By Hunt Palmer
The defending national champions are about halfway through fall workouts.
The Tigers controlled 21 innings against Samford last weekend in Biloxi and will travel to Hammond to take on Southeastern Louisiana Suinday afternoon. I’ve been able to take in a couple of scrimmages over at Alex Box Stadium, as well.
Here are a few fall talking points as Jay Johnson’s roster continues to compete with an eye on February.
EIGHT LOOKED GREAT
I saw Gavin Guidry on the mound for the first time in a long time on Friday.
He was locked in.
Guidry recorded five outs, all strikeouts. Those punchouts included Steven Milam, Jake Brown and Derek Curiel. The fastball was steady at 93 mph. He was featuring that hammer of a breaking ball that we saw in 2023 and 2024. He also mixed in a straight changeup and a tighter slider that he threw for strikes. Most importantly, he’s healthy. After his five outs of work, he went out to right field and let it rip for about 10 more at 100% with a crow hop.
Last year Guidry was an option in the starting rotation as of December and January. That’s probably still the case, but at the very least he’s a proven bullpen arm with the highest of leverage innings under his belt.
NEW YORKE
I’ve really enjoyed watching Zach Yorke hit.
The Grand Canyon transfer homered to right in the first scrimmage I saw, and last night he shortened up and punched a line drive single to left center. At nearly 300 lbs., his strength is obvious. I want to see the other sides of his offensive game. They’ve impressed thus far.
Keep in mind, I haven’t seen him face Casan Evans or Zac Cowan yet. Those guys are proven SEC dudes. Hitting the bottom of LSU’s staff isn’t quite the same. But consider me encouraged by the early returns of LSU biggest left-handed portal bat.
GETTING DEFENSIVE
I have a close eye on the defense at second base.
Right now, it feels like Brayden Simpson, Tanner Reaves and Seth Dardar are the main contenders. I watched them all take ground balls Friday, and they all did a solid job. Milam and Daniel Dickinson have been plus defenders there the last two seasons for LSU. I’m not expecting that. Gavin Dugas was a bat over there three years ago. This is more comparable.
Reaves played some great defense in Biloxi. He struggled at third last year. This is a totally different skillset. The other two options have played a lot of infield defense in college.
Offense will probably dictate who ends up winning the job, and Simpson hit two homers against Samford. But I wanted to be sure LSU wasn’t struggling to find anyone who could handle defense over there. That doesn’t look like much of a problem.
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