Talented but questions exist
For about as long as I’ve been with ATVS, the conversation in every baseball preview with regards to the starting pitching has kinda sounded the same: “boy on paper this is a talented bunch but…”
More often than not the “but” has ended up outweighing the hype. Jaden Hill couldn’t stay healthy in 2021. In 2022 Ma’Khail Hilliard did yeoman’s work as a Friday night guy but in reality was either at best an overqualified Sunday starter or at worst a perfectly “fine” Saturday starter. The 2023 team, of course, had a tremendous 1-2 punch with Paul Skenes and Ty Floyd, but Sundays ended up being a little dicy with Grant Taylor and Chase Shores both having to get Tommy John surgery at different points in the calendar; last season Luke Homan and Gage Jump ended up being a pretty good duo, but Thatcher Hurd being unable to live up to the promise he showed in Omaha on a consistent basis ended up being really costly.
The 2025 projected rotation, on paper, looks to be quite good but they’ll have to show it. The big difference this year? LSU, finally, gets its pitching coach back for a second season and Nate Yeskie returning might make all the difference in the world.
Starters
Kade Anderson (4-2, 3.99 ERA, 38.1 IP, 59 Ks, 20 BBs)
*Anthony Eyanson (6-2, 3.07 ERA, 82 IP, 85 Ks, 24 BBs)
**Chase Shores (0-1, 1.96 ERA, 18.1 IP, 15Ks, 9 BBs)
*At UC-San Diego
**In 2023, missed all of 2024 due to Tommy John surgery
While an official rotation for the opening series against Purdue Fort Wayne has yet to be released—though it ought to be coming in the next day or so—it looks like the combination of Anderson, Eyanson, and Shores have separated themselves from the pack with Anderson likely getting the nod for this Friday night.
If offseason reports are to be believed, Anderson is poised to take a massive leap heading into year two as a Tiger. A draft-eligible sophomore, Anderson’s fastball is sitting around 93 to 95 from the left side and was nails when called upon last postseason. In two appearances in the SEC Tournament, Anderson threw 1.2 innings of scoreless work, and in the Chapel Hill Regional he took the mound twice in one day, holding both Wofford and North Carolina scoreless. I also have nothing to base this off of, but something about Anderson sorta reminds me of Florida’s Brady Singer: maybe a little baby faced, but absolute terrors on the mound. It’s the quiet ones you gotta worry about.
There’s a case to be made that Eyanson is the single biggest pitching addition across college baseball. The stuff is nasty with a fastball touching 96, a devastating curve, and a slider that’s improving. Eyanson was ranked the No. 4 overall transfer in the country and is being projected as a Day 1 pick in this summer’s draft. Like fellow Tiger transfer Daniel Dickinson, the biggest question will be whether or not he can handle the jump from the Big West to the SEC.
Shores might be as physically imposing of a pitcher LSU’s ever had. Listed at 6’8” and 253 pounds, Shores is an absolute hurler with a fastball touching 98 MPH. Just like Paul Skenes is, Shores isn’t a fastball merchant and has a changeup and slider he can throw for strikes.
Of all the disappointing things about LSU blowing that season-ending game against North Carolina, maybe the biggest one was Shores being ready to return to the mound had the Tigers advanced to the Super Regionals. We’ll never know how effective he might have been in that scenario, but now more than 20 months removed from Tommy John, Shores is good to go. He’ll need to make the most of this season as he is eligible for this summer’s draft, and if he does sign it’ll likely mean he had a great season.
From a pure talent standpoint, Shores is probably the most gifted of this trio but there’s nothing wrong with him letting him work his way up to Friday night status. In fact LSU could do a lot worse than have a potential Hulk-sized first round pick be “only” the Sunday guy for the first few weeks of the season.
So you have, let’s say the words again, O N P A P E R what looks like a very good rotation with two, maybe three guys who will hear their names called on Day 1 of the 2025 MLB Draft. Buuuuut, just for the sake of being skeptical, you have 1) a sophomore being asked to take on a bigger role; 2) an incoming transfer making the jump from a lower level into the best conference in the country; and 3) a flamethrowing behemoth of a young man coming off of injury that has less than 20 innings to his name. If you’re waiting to see, I don’t blame you; and if you’re completely bought into the hype and preseason reports, I can’t blame you for that, either.