Thompson-Williams hopes to live up to the high expectations
Dom Thompson-Williams grew up in Sioux City, IA, about 100 miles north of Omaha, home of the College World Series.
When Thompson-Williams was a freshman at Sioux City East High School, the Gamecocks won their first national championship in 2010. A year later, the Gamecocks duplicated the feat when Thompson-Williams was a sophomore.
Suddenly, he had a favorite college baseball team.
Five years later, Thompson-Williams is a Gamecock after being named the 2013 Gatorade Iowa High School Player of the Year and leading Iowa Western to consecutive trips to the NJCAA World Series in 2014 and 2015, including the national championship in 2014.
“When we won the national championship in my freshman year (in 2014), that opened up the door to a lot of new opportunities,” Thompson-Williams said recently. “I got drafted and I started talking with a lot of SEC schools. Luckily, South Carolina knocked on the door. They called me and they wanted as badly as I wanted to come here.”
Most fans in Iowa root for either Iowa or Iowa State. Thompson, though, expressed a different allegiance than most of his friends.
“Growing up, I was a South Carolina baseball fan,” Thompson-Williams said. “Living an hour-and-a-half from Omaha, I went to the College World Series every year. Seeing the garnet pinstripes and the atmosphere, for a kid it was a dream. Now I’m finally here. It’s time to produce and it’s time to make it happen.”
His official visit to Columbia and Founders Park cemented his commitment.
“I think these are the best facilities in the country,” Thompson-Williams said. “This is a very good place for me to develop education-wise and as a baseball player. Hopefully, it will lead to something else. It’s amazing coming here from a community college.”
Rated the No. 35 best JUCO prospect in the nation by Perfect Game, Thompson-Williams hit .409 (65-for-159) with 10 doubles, five homers and 51 RBI in 2015 as a sophomore as Iowa Western. He was drafted in the 19th round of the 2014 MLB Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals following a freshmen season in which he hit .407 with 14 doubles, seven triples, five homers and 44 RBI.
Thompson-Williams arrived at USC last fall already a known commodity to Gamecock baseball loyalists. Chad Holbrook has spoken continuously about him hitting in the middle of the lineup along with Alex Destino, and an up-and-down preseason camp by the JUCO transfer will not deter him when he trots out to home plate Friday afternoon to hand the home plate umpire the Gamecocks’ lineup card.
“(I realize there are) high expectations,” Thompson-Williams said. “I just want to get my feet wet. I’ve made good friends with the guys and we’re a very close team this year. There are high expectations, but at the end of the day you play for your team. Despite the roller coaster ride you’re on, hopefully it will be mostly positives. I think we’ll mesh pretty well.”
Thompson-Williams is one of the most visible players in Holbrook’s overhaul of the Gamecock roster after USC fell flat in 2015 and failed to earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999.
“We needed a little change here,” Thompson-Williams said. “We definitely have some personalities on the team and some positive characteristics. We get straight to business. But we have some players that bring life to the team. Last year didn’t go very well, so it’s time to get some new face sin here. Hopefully, we’ll turn the program around and get it back on track to where it has been over the years.”
Thompson-Williams quickly became a vocal leader in the clubhouse last fall, which he acknowledges was met with a mixed reaction.
“We have some captains and they’re pretty vocal, but we needed a little more confidence and cockiness,” Thompson-Williams said. “Some of the guys weren’t a big fan (of my style) when I first got there, but the more they were around me and the more they knew me, they realized I was all business and whatever I say, I back it up.”
