Over two Major League Baseball Drafts, LSU has pumped 21 players into the professional ranks.
That pace doesn’t appear to be slowing down.
D1Baseball named seven more Tigers to its annual Top 100 Prospects list for the 2025 draft. The list features three returning players and four from a transfer portal haul that will provide an infusion of depth and talent into the program.
“The reality is we’re in a different landscape right now. I don’t think it’s about building a program anymore and that’s my wheelhouse. My specialty is developing a program,” LSU head coach Jay Johnson said. “But I think it’s probably now about building your team one year at a time.”
This time last year Chase Shores was recovering from Tommy John surgery which abruptly ended a promising freshman season. Reports are now that the 6-foot-8 right hander is nearing 100 miles per hour on his fastball, one of the primary reasons he ranks No. 6 on D1Baseball’s list. A primary reliever before his injury in 2023, Shores is a candidate for Friday nights in the spring of 2025.
Daniel Dickinson, a transfer in from Utah Valley, joins Shores in the Top 10 at No. 8. The athletic infielder is coming off a season in which he hit .363 with 18 home runs and 53 runs driven in while stealing 32 bases. He spent his summer on Cape Cod with the Harwich Mariners after a stint with Team USA.
The draft came and went without a mention of slugging first baseball Jared Jones which means the Tigers return their biggest power threat in 2025. The man they call “Bear” clubbed 28 long balls as a sophomore, the most in an LSU uniform since Matt Clark hit 28 in 2008. Jones also finished second in the SEC in walks while improving his first base defense. He checks in at No. 41 on the list.
With LSU’s entire weekend rotation headed for pro ball, Johnson eyed the portal for proven starting pitching. He got that in the form of right handers Anthony Eyanson (No. 45) and Jacob Mayers (No. 68).
Eyanson earned a spot on Team USA’s Collegiate National team after a sensation campaign with UC San Diego. He limited opponents to a .190 batting average and struck out 85 in 82 innings and a starter.
Mayers has been punching hitters out by the truckload for Nichols State over the past two seasons. His 106 led the Southland Conference, and his 4.97 hits per inning allowed was third best in the nation. While his upper-90s fastball and sharp slider are weapons, Mayers will have to cut down on the walks. In back-to-back seasons he has led Division 1 in free passes allowed.
Johnson had to be sure some power remained in the Tiger offense with Tommy White’s departure and Jones’s future uncertain. With that in mind he plucked slugger Luis Hernandez from Indiana State. Hernandez has played third base, first base and catcher for the Sycamores, but it’s his bat that has landed him at No. 83 on D1Baseball’s list. He hit .369 with 23 home runs last season and earned First-Team All-Missouri Valley Conference honors on a club that was narrowly short of hosting a regional.
And after starting and finishing his first collegiate season with sparkling efforts, southpaw Kade Anderson rounds out LSU’s presence on the list at No. 90. The Madisonville product fanned 27 in just 16 and 2/3 innings of work in the preconference. In the Chapel Hill Regional, he dazzled in two appearances striking out six of the 11 he faced. Anderson is primed for a strong sophomore season in purple and gold.
Earlier in the summer the D1 Baseball’s expert unanimously predicted LSU to return to Omaha in 2025, the only team picked to do so. Though many talented players have come through the program the past three seasons, Johnson continues to restock the shelves with high end talent.
