LSU is barreling toward its first fall exhibition this weekend when the Tigers travel to Biloxi, MS. to take on Samford.
All the action has been at The Box thus far, and I’ve got a chance to take in some of it. A few musings on a from the last 10 days
LEFTY LUCAS
I love Lucas Nawrocki as a pitching prospect from the left side, but I haven’t gotten eyes on that yet. What I know is that the freshman has blistered a pair of long balls early in the fall. Last week, he hit a 113 miles per hour laser beam at a preposterous 18-degree launch angle. Last Thursday night, he followed it up with another blast. This one was a moonshot that apexed at 106 feet and flew out to right.
LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson was adamant that Nawrocki would be a two-way player at LSU, something LSU hasn’t done much of in Johnson’s era. Paul Skenes, Jake Brown and Gavin Guidry each picked a lane pretty quickly. Dalton Beck did both but neither as a key contributor. Nawrocki is going to contribute both ways. He’s off to a great start.
BEATY BBs
When Braxton Beaty pulled his name out of the MLB Draft over the summer, it was a positive for LSU. That said, he wasn’t a huge draft risk. He’s 6-feet tall and under 180 pounds. He spent most of his high school career throwing around 90 mph. That garnered him top 15-status among high school lefthanders, and of the better arms in Texas, but he wasn’t considered a top-five round pick.
Beaty’s fastball sat 94-95 miles per hour for two innings two weeks ago. His delivery was smooth as ever, and the velocity has obviously ticked up. His command wasn’t good. He issued a pair of walks and hit a batter, but command has not been an issue for Beaty.
A freshman left-hander with a 95 mph fastball is a nice member to have for the present and future. I was impressed.
DEMOLISHED BY DOM
The show-stopper from the weekend was Dominic Santarelli’s 117.7 mph home run. Metal bats certainly help, but 117.7 mph is absurd. It appears that only two balls in all of Major League Baseball were hit that hard in 2026. O’Neill Cruz of the Pirates produced the hardest hit ball at 119 mph.
I wrote about Santarelli’s impressive frame in our first fall update. He’s the most intimidating presence on the roster, and he’s four months from his first official plate appearance. Sunday’s at bat produced a 437-foot homer.
DEALING DIEGO
On Sunday, Diego Velasquez struck out the side again. It was William Patrick, Malachi Washington and Nawrocki, so three young players, but striking out the side for a second time in three appearances is good work.
The USC transfer is throwing a lot of strikes and missing a lot of bats in the fall. He’s going to compete for some important innings in the spring.
