Clemson Baseball Lands Cal Baptist Star In Transfer Portal
Josh Paino, formerly of Cal Baptist, announced his intention to transfer to the Clemson Tigers baseball team recently on social media.
Paino announced it with a photo of him in a Clemson uniform, with small chandelier lamps on either side of him with a black and white Clemson logo behind him.
The photo was captioned “Something in these hills.”
Paino, a shortstop, comes to the east coast after three seasons with Cal Baptist, and two before that with Saint Mary’s. Last season he batted.296 with 11 homers, 38 RBIs, 18 doubles, two triples and six stolen bases to earn All-WAC First Team honors, along with the WAC Defensive Player of the Year award.
He was a regular starter throughout his career with the Lancers. The Temecula, Calif., native has not played college baseball outside of his home state.
The addition of Paino — which has not been officially announced by Clemson — helps soften the blow of losing infielder Nolan Nawrocki to the transfer portal over the weekend. He is set to shop his services after two seasons with the Tigers, one of which was a redshirt.
Clemson has added two additional infielders through the transfer portal. Michigan infielder Collin Priest is heading to the Tigers after he slashed .279/.445/.578 and hit a Wolverines freshman record 11 home runs. He also earned All-Big Ten Freshman.
Purdue’s Luke Gaffney was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year set six Boilermaker freshman records after he slashed .349/.437/.628 with 13 home runs and 65 RBI.
In the outfield, the Tigers secured a commitment from Indiana State outfielder Dominic Listi, an All-MVC selection who batted .324 last season. Before ISU he played three seasons at the Division III level at North Central (IL).
Clemson had hoped that Nawrocki would contend for a full-time starting job in 2025 after he started 34 of the 36 games in which he played, with a .264 batting average, a .352 on-base percentage and a .400 slugging percentage. He had five doubles, four home runs and 24 RBI.
He also did a summer in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, where he drew attention after he was named to the NECBL All-Star Game. He batted .310 with six doubles, a homer, 13 RBIs, 30 runs and 18 steals in 33 games.
His decision came on the heels of former Clemson pitcher Billy Barlow announcing that he was transferring to Florida. Like Nawrocki, Barlow was a player the Tigers were hoping could become a full-time starter in 2025.
Clemson went 44-16, win the ACC’s Atlantic Division title and claim the No. 6 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. They also reached the Super Regionals for the first time since 2010.
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