The LSU Baseball Team is No Longer Jailbait

They've reached 18! The pitching was good. The hitting was timely. The fielding was reportedly outstanding.

I say "reportedly" because, once again, I had no way of keeping up with the game by any traditional means. My cable system does not get CSS, and I do not believe it was broadcast on local radio (I tried to find it). I wanted to listen to it on internet radio, but the only sites I was able to find either required registration (I avoid registering for things) or strictly used Windows Media Player.

I have a Mac. It doesn't have Windows Media Player. Usually something also uses RealPlayer or QuickTime. This didn't.

Instead, I followed the game using the "Live" function at SECSports.com. It was sort of like following a football game using ESPN's graphical interface. Nice, but no substitute for television or radio coverage. I blame the SEC. It appears they licensed their radio rights to XM Satellite Radio, which the vast majority of people do not get. Because they also licensed the television rights of the early games to a station that many people also do not get, a lot of people have been shut out of following the games in the most useful formats. Unless you're willing to take off work and go, you can't take part.

Starting today, Fox Sports starts carrying the games. This will be nice because at least I'll be able to see the Kentucky-Bama game, which will decide our opponent at 1:30pm on Saturday. The Tigers get the day off today by virtue of staying in the Winner's Bracket. If we win that game, we advance to the championship game. If we lose against Bama/Kentucky, we play again later that night, and for some reason, the "if necessary" game will be broadcast on CSS instead of FSN, which means I'd be right back to not getting television access.

At least, if it's Bama we play, it will be on radio and perhaps local TV. Yay channel 23!

But back to last night's game. On the written play-by-play provided by SECSports.com, the game came down to two things: a) we got the big hit when we needed it, and b) we got the big out when we needed that. After doing next to nothing for 4 innings, getting only one runner in scoring position during that time, and not getting a run, we broke through for two big innings in the 5th and 6th by getting big hits with runners on, including a 3-run home run in the 6th. We were also aided by poor defense on Vandy's part, using two throwing errors and a hit-by-pitch in the 5th inning to score 4 runs.

After that, we were on cruise control. Vandy's big threat came in the 7th when they used a walk, a hit, and an error to load the bases with only one out, but couldn't make a big inning out of it. A big inning would have made it a whole new game, but they settled for one run on a sacrifice fly and the rally quietly petered out. They didn't get a runner past 2nd base again for the rest of the night.

We got the big hit when we had the chance. They didn't. We made good defensive plays. They committed 3 errors (to our 1). We won. Bring on the next opponent. I'm into this now.

Who's the MVP?

Another ho-hum win for the Tigers. Down 4-0 in the 9th inning, the Tigers drew two walks to lead off the inning (a difficult task since you could have driven a Buick through the umpire’s strike zone), setting up Matt Clark’s three-run bomb. Not to be outdone, Ryan Schimpf doubled home the tying run with two outs and two strikes. No pressure or anything. By the time Blake Dean hit a solo shot to win it in the 10th, the whole thing seemed pre-ordained. Here’s the highlights:


Win #17. No biggee. So, let’s answer the unanswered question from yesterday: who is the Tigers MVP? Well, let’s look at the contenders:

It could be this guy. Blake Dean leads the team with a 339 batting average, though I’m not really a batting average kind of guy. Let’s get used to the trilogy stats right now: AVG/OBP/SLG. It gives an idea of how a guy hits, how often he gets on, and with how much power. Dean hit 339/421/610. He had 14 HR and 49 RBI. He even steals the occasional base (4 of 6). He plays decent defense, and his been a rock in the middle of the order all season, batting third in 45 games and never batting lower than 5th. He’s the guy the team relies on, he’s the star player, he’s the obvious choice.


But it could be this guy. On a team that relies so heavily on freshmen and sophomores, Michael Hollander is the senior leader that holds the team together. As the times got harder, Hollander played better. He hit 296/380/466 overall, but 308/379/519 in SEC play. He stole 4 of his 6 bases in SEC play, and only made 4 of his 15 errors in conference play. He’s been a stellar defensive third baseman, and he’s added the sock.


