Portal Window Closed: Who's Left and Who's Coming

The baseball portal window closed on July 2.

Since the current portal window opened on June 3, Clemson has seen a handful of departures, with two of those landing with rival South Carolina. However, Tigers’ head coach Erik Bakich has also added some key acquisitions to more than make up for the losses.

Portal Departures

• RHP Billy Barlow (Florida)
• OF Nathan Hall (South Carolina)
• INF Cooper Blauser (Jacksonville State)
• Nolan Nawrocki (South Carolina)

Nawrocki was obviously the biggest loss, despite Barlow having been the midweek starter for much of the season. Nawrocki, who just finished up his redshirt freshman season, was a Top 300 player coming out of high school and had a grade of 9.5 on Perfect Game.

Although, when looking at what Bakich has been able to add via the portal, the Tigers have done a remarkable job at addressing some needs, particularly when it comes to adding some pop into the lineup.

Portal Additions

• OF Dominic Listi: The left-handed hitter spent last season at Indiana State hitting .324 with an OBP of .464. Listi is a graduate transfer with one year of eligibility left.
• INF Collin Priest: Another left-handed hitter that spent his freshman season at Michigan, hitting 278 with 11 home runs and 30 RBI, earning All-Big Ten freshman honors, as well as second-team freshman All-American honors. Priest has three more years of eligibility.
• C/INF Luke Gaffney: Hit .349 with 13 home runs and 65 RBI as a freshman at Purdue last season. The right-handed hitter won Big Ten freshman of the year and set six freshman records for the Boilermakers.
• INF Josh Paino: The right-handed hitter spent three seasons at Cal Baptist. Last season as a junior with the Lancers, Paino was named the WAC All-Defensive Player of the Year at shortstop. He hit .296 with 11 HR and 38 RBI with an OPS of .912.

It’s also worth noting that while the portal window is closed, graduate transfers can still enter, and teams can still add players out of the portal.

A limited number of signed footballs from Clemson’s 2022 class are still available. Get yours while supplies last! Visit Clemson Variety & Frame or purchase online!