LSU Baseball
By Hunt Palmer
In a forgettable season, LSU’s offense did some things I didn’t remember.
Through SEC Tournament play, LSU finished fifth in the SEC in runs scored. How the Tigers managed that is not perfectly clear by the metrics. Runs and walks were the only stats where LSU sniffed the top of the league.
OFFENSIVE OVERVIEW
Runs: 5th (7.6 per game)
Batting Average: 8th (.282)
On Base Percentage: 7th
Slugging Percentage: 7th
OPS: 7th
Home Runs: 8th
Stolen Bases: 14th
Walks: 3rd
I’m not sure I would have guessed LSU averaged nearly eight runs per game. LSU scored at least seven runs in 17 of 30 SEC games. The Tigers lost nine of those. That’s hard to fathom.
TRANSFER TROUBLE
This has been covered, but the transfer bats didn’t fare well.
Zach Yorke, Brayden Simpson, Seth Dardar and Trent Caraway combined to hit .247 with 14 home runs. They hit 60 home runs combined last year.
Yorke actually did a good job of getting on base. He was one of four Tigers to walk 30 times, and he didn’t really start the last month. His on base percentage was .411 which was better than Jake Brown’s .404. He just struck out too much and didn’t produce an extra base hit in SEC play.
Plenty will be made of those struggles, and it clearly hurt the team. Still, the issues were more on the pitching side.
CLUBBING CADE
What a breakout year for Cade Arrambide. He hit .343 in SEC play and finished with 18 homers. It was a huge fall for the sophomore catcher, and he followed that up with a huge spring.
Every preseason All-American list is going to feature the Tiger backstop come January. Jay Johnson said he could be the best player in the program, and he just may be.
MASE ON BASE
A lot was made of Mason Braun‘s bat to ball skills. Rightfully so. He swung it great this year. What became even more evident was his watchful eye. Braun led the team with 35 walks, and he only started 37 games. He was also hit by eight pitches which was four off the team lead.
I’m not sure Braun is going to hit leadoff for the next two years, but he’s going to be first, second or third in the order for the foreseeable future.
DEREK DOES IT AGAIN
Derek Curiel set the bar so high his freshman year that we probably didn’t appreciate his sophomore season enough.
The Tiger centerfielder had 82 hits which was 16 more than the closest Tiger. He hit .353 with a team-best 18 doubles. He also led the team with 13 steals while playing stellar centerfield defense.
His time as a Tiger is very, very likely over. Because this team underachieved and he doesn’t hit a lot of home runs, his year went under the radar, but it was excellent.
TOTAL THOUGHTS
There were bad weekends. LSU scored five total runs in the last two games of the Oklahoma series, both losses. Five total runs in the first two games in Oxford wasn’t good enough. Neither were two and two in the first two A&M games.
But, on the whole, LSU’s offense was solid. By the end of the year, it would have been a great offense with Jake Brown and Omar Serna healthy. Add Chris Stanfield to that mix, too. He hit .228 mostly because he got hurt in the second game of the season.
This team hit some homers, drew a lot of walks and generally scored enough runs. Offense wasn’t the issue. It was the pitching.
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