It could be this guy. Jared Bradford was a preseason All-American, but he was moved to the pen not because of poor pitching, but because Mainieri could use him in more games. He pitched in almost half of LSU’s games, and was a valuable swingman to get from the starters to the pen. But come on, he wasn’t as valuable of a pitcher as…


… this guy. Ryan Verdugo’s gonna make a lot of money next year. Mainly because lefties who throw a biting curveball are in high demand. Especially ones who go 8-2 with a 3.61 ERA, averaging almost a strikeout per inning. He’s given LSU the ace they have lacked for so long, and the team is no longer just giving away the Friday game.


It could be this guy. Ryan Schimpf has helped anchor the infield along with freshman DJ LeMahieu. I’m a firm believer that teams are built from the middle of the defensive spectrum out, so middle infielders are dear to my heart. Schimpf is probably the most well-rounded player on the team. He hits 301/407/550. He hit 10 homers, but also stole 13 bases. He also only made 2 errors all season, at one of the most demanding defensive positions. I hate to say he is without flaw, but he is pretty good at everything.


Or it could be this guy. Matt Clark is a force of nature at the plate. He’s actually a pretty good defensive 1st baseman, but he’s not here for his glove. He’s here because he hit 332/428/717. That’s right, he slugged 717. He hit 20 home runs in 52 games, an absurd total which harkens back to Gorilla Ball and aluminum bats. He hit slightly better in SEC play: 344/439/760. They say he can’t lefties, but that just means he doesn’t absolutely humiliate them the way he does righties.

Heck, you decide.

A Letter To the Bandwagon

Dear Richard,

First off, welcome to the bandwagon. You’re not REALLY a bandwagon fan since you are, first and foremost, an LSU fan. It’s not like you’ve spent the last few years rooting for Rice’s baseball team and are suddenly switching loyalties. You’re not switching teams, you’re just reacquainting yourself with a team you are already inclined to root for.

That said, I’m here to help you get up to speed with the team. I’m always willing to help. Who’s the star? A good question, actually. According to the SEC, no one. Not a single LSU player was named either first or second team All-SEC. Not one. And only Micah Gibbs was named to the All-Freshman team. I’m not asking for the world here. But you would think at least one player from the West Division champions, owners of the 2nd best record, and possible national seed would at least made 2nd team. And you’d think a successful, freshman dominated team like LSU would have someone other than Gibbs make the All-Freshman team.

OK, we’ll get into that. Let’s start with the basics: why is LSU winning? Well, a cynic would point out the winning streak has not exactly come against the powers of the SEC. South Carolina and Kentucky were both ranked when they played LSU, but they finished the season a combined two games above .500 in conference play. USC will be the seventh seed in the SEC tournament. Auburn and Mississippi State battled for the cellar, a combined 20 games below .500 in conference play. But 16 wins in a row is 16 wins in a row (and Tulane and UNO are both hovering around the rankings, so its not all chumps). Winning 12 straight games in a conference schedule that is only 30 games goes beyond a mere streak. That’s almost half a season without a loss.

LSU has the best offense in the SEC. Remember last year when I called the offense historically pitiful? Well, things have turned around. LSU has scored 220 runs, tops in the SEC. And scoring runs is what offenses should be judged on. LSU gets a lot of hits (tied for 1st with Alabama) and hits for a lot of power (tied for 1st in total bases, 2nd in slugging). Bama’s component stats are a little better, but LSU wins the bottom line: they score runs.

LSU’s got good pitching, too. They rank third overall in conference ERA. So they prevent runs. Pittman, you were right. Like any good team, they score runs and don’t let up very many. It’s more the offense than the defense, but the defense is pretty darn good. Relief pitching? How did you know? Bradford’s become sort of a swingman uber-reliever, pitching in relief so he can get in more games. Mainieri’s been comfortable getting saves from Coleman, Bertuccini, Ross, or the nominal closer Bradshaw. Why not? All of them have ERA’s 3.50 or lower.

