Oh, Dalen, we hardly knew ye…
A little lost in the shuffle of the football preseason getting into full swing, NC State Baseball tallied an addition to the 2025 squad immediately followed by a subtraction last week.
Campbell outfielder Dalen Thompson committed to the Wolfpack in June, but he abruptly decommitted last week, opting to stay with the Camels for his final collegiate season. Thompson was an established collegiate starter who figured to play a prominent role as a starter for the Pack9 in 2025. That’s a tough loss, especially so close to the fall semester starting.
There’s a few ways to read this development, but with highly-touted incoming freshman OF Tyler Head surprisingly going unselected in the July MLB Draft, it might be that Thompson’s expected spot as the Wolfpack’s starting CF in 2025 was no longer a certainty.
Surely without coincidence, a day prior to Thompson’s news, NC State added a high-upside JUCO outfielder in the form of College of Southern Nevada transfer Jet Gilliam.
The Coyote Family would like to congratulate Jet Gilliam on his commitment to continue his academic and athletic career with North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC.
⚾️➡️ ⚫️⚾️ #D1Bound #Pack9 #WPN #CoyoteCommits pic.twitter.com/OKj18qybRJ— CSN Baseball (@CSN_Baseball) August 9, 2024
Aside from being a 1st Team All-Name candidate, Gilliam is a speedy outfielder from Henderson, NV, with three years of eligibility remaining (he won’t be eligible for the MLB Draft until 2026). This year for CSN (the same school as former NC State backstop Jacob Godman) Gilliam hit .348/.429/.540, 11.8 BB%, 12.7 K%, 14-14 SB over 51 games, leading the team with 6 3B. This summer in 28 games for Kingsport in the Appalachian League, the right-hander hit .299/.377/.449, 11.5 BB%, 27.9 K%, 6-6 SB.
Gilliam, listed at 6’0 and 185 pounds, was rated as a 9.5 prospect by Perfect Game coming out of high school in 2023; a top 400 player in the class. His addition completes a remake of the outfield group for 2025, with a marked improvement in speed. Head, Gilliam, and Brayden Fraasman are all 6.60-second 60-yard guys, while incoming freshman Trey Bentley is a 6.75-second guy. Ole Miss transfer Trenton Lyons is another candidate for a role in the outfield, and he, too, is a 6.60-second guy. That is collectively a vast improvement over the 2024 outfield group.