By Hunt Palmer
The sun did come up in Baton Rouge on Sunday.
Despite the sad Saturday in LSU athletics, it was a gorgeous afternoon to watch some baseball at Alex Box Stadium. The Tigers are a week into Fall Ball, and nothing is settled. It’s a time for experimentation and evaluation.
I picked up a few things from Sunday’s workout.
LEFTY LONGBALLS
I saw three left-handed hitters leave the yard. Mason Braun, the freshman from South Bend, cleared the bleachers in right field just right of The Intimidator. I did not know Braun had that in the tank. He’s a bat-first player who can defend at first base or the outfield. I still think his profile is a line drive hitter with some pop. That was A LOT of pop.
Zach Yorke hit 32 home runs at Grand Canyon over three seasons. He hit one Sunday that cleared the wall in right center. Yorke is a big fella. He’s listed at 295 lbs., and he looks it. Good to see him lift one out of the yard left-on-left versus Santiago Garcia.
Daniel Harden, the Catholic High and JUCO product, also homered to right field.
All three of those guys are fighting for time in the lineup, and Sunday was a good afternoon.
WATCHING WILLIAM
I was excited to watch William Schmidt on Sunday.
His development is going to be a big storyline for this team. As you’d expect, the stuff was really good. His fastball sat 94-97 for two innings, and he threw a couple of really good breaking balls. He also threw a couple that were big misses.
My favorite aspect of Schmidt’s short outing was that he worked ahead in counts consistently with strike one. He also didn’t walk a hitter. If he throws strikes, he’s going to be good. Now, he did give up some hard contact in two innings. Braun’s homer came off of him, and Chris Stanfield roped a line drive double to the left field wall.
That said, I liked the outing because of the strikes.
INFIELD ALIGNMENT
First base, second base and third base are all up for grabs this spring. There are as many as eight players vying for those spots.
The transfers, Trent Caraway (Oregon State), Seth Dardar (Kansas State), Yorke (Grand Canyon) and Brayden Simpson (High Point) are the favorites in my eyes. John Pearson, Braun and the two freshman infielders, Ethan Clauss and Jack Ruckert, are in the mix as well with Tanner Reaves. I was curious where everyone would get reps in fall.
Caraway has manned third base. Simpson has played a lot of first base. Dardar has played some second. That would be a way to get all three in the lineup. Yorke played first base for the team opposite Simpson. All four guys are bat-first players, and I haven’t seen nearly enough to make a call on their defensive acumen. I’m just taking notes as to who gets reps where. That tells you what the coaching staff is seeing.
DAZZLING DEFENSE
Derek Curiel and Stanfield are swapping spots.
Both guys played great defense on Sunday. Curiel made a sensational catch on a sinking line drive to center. He dove and picked it off the grass. Stanfield made a couple of plays going backward and handled a big league pop up near the infield.
This move feels immaterial to LSU’s 2026 team. It’s just for Curiel to get reps in center to boost his draft stock. Stanfield is fine with it, and they’ll both play every day. With Brown in right, LSU is going to be a really strong defensive outfield again.
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