This is running a bit long, so I’ll try to help you identify the best player tomorrow, which is a tougher task than you might think. Besides, it’ll give you a chance to meet most of the team. Right now, just enjoy the bandwagon.

Signed,
Poseur

In Defense of the Bandwagon

A lot of people speak or write derisively of the bandwagon. If you pick up a team just as they are starting to have success, you are considered not just less of a fan, but you are considered to be not a fan at all.

There's some truth to this, but I believe the attitude should not be taken too far. I think Poseur has it right in the comments to the last post that the bandwagon jumpers just have to "know their place at the back of the line".

You see, the simple fact is most fans are "bandwagon" fans at least in the mildest sense of the word. Most of us, even if we have affection and admiration for the baseball or basketball teams, will not actually pay much attention if the team is not doing well. Heck, if we were a losing football team like we were back in the '90s, I would still be paying attention, but I doubt I'd be blogging. If the basketball team is losing, I am still rooting for them, but I'm probably not watching the games on television, because I will have more enjoyable things to do. The baseball team is the same way, except that when they aren't doing well, they never appear on television.

So yes, when the baseball team started winning some games, I started paying more attention. Am I claiming expertise on the topic of LSU baseball? Absolutely not. I have nothing intelligent to say in answer to the question, "Why is LSU baseball suddenly so successful?" Knowing what I know about baseball, my guess is that the answer is at least partly "pitching", and knowing what I know about college baseball, I further guess that it could be "relief pitching". However, those are just guesses.

Honestly, I can't name the team's best players, in part because living here in Tuscaloosa, I don't ever actually see them play. Unlike Poseur, I choose not to listen to the games on internet radio. Does that make me less of a fan than Poseur?

Yes, I suppose it does.

Now don't get me wrongly here. Bandwagon fans can be thoroughly obnoxious and irritating. If you were wearing a Detroit Red Wings jersey in Baton Rouge in the late 1990s and early 2000s, you were probably insufferable. The same can be said if you were one of the many people wearing Miami Hurricanes material 10-20 years ago.

I can't think of any big bandwagons today, at least in that sense. Maybe USC, though I don't really think their bandwagon extends beyond the West Coast, and from what I understand their fan base is really not that passionate, although I did get into an argument a couple years ago with a USC fan who made me want to tear my hair out because of his ignorance. But I digress.

Yes, if you jump on the bandwagon and then act obnoxious, or act like you know more than you do, or act like you have been there all along, you deserve the enmity of others. If you simply decide that you are not going to pay all that much attention unless the team starts going somewhere, you are not a bad person. You are, like most people, making choices about how you spend your valuable time. Some people choose one thing. Some choose another. I simply do not love baseball or basketball enough to spend my time following a losing team. It does not mean I do not care how they are doing, or that it does not pain me to see the teams struggling these last few years.

All that said, the team will be playing less than an hour from where I live this week. On Thursday, they start in the morning, and I will be working. After that, we will see. If they're still playing on Saturday, I will definitely be going to that. I may even get to see games I do not attend on television.

Poseur: End of the Omaha Era

Alex Box Stadium will host its last weekend series this weekend. LSU’s doing everything right, throwing a big party, naming the All-Alex Box team (broken up into eras like the Omaha Era… nice touch). The baseball team has even gotten into the act by winning some games and making this final series somewhat meaningful.

There’s been some idle speculation that LSU could host a regional. I like that such talk even exists, and that its not wholly delusional, but it’s still not likely. Sure, LSU has won 9 games in a row and now sits #29 in the RPI, but unless the regionals are handed out based on sentiment, it’s at best a longshot. So let’s consider this the last games in the Box.

