By Hunt Palmer
Baseball season is rapidly approaching. Jay Johnson’s 2025 team is ranked in the top five no matter where you look. The incoming portal class was ranked No. 1 by multiple outlets, and the freshman class earned that honor as well.
The force that was a 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation is gone, and so is the thunderous bat of Tommy White. But some familiar faces return as well, and, as usual, the anticipation around the program is ratcheted up this time of year.
Let’s continue a look around the roster for this 2025 LSU baseball team with right field.
WHO’S GONE: Derrick Mitchell (Transfer: Austin Peay), Zeb Ruddell (Transfer: Louisiana Tech)
WHO’S BACK: Ashton Larson, Ethan Frey, Josh Pearson, Jake Brown
WHO’S NEW: Dalton Beck (Transfer: Incarnate Word)
The outfield is a log jam, and most of the piling up is right here in right field. I don’t mean to simply hand the other two spots to Derek Curiel and Chris Stanfield, but I do think those guys have been standouts from the fall through the first two weeks. So, the rest of the guys in this group need to make a push to unseat one of those two or plant a flag in right.
As of August, Larson felt like a probable starter. He led the team in hitting during SEC play last year at .337. That included three homers, eight doubles and 10 driven in. Then he went to Cape Cod and was named Most Outstanding Player for the Chatham Anglers. He hit .316 over the summer in a brutal league.
Larson’s best trait is his flat swing that stays in the hitting zone and long time and produces a ton of line drives. I don’t see 15 home runs in his future, but low strikeout numbers and lots of line drives will almost always find a way into the lineup. Larson is an average runner with an average arm. He’s not the defender Pearson is and not the athlete Brown is. He’s just a more polished hitter.
Pearson is going to play some. And he’s going to be Pearson. He can run one out of the yard and will play a good defensive outfield no matter where they put him. He’s a known commodity.
Brown is the biggest wild card here for me. He did swing the bat better in the fall than he did in the spring or summer, but those are the lowest leverage at bats of the calendar year.
Frey’s got one edge on the field here. He’s right-handed. Though he’s got that big, 6-foot-6, 245 lbs. frames, he’s never hit a college home run in 76 career at bats. If he doesn’t show the ability to hit the long ball, which would separate him from Brown and Larson as a right-handed option, he doesn’t really have a distinguishing trait as a starting option. He’s not a fluid defender.
Beck is interesting because he put up monster Southland Conference numbers in a hitter-friendly ballpark at Incarnate Word. Does that translate? He’s getting regular reps on the pitcher’s mound and is another left-handed bat, as well. His role on the team is very much to be determined.
HUNT’S TAKE: I don’t have as strong a feeling about right as I have had in this series about catcher, the left side of the infield and left field. This still feels like a tossup that won’t be decided, if ever, by the start of SEC play.
Larson has the year-and-a-half track record; Brown has the upside and athleticism; Pearson is a proven commodity.
My gut tells me Brown is the first guy. But Pearson may get the nod on Opening Day because it’s his fourth year. That kind of puts Larson behind the pack to begin things. However, two good swings in a 14-1 blowout of Purdue Fort Wayne on the first Sunday could shake up that Tuesday’s lineup.
Big picture, I think LSU has enough ability here that it’s more of a question mark than a hole in the lineup. I think any of the three could make 30 SEC starts and function quite nicely as a seven-hole hitter.
It would surprise me if any of the three became a star. That’s what Jared Jones, Derek Curiel, Steven Milam and Daniel Dickinson are for.
Plus, if LSU is dealing with a tough right hander with a good breaking ball, Brown can go play center for Stanfield with one of the other two in right to give LSU a three-lefty outfield that includes Curiel. That’s a nice luxury to have.
I think all of these guys will start at least eight or so conference games, and it would surprise me a little if any started all 30.
NEXT UP: Starting Pitching
