A logjam of talent
When LSU’s 2024 season came to an end in Chapel Hill, the Tigers’ starting outfield in that decisive game seven against North Carolina, from left to right, consisted of Josh Pearson, Jake Brown, and Ashton Larson.
Even though Pearson, Brown, and Larson are all back, there’s a very real chance one, at most, of that trio are starting on opening night because Jay Johnson and his staff welcomed in a surplus of outfield talent in the offseason that’s going to lead to about five or six guys competing for one starting job.
At the end of the 2023 season, Johnson went into the transfer portal to fill the hole at shortstop, a premium defensive position, by adding Michael Braswell a multi-year starter from an SEC school. Johnson’s followed a similar formula this past offseason in trying to address centerfield, another premium defensive position, with another multi-year starter from another SEC school. Enter Chris Stanfield.
Stanfield in 2025 may not be a perfect 1:1 comp of Braswell in 2024, but it’s a pretty close analogy. Braswell is probably better at the plate than he is in the field, while Stanfield is a pretty good defender but leaves a little to be desired offensively. Last season on The Plains Stanfield hit .276, down from his .280 average the previous season, but had a .981 fielding percentage and started 51 games in centerfield. Stanfield’s got a great arm, and good speed so he could be a threat on the base path if Johnson allows his team to run more often.
Heading into 2021 season LSU got an elite outfielder prospect with the initials DC to come to campus when the expectation was he’d go pro. That DC, Dylan Crews, ended up starting 60 games in right field as a freshman and ended up having arguably the greatest career in LSU’s program history.
Four years later another DC, Derek Curiel, looks poised to be another one of those instant impact freshmen along the same lines as Crews, Steven Milam, Alex Bregman, or Aaron Nola. A product of West Lutheran in California, Curiel was the highest ranked high school outfield prospect to enroll in college, finishing as the No. 10 overall player per Perfect Game. Now, mere days before the season begins, Perfect Game ranks him as the No. 1 overall freshman in the country and he’s been named the SEC’s preseason freshman of the year.
Just as Crews did in his freshman year, Curiel will man one of the corner outfield spots—likely left field—for the duration of the season and then take over the centerfield job in 2026. He’ll be a draft eligible sophomore after 2026 so there’s no guarantee you hold onto him for the 2027 season. There’s questions about his power so he’s not as five-toolsy of a prospect as Crews was, but the other tools are above average or quite good. He’s got good speed, an even better glove, and should be a .300 or better hitter in his time here. As far as Derek Curiel is concerned, the future is now.
So if Curiel is your left fielder and Stanfield is in center, that means LSU could have at minimum three guys battling for the starting right field job: Larson, Brown, and Pearson, plus guys we haven’t mentioned yet like Ethan Frey, Mic Paul, or Dalton Beck.
If we’re going off of seniority and guys who have proven they’ll show up on the biggest stage, Pearson would be your guy. He won’t be drafted very high, and likely won’t ever sniff the big leagues, but we’ve seen him make game-saving catches in game one of the National Championship series and go deep in the decisive game three. He’s only a career .256 hitter, but dammit he just shows up when you gotta have it.
While seniority is all nice and sentimental, we’re also in the business of winning around these parts and Brown probably is your best remaining option. Injury derailed a promising freshman season, but once he healed up around May he hit .417 in Hoover. A legit two-way player, Brown’s arm might give him the edge over the rest of his teammates to start more often than not in right field.
Depth and DH Contenders
Ashton Larson’s glove might not be as good as Brown, Stanfield, or Curiel’s but his bat is too good to keep him out of the lineup and I think he’ll be DHing more often than not. Remember, Larson actually led LSU in batting in SEC games with a .337 average and quite frankly the Tigers could use his power from the left side of the plate.
Frey is kind of in the same boat as Larson in that he’s not as good of a defender, but the power might force him to get some ABs. The difference is Frey’s a career .237 hitter and his K rate was around 28 percent last season in 57 at bats. I can trust Larson to get on base; I can’t say the same about Frey.
Incarnate Ward transfer Dalton Beck kind of also fits the same mold as Frey and to a lesser extent Larson: a good enough bat to warrant playing time, probably better suited to be a DH, but could play outfield if needed. Beck had crazy production at Ward last season (20 doubles, 18 homers, 67 RBI) but that was, of course, against Southland competition. How does that translate against SEC pitching?
If Larson, Frey, and Beck are offensively driven players, Mic Paul will find his way onto field in late game situations because of his glove. Paul’s maybe the fastest guy on the team but didn’t play at all in 2024. In 2023 he played in 12 games and got a total of nine at bats. He’d be the first off the bench for Chris Stanfield.
LSU catcher Blaise Priester will likely also factor into the designated hitter conversation, especially if facing a lefty. Priester might have the most power on the team, yes even more so than Bear Jones, and could be as perfect of a Hayden Travinski replacement as you could imagine: a powerful bat that could play catcher if called upon, and, like Trav did last season, you’d gladly take a .271 average if the tradeoff is he hits 16 homers