Alex Box doesn’t pack in the crowds like she used to. Fan support has been good these last three years, but not great. Some blame it on the losing, but except for last year, the team was never that bad. I know it seems like an eternity, but LSU has only been absent from the postseason for two seasons. And we were last in Omaha back in 2004. Not that long ago, really. So it’s not Smoke that drove off the crowds. It’s not the drudgery of losing.

It’s football.

Nothing has hurt LSU baseball more than the rise of LSU football. Let’s step into the Wayback Machine a mere 13 years ago to the springof 1993. LSU football was mired in the depths of the Curly Hallman era. Four losing seasons were behind us, two more lay ahead. The team was coming off of a 2-9 year highlighted by a loss to Colorado St. The basketball team had been to its 15th straight tourney, but little did we know, it was the last one for almost a decade. In 1993, baseball was the only game in town. And they were awesome.

In 1993, the baseball team was in the midst its fifth straight 50 win season. The team would win its second national title, a convincing 8-0 annihilation of Wichita State. Three more were to come. And going to games was a blast. Not just because the team was a true dynasty. Not just because Alex Box was a pretty intimate setting and a fun place to watch a team.

It was because for about five or ten years, baseball was the only winning game in town. While football will always come first in the hearts and minds of the LSU faithful, baseball holds a special place in my heart. During the time I was in school, baseball was about my only taste of winning. And win they did. Now, winning is de rigeur for almost every program. It wasn’t always that way.

The baseball team got us through the darkest days of the LSU athletics program. If nothing else, that’s worth a fireworks show. Thanks, Skip.

Poseur: Finally, To Baseball

This was supposed to be an obituary.

The season was over. LSU was in 11th place in the SEC, and they were playing the 7th ranked team in the country. They sat five games under .500 in SEC play, and another series loss seemed quite likely, which would put LSU six games under with three series left to play. The season was about to be, for all intents and purposes, over.

And then a funny thing happened. LSU swept South Carolina. LSU had to come from behind in every single one of those games. But the game which may have saved the season was Saturday’s epic comeback. Down 7-0 in the 6th inning, LSU rallied to tie the game 9-9 and force extra innings. Seemingly exhausted from the effort, they fell behind again in the 11th inning, only to have South Carolina’s three errors in the bottom half of the inning key another comeback and a 12-11 win.

It was an astounding win, and one LSU followed up on Sunday with a win in a seemingly interminable game broken up by two one-hour rain delays. No one can accuse LSU of not playing on the level, as they could have… actually should have… called it a game when the rains came and LSU was up by 2 in the 8th.

And now the situation, while not exactly rosy, is almost favorable. LSU sits in 9th place in the SEC, one-half game out of the SEC tourney. But the teams are tightly packed. Vandy is in 3rd with an 11-9 record. Arkansas is in 10th at 9-11. At 9-11-1, LSU is at the bottom of the pack, but when only two games separate 3rd from 10th, it’s not that big of a deal. What matters now is that there are only three series left, and LSU has probably the most favorable schedule of any team left in the running. LSU goes on the road to play 11-10 Kentucky this weekend, returns home to play last-place Mississippi State, and then closes out on the road against 11th place Auburn. That’s a pretty soft landing to what had looked like to be another downer of a year.

Hell, I was even ready to bury them. And now, their postseason odds look pretty good. All because they fell behind 7-0.

Checking in on Baseball

We interrupt the end of basketball season to remind you that LSU baseball has just begun its SEC schedule. LSU went to Tennessee and dropped the first game 6-5 and looks like they will wait until Sunday to play again due to weather. A 6-5 loss is actually a perfect indicia of the season so far.

If you're an optimist, you'll see the good things from the game: Matt Clark hit his seventh home run of the season, which is as many as any tiger hit last season. Every starter got on base once, showing some real depth in the lineup. Bradford, our All-American pitcher, threw nine strikeouts in five innings of work. And Aaron Ross threw three innings of scoreless ball from the pen. The team fell behind and rallied back, and had the tying run at second and the go-ahead run at first in the 9the inning. All of these were good things.

