LSU Baseball
By Hunt Palmer
LSU’s pitching staff is still searching for answers.
The Tigers rank 14th of 16 SEC teams in ERA (4.84) this season, have issued the fourth most walks, third most hit batsmen and lead the SEC in wild pitches with 53, 15 more than second place Kentucky.
The free bases have been a disaster.
Pitching coach Nate Yeskie’s staff still leads the SEC in strikeouts for the third consecutive season. The philosophy in house is to miss as many bats as possible most of the time. That has led to the tall strikeout totals, but some of the stalwarts are issuing so many free bases in the process.
Mavrick Rizy has issued 14 walks and hit six batters in 17.2 innings. He’s also fired five wild pitches. That’s 25 free bases in under 18 innings. Cooper Williams‘s free base total is 19 in 14.1 innings. Ethan Plog’s is 19 in 11.2 innings.
These have been the guys Johnson and Yeskie have gone to since February.
I’ve got two names to toss in as alternatives that at this point may at least be counted on to throw some strikes.
Marcos Paz, Fr. RHP
Paz is still just a year and a half post-Tommy John. That means stretching him a out into a five or six inning arm is unlikely. However, he’s being used largely for one inning at a time. That leash may need to lengthen.
In three of his last five outings, Paz has allowed no runs and no hits. He has not walked or hit a batter in his last four outings, and he’s only allowed two extra-base hits all season (Sacramento State and Louisiana Tech).
He’s got a fastball north of 95 mph and a sharp slider. Considering recent command, he’s a promising candidate. Johnson said as much on Tuesday night.
“Marcos is one of the best guys that we have. It’s just taken some time to get there with missing 18 months and getting back to full health. That was an electric inning (Tuesday). He pitched great on Sunday (at Ole Miss), too. He got three-up, three-down there, and he got us a ground ball when we sent him back out there, He did his job. He’s going to keep figuring more into this. Eventually, he’ll catch those two that are starting on the weekend, and it’ll put us in a good spot.”
Connor Benge, Sr. RHP
Benge was used heavily early last season. He lost his command and his role on the staff as the season drug along.
At this point, he’s back throwing the ball well in a very small role. He’s entering dirty innings to try to get off the field. That’s how 10 appearances only add up to 4.1 innings of work.
Benge has not hit or walked a batter all season. He’s faced 20. That’s a good enough starting point for me. He’s also got seven strikeouts in his last 14 batters faced. On Tuesday, his velocity was 96-97 mph, and he’s got a pretty tight slider. Plus, he hasn’t thrown a wild pitch.
Unlike Paz, Benge is seasoned at the college level. He’s got 53.1 Division 1 innings to his name between LSU and Dallas Baptist.
I would have no problem with Benge getting higher leverage innings moving forward. Johnson also hinted at that Tuesday night.
“Connor Benge has been one of the guys that I trust to come in in the middle of the inning. We obviously try to match up a lot. This staff has struggled with coming in in the middle of the inning more than the others we’ve had. Connor is a guy that I feel good about doing that, and he got his outs (Tuesday), and we actually sent him back out for another inning for the first time, and he got the two right-handed hitters out in that inning. Did his job.”
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