The future wears 9
Every top college baseball team heading into the season feels great about their bullpen…until they don’t. LSU is certainly guilty of that.
Coming into 2024 lots of people felt LSU had maybe the best bullpen in the entire country and the oops haha they weren’t quite what we had expected, and to make matters worse LSU lost Griffin Herring—arguably the best pitcher on last season’s staff—to the MLB Draft.
To quote Michael Scott “fool me once, strike one, but fool me twice…strike three.” We’re not gonna know if this pen’s real or not until SEC play so try not to get too high or too low over these next couple of weekends.
Returning Pitchers
Gavin Guidry (2-0, 22 appearances, 3 saves, 3.77 ERA, 28.2 IP, 42 Ks, 12 BBs)
Jaden Noot (No stats, missed 2024 due to Tommy John surgery)
Kade Woods (0-0, 3 appearances 5.40 ERA, 1.2 IP, 2 Ks, 2 BBs)
Dylan Thompson (No stats)
DJ Primeaux (0-0, 9 appearances, 2.45 ERA, 3.2 IP, 3 Ks, 2 BBs)
Guidry is by far LSU’s most proven bullpen arm who was on last season’s roster. This year’s No. 8, Guidry was, of course, called upon to record the final outs in Omaha two summers ago and will once again be asked to come in during these high leverage situations. He won’t blow his fastball by people but his best pitch is his slider which is “A FUCKIN HAMMER” his words, not mine.
Beyond Guidry though there’s not a lot of proven arms, at least from last year’s team. Woods and Noot were both weighed down by injuries last season, while for DJ Primeaux it’s now or never.
New Pitchers: Freshmen & JUCO
Casan Evans
Mavrick Rizy
William Schmidt
Connor Ware
Cooper Williams
Schmidt is the crown jewel of LSU’s 2024 recruiting class and the highest ranked high school pitching prospect to ever enroll on campus. If everything goes to plan, Schmidt could end up having a career very similar to fellow Catholic High alum Aaron Nola: All-American, SEC Pitcher of the Year, first round draft pick, and multi-year Friday night ace.
Schmidt’s fastball is clocking in around 97, the spin rate on his curveball is MLB quality already, and he’s only going to get better over the next three seasons. The expectations are through the roof for Schmidt, but now he’s gotta deliver upon it. Remember we were having these exact same conversations about Cam Johnson just last year and it didn’t work out in Baton Rouge. There’s no such thing as a sure thing, but Schmidt is someone worth betting on.
While Schmidt is the face of this freshman class, his classmate, Mavrick Rizy (incredible name!) also seems primed to make an impact from the jump. Listed at an imposing 6’9”, Rizy is maybe the hardest thrower on this year’s roster with a fastball comfortably ranging from 94 to 96 and he’s got a good curveball plus a blossoming changeup. Rizy’s a draft-eligible sophomore, so there might be a push to get the most out of him while he’s with the program, and as such I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s starting during the midweek.
Cooper Williams was a late add to this class as he got out of his LOI after the coaching change at Texas A&M. Another top-100 prospect in this past cycle, Williams could find his way to the mound out of necessity because frankly LSU doesn’t have too many left-handed options on the roster.
Speaking of lefties, incoming JUCO transfer Casan Evans is a hard throwing left-handed pitcher from Pearl River Community College that scouts are high on. Enjoy him while he’s here because he’s projected to go in one of the top three rounds of this summer’s MLB Draft.
New Pitchers: Transfers
Grant Fontenot* (1-1, 11 IP, 2.45 ERA, 14 Ks, 8 BBs)
Zac Cowan** (10-2, 110 IP, 3.35 ERA, 124 Ks, 29 BBs)
Jacob Mayers*** (5-1, 70.2 IP, 4.58 ERA, 106 Ks, 76 BBs)
Chandler Dorsey**** (2-1, 30.0 IP, 8 saves, 3.60 ERA, 40 Ks, 16 BBs)
Connor Benge***** (1-1, 33.0 IP, 5.73 ERA, 35 Ks, 22 BBs)
*At Texas
**At Wofford
***At Nicholls
****At USF
*****At Dallas Baptist
Fontenot is technically both a new pitcher/returning pitcher as he began his career at LSU, transferred to Texas, and is now back in Baton Rouge. The numbers were okay in a small sample size so we’ll have to see how big of a role he’ll have with this team.
LSU didn’t face Zac Cowan in its two games against Wofford last June and that might have been a good thing. Cowan was one of the best pitchers in the SoCon last season and could possibly be a Sunday starter if needed. He doesn’t have the most dynamic stuff, but you don’t just accidentally tally 124 strikeouts in a season. Best case scenario: Cowan ends up being a poor man’s Griffin Herring ie a really good bullpen arm that could effectively eat up a lot of innings and preserve the pen.
Jacob Mayers could be a boom or bust portal addition. On the one hand, Mayers struck out 106 in 70.2 innings; on the other, he led the country in walks with 76. It doesn’t matter how good the stuff is, if he can’t throw strikes he can’t be out there.
Chandler Dorsey was the first portal additions made by Jay Johnson in the offseason and, like he did at USF, figures to be a back end of the bullpen arm. He had eight saves last season so he’s not afraid of the moment.
Benge, like Mayers, is a hard thrower with control issues. Whether or not he harnesses that control will determine if he can be relied upon to get you one or two outs or one or two innings.