Madison Stokes proving valuable down homestretch
When the Gamecocks took the field Opening Day, there was a certain piece missing: Madison Stokes. Instead of cleats and a bat, he was in a walking boot and holding crutches.
Stokes broke a bone in his foot one at-bat into January practices and was in the midst of an eight-week rehab schedule to trying to get back to 100 percent. No stranger to injury—he broke a bone after his junior season of high school—but now he was facing an uphill battle.
“This is been the hardest thing because it’s college and it’s more intense and more professional than high school. It’s pretty serious,” the sophomore infielder said. “Not being able to play opening day as a sophomore, it was tough. But I learned from it. I’m not upset about it; I don’t regret anything about how it happened.”
After surgery at the beginning of February, he spent the next eight weeks in the rehab room running on the treadmill and getting his leg muscles back to full strength.
Over the over two months he had to wait to swap those crutches for a glove, he spent more time with his teammates and his goals began to shift a bit.
“It really made me put more focus on the team than on myself,” Stokes said. “You can get so caught up in yourself and the success, but being around them made me focus on the team and the team’s goals.”
Stokes finally got back into the lineup, getting some pinch-hitting experience before moving to the starter at second base. And now, heading into the postseason, he’s starting to see almost all the innings at first base over the last two weeks of the season.
And his bat, after being a tad behind coming back from injury, is in midseason form. Since he switched over to first base after the Texas A&M series a week ago, he’s 8-for-14 (.571) with four runs scored and two RBI. He’s also fifth on the team wit ha .324 batting average (minimum 60 plate appearances).
He’s looked like a natural at one of the hot corners, snagging ball after ball and pivoting on his once-broken foot to make outs. Stokes boasts a .963 fielding percentage, good for sixth among regular starters.
“I was babying my right foot, but it gradually got stronger and I got more comfortable with it. Playing defense was one of the main things that was tough, going left and right with lateral movement,” he said. “That was scary because I was trying to apply more pressure to my left foot because I was scared to do too much with my right to mess it up again. It’s gotten a lot better now.”
Head coach Chad Holbrook hasn’t been shy about praising Stokes, saying he’s one of the fastest guys on the team and could have been an Opening Day starter this year if he wasn’t injured.
But now that he’s not, Stokes has seen a steady diet of playing time, and it’s paying dividends for this South Carolina team heading into crunch time.
“He’s just getting comfortable and I think he’s realizing he’s an important part of the team. Sometimes you realize you’re a valuable asset, you play better,” Holbrook said. “And I think he was trying to find his role since he got back from his injury, but he’s taken a deep breath in the last couple of games.”
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