PALMER: 2024 fall baseball primer

By Hunt Palmer

Each fall brings renewed optimism at Alex Box Stadium. This week marks the first of a six-week fall practice schedule that will include scrimmages with Samford and Louisiana-Lafayette and the Purple and Gold World Series. Familiar faces remain all over the diamond, but a huge influx of talent, both from the freshman class and the transfer portal, will make this an extremely competitive fall.

I’ve spoken with sources in the program who say this is the most anticipated fall of Jay Johnson’s time in Baton Rouge because of the amount of competition that will go on. After those discussions, here’s what I’m hearing.

BACKSTOP BATTLE

Alex Milazzo, Hayden Travinski and Brady Neal are gone. The battle for that catcher position will be fierce. Junior college transfer Blaise Priester and freshman Cade Arrambide signed in the recruiting class. Both have been catching their entire lives and have real talent. Luis Hernandez and Eddie Yamin didn’t catch much at Indiana State and Dayton but have put the gear on for the fall.

Johnson is looking for defense first and foremost this fall because all four of these guys have talented bats. In fact, the group accounted for four home runs in live batting practice over the weekend.

Josh Jordan works with the catchers, and his message has echoed Johnson’s. He wants to see receiving, blocking and throwing.

INFIELD INFLUX

Jared Jones, Stevan Milam and Michael Braswell may have been LSU’s best hitters in the Chapel Hill Regional. All three made the All-Regional squad. Milam hit .386 in the postseason with four homers and three doubles. Jones had a monster sophomore campaign, hitting .301 with 28 home runs and 59 driven in. Braswell hit .318 in the postseason and finished the year with a .411 on base percentage which was bested only by Jones and Milam.

Those three figure to man first base, second base and shortstop, but that’s not in Sharpie. Freshman Michael Ryan from Rummel is already turning heads in workouts, and there’s a feeling that he could be the shortstop of the future. And that future could come quickly. A big fall from  Ryan could mean early season at bats.

MOVING ON UP

Daniel Dickinson has a ton of talent. He put up massive numbers at Utah Valley the last two seasons and earned an invite to Team USA. He hasn’t played much third base, but he’ll get some looks there and at second base in the fall. The coaching staff is excited to evaluate hitters like Yamin, Hernandez, Dickinson as well as Dalton Beck and Tanner Reaves.

All of these guys were elite players at a lower level. How does that translate to the SEC? Keep in mind, LSU portal adds have generally been from the power conferences. Tommy White, Braswell, Mac Bingham, Jacob Berry. This is the first time Johnson and his staff had gone to places like Dayton, Utah Valley, Indiana State and Incarnate Word for players.

Just about every arm LSU trots out there in the fall will be sitting in the low to mid 90s. Some will be north of that. It won’t take long to figure out who is overmatched and who can hang.

OUTFIELD OPTIONS

I’d be shocked if LSU settled on a steady three-man outfield in 2025. There are just too many options with too many skillsets.

Jake Brown, Ashton Larson and Josh Pearson are back, and those guys were the starters in the regional. However, Brown hit .143 in SEC play, and he’s going to get back on the mound this fall. Brown’s attitude has been awesome. He loves LSU and wants to do what’s best for the team. He may hit and play defense. He may pitch. He may do both. This fall will be big for him from that perspective. Pearson has basically been a .235 hitter for two years now. Larson feels like a likely starter. He enjoyed an excellent freshman season and was sensational on the Cape. All three guys will be fighting for their jobs.

Chris Stanfield is a high-floor addition from Auburn. He’s a proven defender in centerfield, something Brown is not, who handled the bat just fine in the SEC. Derek Curiel is a name to watch here. He’s a born hitter that hasn’t grown into his power just yet. That scared the professional scouts off of him a little bit during his senior year. He was as highly touted a high school sophomore as there was in America two years ago. He’s a good runner, not a great runner. But he can hit. And according to a conversation I had this week, Curiel was showing some serious pop in batting practice recently. Curiel has the makings of a star.

IN THE ROTATION

Chase Shores is the way, way too early favorite to be LSU’s ace in 2025. He’s fully healthy from Tommy John surgery and looking great. I’m told Shores will start throwing two innings at a time to begin fall workouts. That will move to three, and there are no plans to shut him down early. He’ll pitch all the way through the Purple and Gold World Series.

The other name that could be trending toward a starting spot (obligatory EARLY disclaimer here) is sophomore Kade Anderson. When Anderson was good last year, he was dominant. He struck out 13 in five innings at Southeastern. He struck out six in 2.1 innings in the regional. The staff believes he’s ready to become a high-level SEC starter.

ARMS APLENTY

There are a ton of outs missing from LSU’s pitching staff in 2024. Luke Holman and Gage Jump ate a ton of innings the last eight weeks of the season. Griffin Herring pitched in nearly all of the high leverage bullpen spots. Thatcher Hurd, Nate Ackenhausen and Christian Little saw a lot of action. As did Fidel Ulloa and Javen Coleman.

That means there is plenty to compete for, and LSU brought in a truckload of arms to do it.

Johnson really liked Wofford ace Zac Cowan when he studied him prior to the regional. Cowan is never going to be a first-round pick, but he knows how to pitch and pitch deep into gams every weekend. The same goes for Anthony Eyanson. Those two guys are safety blankets for Nate Yeskie and the LSU pitching staff.

Big time arms like Jacob Mayers, Chandler Dorsey and Mavrick Rizy have a higher upside but a far lower floor. Those guys are more likely bullpen candidates but bullpen candidates the staff is excited about.

The same could be said for William Schmidt. “It’s as good a breaking ball as I’ve seen,” was one of the lines I was given. There is still work to be done to adjust Schmidt from a dominant high school arm to an established college pitcher, but the tools are undeniable. The expectation now is for Schmidt to be eased in this fall and then eased into the season. No need to turn the lights up as bright as can be for his first ever outing. He’s down the pecking order a little bit by design. But no one will be surprised if Schmidt shines early and becomes a key cog in this pitching staff as a freshman.

UNDER THE RADAR

A few of names that were mentioned to me as players to watch were JUCO southpaw Conner Ware and freshmen corner infielders Ryan Costello and John Pearson.

Ware had some injury issues last year that probably kept him out of the draft. He only had six appearances in 2024 for Pearl River CC. Ware features great pitchability and enough arm strength to get outs.

Costello wasn’t as highly touted a signee as some of the others in LSU’s class, but he’s got a big 6-foot-3 frame and some real power.

Pearson can absolutely rake. His questions are all defensive. If he can stick at third base, he could be a real pro prospect. If that’s an issue, he’s probably just a really good college hitter without a true position. He’ll get the chance to play a bunch of third base the next couple of weeks.

Scrimmages begin Thursday at 4:00. They’re all open to the public. Friday’s action starts at 4:00, as well. Sunday they’ll get started at 1:00.