Michael Bacigalupi
By Hunt Palmer
When you play deep into June, summer ball gets pushed back.
When you don’t play the last week of May, summer ball gets started early. For a few Tigers, this is a very important summer of development as LSU tries to make sure a repeat of this postseason doesn’t happen any time soon.
Jay Johnson has been careful with summer baseball in his time at LSU. Derek Curiel didn’t play last summer because he’d started nearly 70 games. William Schmidt didn’t pitch in any games last summer. He worked on his mechanics. Casan Evans got rest.
While Johnson is at LSU, he’s not generally going to send players off to summer ball in mid-June for 30 games worth of work. John Pearson got that last year because he hadn’t played much. But, for the most part, it will be situational and with a lot of intent.
LSU’s full summer ball plans haven’t been made public, but Ethan Clauss hit a homer in the Northwoods League this week, so he’s off and playing. Here are three players I think have a big summer (and fall) in front of them as they work to improve their game and role on next season’s team.
WILLIAM PATRICK, OF
I’ve written this a few times, but I truly believe it. This could be a huge summer of development for Patrick. He was Mr. Everything at St. Frederick High School last year. The meant playing wide receiver, free safety and punter. In addition to baseball, he competed in the long jump and in the 4×100 relay.
Now, it’s just baseball. Patrick doesn’t need to put on weight. He doesn’t need to learn a new position. Sometimes those are big adjustments for a new college player. Patrick just needs to hit 94 mph fastballs and good sliders. And do that some more. And do that some more.
He had one extra base hit in 41 at bats and struck out 15 times against five walks. He was just a little bit overmatched. He needs to go hit the ball hard. My favorite example of this exact circumstance is Andrew Stevenson who hit .193 on an Omaha team as a freshman. He really found a groove that next summer and came back to post .335 and .348 batting averages before going on to become a big leaguer.
REAGAN RICKEN, RHP
Ricken only threw 19.1 innings this season and only topped two innings in an outing three times. He was lightly used.
The same concept with Patrick applies here to Ricken who I think can go get 15 to 20 innings this summer if the staff wants him to. Ricken played football his entire life and has never devoted himself solely to baseball.
This year, he hit seven batters and walked 11 in those 19.1 innings. He just needs to hone in his command. At 6-foot-5 and 218 pounds, Ricken will add some weight, and I think that velocity will tick up the way Schmidt’s did in 2026 as a sophomore who added weight. That will put Ricken in the mid 90s consistently.
Every role on the pitching staff is available this fall into the next spring, and Ricken can fill one of those with some improvement.
MASON BRAUN, 1B
Braun proved he can hit. That’s not going to be a problem.
The South Bend slugger had five hits against Florida, four at Georgia and seven at Mississippi State. Bat to ball is there. He needs to work on two things. First, the prodigious power he showed at the MLB Showcase last year when he hit a 430 foot shot. He only hit three homers this year. Second, defense at first base.
Right now, it feels like Braun is the first baseman. If Johnson is serious about “getting more athletic,” which he said, then Braun is a first baseman and not an outfielder. The first baseman probably needs to hit 12 homers, and he’s got to play a little bit better defense than LSU did this season.
I’ll be checking box scores to see where Braun is playing, wherever that may be. I know LSU will send him up north with a plan. I think the power will come naturally. The defense is going to have to come from work. Braun is willing to do that.
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