By Hunt Palmer
Tanner Reaves swung the bat well enough to merit playing time at third base this year.
His glove (and Michael Braswell’s) didn’t allow it.
Reaves made five errors in 37 total chances (.865 fldg %) over the course of the season. Braswell made three in 93 chances (.968 fldg %). The decision became a rather easy one for Jay Johnson.
When asked to hit, Reaves acquitted himself well. He hit .262 with three homers. He collected two hits at Texas in three at bats and two more against Mississippi State in five at bats.
Johnson has liked Reaves’s offensive game for three years. That’s why he honored his commitment through two years at Blinn Community College in Texas.
Reaves was an All-American at Blinn where he hit .398 with 24 homers over that pair of seasons. Reaves is also a rarity in that he’s a left-handed hitting infielder. Plenty of those play first base. Not many elsewhere.
Reaves won’t garner high-end draft attention, but he could be picked in the later rounds with or without an agreement to sign.
WHAT IF HE STAYS
Reaves becomes a serious contender for both the second and third base jobs. Brayden Simpson and Seth Dardar are in that mix, as well. So is John Pearson when it comes to third base.
I think Reaves can improve defensively. He was not comfortable at third base, but second base is a completely different task. You have to cover more ground, but the reaction time is slowed.
And I think he can be a bottom third of the order bat similar to what Luis Hernandez was in 2025. The senior backstop hit .279 with nine home runs. I don’t think that’s out of the question for Reaves if he were to play every day.
At worst he’s a left-handed hitting option off the bench for a coach that really likes to play matchups.
WHAT IF HE GOES
LSU’s infield depth takes a hit and really depends on how the rest of the draft shakes out.
Reaves is not a star, but he’s got a reasonably high floor as a 23-year-old player with a ton of college at bats, albeit most of them in junior college. You never know how freshmen are going to handle their first taste of SEC baseball. With Reaves, there’s less uncertainty.
My prediction is that Reaves returns and starts opening weekend of next spring on the infield, likely at second base.
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