If you're a pessimist, you start with the obvious: we lost. Bradford, a guy we need to be awesome, let up six runs in five innings, which isn't good. Sure, everyone got on base, but no one had a multihit game. Hollander drew the team's only walk, and he was hitless. Jared Mitchell kept up his trend of striking out at a truly prodigious rate. LSU rallied, but that means they fell behind: 6-1 after six innings. And LSU never put up a crooked number on the scoreboard, scoring 3 or more runs.

Both groups are right. There are some really encouraging signs from this team. Clark is a masher. Blake Dean is picking up where he left off last season. DJ LeMahieu has been a revelation both in the field and a the plate. The pitching has been solid, though not overwhelming. Even Mike Hollander is hitting .300. And there are quality bats coming off the bench. They are even playing good defense. This team is ten times better than last year's squad.

But that isn't saying much. Last year's squad was terrible. The bullpen is still unreliable. LSU has been getting wins, but they have played a creampuff schedule. Even with the steady diet of patsies, LSU has been unable to get a sweep, seemingly always dropping the third game. That points to the weakness of finding a third starter and the bullpen. Mainieri has been unable to find a starting job for Helenhi, who is one of the team's better hitters. Hollander's hitting .300, but with no power. And while Dean is a stud, finding the other two outfielders has been the biggest problem. Mitchell strikes out way too much. Escobar was awful but coming off injury, Landry is hitting .229, Jones may not be ready, Pontiff lacks speed and power, and Gaudet... well, I can't find a problem with Gaudet other than he can't seem to get the starting gig.

A lot of this is nitpicking. The team looks pretty good, but the SEC is capital "L" loaded, so pretty good may not cut it. And potential around these parts don't make the sun shine. LSU expects wins in baseball. The pieces are there, and hopefully, they are coming together. Because I'm feeling like an optimist today.

Another Good Day in LSU Athletics

After such a good Friday, we followed it up with an even better Saturday. The baseball team won 5-4 in its second game against Indiana. The basketball team won by 20 against Ole Miss. The football team picked up two more commitments on Junior Day.

I watched the basketball game on TV, and I was pretty darn impressed with this team. The consistency isn't there, but it's clear this team has some ability. Randolph and Johnson dominated the game defensively, disrupting shots and contributing heavily to Ole Miss shooting an abysmal 27% from the field. Ole Miss scored a season-low 49 points (previous season-low was 67 points).

The offense played well, particularly early in the game when Thornton was burning up the nets from outside staking us to a big lead. When he went cold, Ole Miss started coming back, but never got closer then 6 down. Midway through the 2nd half, we turned up the defense and fed the inside and built the lead up to 28 before putting in all the subs with 1:30 to go in the game.

Like I said before, I just want this team to build some momentum going into next season. This win is a nice step in that direction. The stretch run includes only one more game against a team that currently has more than 4 wins. If we can win games against South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia, we will climb out of the conference basement and salvage a little bit of pride from this season.

In football, the big commitment yesterday was that of Janzen Jackson, a defensive back from Carencro listed at 6'1" and 185# with 4.43 speed. If he's really that tall, and really that fast, and really has hips of a cornerback, this kid is a S-T-U-D. Let me just admit that I am no expert at evaluating talent, but sometimes a kid's videos stand out so much in some respect that you have to take notice. Janzen Jackson is listed as a cornerback, but his videos show him making hard tackles and providing run support like a strong safety. He'll be an absurdly physical cornerback if that really is his future. If he has the swivel hips and the height and the closing speed of a corner, he will be hard to keep off the field early in his career. He's also a coach's son, much like current redshirt freshman defensive back Phelon Jones, and Carencro players usually come to LSU with good coaching under their belts already. The listed measurements are often unreliable, but I sure hope this kid is as tall and fast as advertised.

If you have access, be sure to watch his videos. You will be impressed. He is generally regarded as the best defensive back in the state.

