It’s big-time, especially because he throws all four pitches with the same arm speed so it’s hard for the hitters to pick it up. That was one think he had so much success with. His strikeouts were high per inning throughout the course of his career and that had a lot to do with it.

GC: How do you see him impacting next year’s pitching staff?

WB: I think he’s a guy that could come in and help next year. One, he’s got the mentality to do it. most incoming freshmen can’t go into a 60-something game schedule and be able to be focused that long. I think RJ’s mentally tough to where he can handle that from the standpoint of the SEC.

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