Cal Baptist Baseball
By Hunt Palmer
Monday was a wild one in college baseball.
Three national seeds were eliminated on their own field, and hundreds of players hit the transfer portal officially. Jay Johnson and his staff worked the phones all day long and are working to find fits, build rapport and schedule visits in the coming days.
Monday, I gave you five names to watch. We’ll trim that to three on Tuesday morning and then start to try to narrow things down with some names LSU is actually courting as the week moves forward. Again, these are not links, only players who fit the profile Jay Johnson has laid out.
In his infamous press conference, he suggested LSU chased home runs last cycle. He’s not going to do that again. He also said to The Advocate last week that he is looking for players with a performance track record as opposed to big time projectability on the mound.
Chris Ramirez, SS, Cal Baptist – This fit is perfect, in my opinion. Ramirez was WAC Player of the Year in 2026 and has been the WAC Defensive Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons as the Cal Baptist shortstop.
He’s 5-foot-9 and has sensational hands. He can also swing the bat. In 2026, he hit .356 with 20 doubles and has only struck out 24 times in 231 career at bats over two seasons. At best, he’s an everyday shortstop who can hit the ball to all fields. At his SEC floor, he plays elite middle infield defense and is a pest at the bottom of the order. Either way, he helps.
Michael Malki, RHP, Cal Baptist – A second Cal Baptist prospect has arrived. Malki is a pitcher, and he fits the performance mold. Malki was WAC Pitcher of the Year after posting an 11-0 record with a 3.12 ERA. The 111 strikeouts in 75 innings are great. The 37 walks is a little bit high.
Malki is only 6-foot and topped out at 92 in the fall. He faced Arizona State in that outing and fared well. He’s got four pitches. Maybe this is a guy LSU thinks has a little more in the tank with the resources available in Baton Rouge.
Linkin Garcia, SS, Texas Tech – This name went in just after Monday’s published piece on the first five names to watch. My assumption is that anyone leaving Texas Tech is going to command a significant amount of money. Garcia had a great freshman season with the Red Raiders.
The 6-foot-5 infielder was a top 25 player in the high school class last year and hit .342 for Texas Tech over 47 starts. He played shortstop and third base, showing a little bit of versatility. That huge frame generally suggests more power is to come which is just what Johnson is looking for in the program. Garcia drove in 59 runs with only four homers. I also like the California connection here. Garcia is from Newport Beach which Johnson knows well.
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