The second commitment of the day was offensive guard/defensive tackle Josh Downs of Bastrop. He's listed at 6'2" and 275# and comes from one of the most important football factories in Louisiana. His commitment caused some consternation among the message board posters who, for one reason or another, think he is unworthy. The reasons for this break down into two different categories. First, as a defensive tackle, the message board posters consider him to be less of a player than in-state tackles Chris Davenport and Darrington Sentimore and out-of-state tackle Jamarkus McFarland (great LSU name, by the way). Second, word came out that running back/linebacker Montrell Conner wanted to commit but his commitment was not yet accepted.

It's hard to explain to someone unfamiliar with all of this exactly why it matters that Montrell Conner's commitment wasn't accepted. Honestly, I don't think I understand why it matters myself. As for why it wasn't accepted, it is apparently because either a) he wants to be a running back while the coaches only want him at linebacker or b) because they don't yet know whether he's a running back or linebacker. Montrell Conner is a Rivals100 guy, but you should take it as a given that the coaches know more than Rivals does, and I have it on good authority that most major college coaches consider the ratings services to be laughably inaccurate in many cases.

As for Downs, he is a mystery to me, but I don't mean that in a bad way. He hasn't really been discussed much on the boards or the services in advance of his commitment, and there is very little film on him. I know he has the weight, and I know he comes from a good feeder school. Other than that, I don't know much.

One thing that is becoming clear is that the boards and the services know very little about what the coaches are thinking. After Signing Day, I made a post that included this statement:

Of course, no signing day retrospective is complete without . . . looking ahead to the next recruiting class. Unlike for the 2008 class, the in-state 2009 class is expected to be very studly. Already, wide receiver Reuben Randle, defensive tackle Chris Davenport, athlete DJ Banks, running backs Eddie Lacy and Michael York, and RB/LB Montrell Conner look to be 5-star or high-4-star national prospects that could go wherever they want to go in the country.

In addition to my embarrassing misnaming of Michael Ford, it is becoming apparent that 2 or 3 of the people I mentioned not only won't be 5-star or high-4-star national prospects, but they may not even have offers from LSU, period. DJ Banks' offers are coming from lesser programs. Eddie Lacy's grade problems and legal problems may be scaring the big boys off. Montrell Conner apparently can only go to LSU as a linebacker rather than a running back (if that). So take everything with a grain of salt.

Basebal Preview: Last Year of the Box

Last year, I wrote a particular savage post about the baseball team which may have indicated that I thought last year’s offense was historically pitiful. However, I did close with the hopeful note that it was just Mainieri’s first year and I believe a coach gets a free pass in his first year. That still holds true, but now it’s time for Mainieri to produce.

The team is a preseason pick to finish 5th in the SEC West, but Manieiri openly talked about contending for Omaha. While I admire his gusto, the success of this team should be measured fairly modestly: making the SEC tournament and the NCAA tournament (strangely enough, making the NCAA’s may be the easier task). LSU opens the season ranked #25, so it’s not like the optimism is wholly unjustified. How can this team so quickly reverse is fortunes?

Well, for starters, by absolutely gutting the team. Tonight’s starting lineup will include four players who weren’t on the team last year and four sophomores. Mainieri has also announced that Chad Jones and Micah Gibbs, two more newcomers, will start a game in the Indiana series. The weekend rotation will have one newcomer, though tonight’s starter is Jared Bradford, who is on the Golden Spikes Award watch list, and Bradford was about the only bright spot last year. However, don’t think the pitching staff hasn’t been revamped. Verdugo’s been named the midweek starter, and Daniel Bradshaw was the Louisiana High School Pitcher of the Year and is the team’s new closer. Anthony Ranaudo, drafted in the 11th round, turned down the Rangers to pitch at LSU but is right now out with an injury. Someone is just keeping a rotation spot warm for him.

Also, of the returning players, almost all of them lack experience. Mike Hollander is the only 3-year letterman on the entire roster, and he starts off the season moved to a new position (3rd base) and batting last in the order. Normally I have a problem with giving a guy a slot just because of his age, but since this team is so bereft of true senior leadership, I’m okay with one spot for a guy for leadership instead of production. But the leash is short. After Hollander, there are only six other players on the roster with two years in the program (Haydel, Byrd, Coleman, Pontiff, McGhee, and Cain). Of those, only P Ryan Byrd is a starter, though Nicholas Ponitff should be in the outfield rotation while Coleman and Cain were pretty good in the pen last year (Cain was our most effective reliever and Coleman had a great K-BB ratio despite a high ERA). Everyone else on the team has one year or less in the program. Mainieri brought in 19 players in this recruiting class, named #1 in the country, including 12 freshmen.

How are they going to do? Well, we’ll find out pretty quickly. Of the 12 freshmen, 11 of them were named High School All-American. It really is a dream class, and one that LSU needs to produce right away. For this season, Mainieri needs the JUCO studs to step up right away. 1B Matt Clark, DH Matt Gaudet, and SP Jordan Brown are already starters. SP Ryan Verdugo is the midweek starter while INF Rene Escobar and SS Derek Helenihi were both JUCO All-Americans. Ryan Schimp and Mike Hollander better produce or else their seasoned veteran status won’t count for squat.

As bad as last year’s offense was, there is hope the returning starters can turn it around since, aside from Hollander, they were all freshmen. Schimpf and Jared Mitchell were freshmen thrown to wolves last year and looked like it. C Sean Ochinko was the second best freshman on the team last year, and he got better in the offseason, making the Cape Cod leagues All-Star Game. Of course, the best freshman was OF Blake Dean, who now takes up the mantle as LSU’s unquestioned best position player and leader. A huge mantle as a sophomore, but on this team, the sophomores are the veterans.

I’d expect a lot of the new players to have the same growing pains as last year’s freshmen, while the sophomores should now dramatically improved. While Omaha might be a pipe dream, there is the talent to make it if everything breaks right. The real goal for this team should be making the Super Regionals. That would be a great season, and would be a stepping stone to great things next season. But this team absolutely has no excuse to miss the tournament again. It’s a young team, so expect some inconsistent play, but this should be the most exciting LSU team since the Bertman era.

Bring on Indiana.

New 2008 Commitment - Thomas Parsons

The LSU football and baseball programs got a lot of good news yesterday. First, Thomas Parsons, an offensive lineman from Spring Branch, Texas, a massive 6'6" 265# offensive tackle gave his verbal commitment to the Tigers. He will likely be a 3-star when the first set of rankings are complete. He had a long list of offers, including an offer from the University of Texas. He's considered a "fast riser" who may gain a star as his senior season goes along.

Offensive tackle is a giant need in this class. It was thin to begin with this off-season and then Zhamal Thomas and Kyle Anderson were kicked off the team. Thomas Parsons is the first pure Tackle signed (though Matt Branch may be moved to tackle), and it's possible we'll take two more.

In further LSU football news also relevant to the LSU baseball team, Chad Jones, who was one of the marquee signees of the 2007 football recruiting class was not selected in the MLB draft yesterday. Major League Baseball began its draft yesterday, holding the first 5 rounds. Jones hoped to be drafted in the first two rounds, but remains undrafted as the process heads into its second day. He has made statements to the media that he will sign with a major league team if the money is right.

Typically, players drafted outside of the first few rounds do not get very large signing bonuses, but is possible that teams are simply shying away from Jones due to his potential future in football. He will be drafted at some point today, and sometimes players who slip through the draft due to football get signing bonus offers that are much larger than those of players drafted near them. For example, rising sophomore Jared Mitchell was drafted in the 10th round of the MLB draft last year and reportedly turned down a contract offer that was similar to what would have been offered to a 2nd rounder.

We're not out of the woods with Chad Jones, but it is definitely good news for LSU fans that he was not drafted yesterday.

Only one LSU baseball signee was drafted on the first day. Drew Cumberland, shortstop signee from Florida, was selected in the "Compensation" round between the first and second rounds by the San Diego Padres. He is strongly expected to sign with the Padres and forego his college career. Other LSU signees were not drafted in the first 5 rounds and will probably end up reporting for duty in Baton Rouge.

Baseball: How Bad Was It?

Pittman said the team couldn’t hit. That does not begin to describe it. Let’s take a stroll through the numbers to find out exactly how terrible LSU’s offense was, because it really is kind of impressive. The levels of incompetence the Tiger offense achieved will not be matched any time in the near future.

The average SEC team posted an AVG/OBP/SLG of 299/385/450. That’s a good baseline for what an average SEC player should be able to produce. LSU, as a team, hit 256/331/379. That’s right, kids. LSU’s slugging percentage was lower than the average SEC team’s ON BASE PERCENTAGE. That’s not just terrible, that’s cover-your-eyes awful. But it gets worse.

LSU’s best hitter was Blake Dean, who hit 316/366/505. So he posted a slightly above average batting average, slightly below average OBP, and a pretty good slugging. If that’s your best player, you have problems. Once he got to SEC play, those numbers collapsed and he hit 270/323/417. That .417 SLG still lead the team in conference play. Dean beat up on crappy teams and got housed once he faced quality teams in the SEC. And this is the best we had.

No other player posted a conference average AVG, OBP, or SLG in a minimum of 100 at bats, except Sean Ochinko’s .371 OBP. Ochinko displayed almost no power in SEC play, but at least he got on base at a good clip. Other than that, every single player posted a below average rate stat. That’s so bad you almost have to be trying to suck that hard.

Check out LSU’s ranks in offensive categories in conference play (the raw figure is in parentheses, divide by 30 games for the per game rate, next to is the league leader’s number for some perspective):

AVG – 12th (254/311)
OBP – 12th (327/394)
SLG – 12th (360/512)
Runs – 12th (127/235)
Hits – 12th (254/337)
RBI – 12th (118/221)
HR – 11th (17/57)
TB – 12th (360/560)
PA – 12th (1131/1313)
BB – 10th (87/146)
SO – 4th (229/242)
SB – 4th (29/55)
CS – 1st (19/19)
GIDP – 1st (24/24)

I mean, wow. At least all of the small ball people should be happy because LSU is finally stealing bases. Of course, it is at the expense of any semblance of an effective offense. And how the hell can LSU lead the league in double plays given its paucity of baserunners?

I don’t even know how it is possible to lead the league in double plays while also finish dead last in baserunners by a wide margin. Especially considering one of the best ways to avoid a double play is to either hit a home run or to strike out. And LSU managed to strike out more than most of the teams, despite finishing dead last in plate appearances.

These numbers are nightmarish in their sheer ineptitude. Most of them fly in the face of logic. Bad offensive teams tend to not hit in many double plays because they don’t have a lot baserunners to double up. Teams that don’t get on base and strike out a ton, like LSU, usually have low GIDP totals due to their own offensive incompetence. But not our Tigers! They manage to actually excel at sucking.

There simply is no encouraging sign anywhere in those numbers. The team couldn’t get base hits. They couldn’t draw walks. They struck out a ton. They couldn’t run the bases well. When they did make contact, it was with little power. And they grounded into a ton of double plays.

There’s no nice way to say it: we suck.

Baseball

This will be my one and only baseball post of the year. It appears that LSU's baseball season is over following a very weak end to the season, which saw us win only 2 of the final 9 conference games, I think. It looked like we might be going somewhere with a strong stretch mid-season, but we couldn't sustain it.

The team just couldn't hit. It remains to be seen if LSU baseball will manage to rebuild the baseball program from its current low or if we will be spending a lot of time near the bottom of the conference.