Tag: Jacob Berry

5 things to know about newest LSU baseball transfer Luke Holman

Here are five things to know about former Alabama pitcher Luke Holman, LSU’s latest transfer portal addition.

[autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] has recruited the transfer portal better than anyone else since arriving at LSU.

Last year, LSU nabbed stars like [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] and [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag]. Two years ago, we saw slugger [autotag]Jacob Berry[/autotag] follow Johnson to LSU, too.

After winning the College World Series, LSU’s been busy again this year, especially on the pitching side.

LSU struck again this week with the commitment of former Alabama ace [autotag]Luke Holman[/autotag]. Originally from Pennsylvania, Holman had a breakout year with the Crimson Tide last year and finished near the top of several SEC leaderboards.

Here are five things to new about LSU’s latest transfer portal addition.

Former LSU star Jacob Berry earns Double-A promotion with Marlins

Jacob Berry is quickly on the rise in the minor league ranks.

Former LSU baseball star [autotag]Jacob Berry[/autotag] is quickly rising within the minor league ranks.

Berry, the No. 2 prospect in the Miami Marlins organization, earned a promotion to the Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos on Tuesday. In his debut with the Blue Wahoos the same night, he recorded a single, a walk and a stolen base.

A transfer from Arizona who followed [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] to spend his final season at LSU, Berry was the sixth overall pick in the 2022 MLB draft. After a brief stint in the Rookie League ranks, he was promoted to the Single-A Jupiter Hammerheads, where he finished out his season.

Berry began the 2023 season at the High-A level with the Beloit Sky Carp, for whom he had a hot start. He batted .227 with four home runs, 15 doubles and 37 RBI, earning a promotion to the Double-A level.

His current projected ETA in the Major Leagues is 2025.

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LSU’s Jay Johnson constructed Tigers’ loaded baseball roster with a national championship in mind

Johnson saw clear areas of need after 2022’s disappointing finish at the Hattiesburg Regional.

Coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] came into an LSU program rich with both history and expectations last spring, and though the 40-22 season that ended in the final round of the Hattiesburg Regional was nothing to scoff at, one thing was clear: This team wanted more.

Johnson embarked on a talent acquisition quest this offseason to try to take this team to the next level, and the result was a transfer haul that included two-way player [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag], who will be LSU’s ace on the mound this season, and [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag], who is coming off a dominant hitting season as a freshman at NC State.

In an interview with SiriusXM previewing the 2023 season, Johnson said those moves were made with a championship in mind.

“It’s funny because during part of the recruiting process, I was the only coach on staff during this time because my assistants got power five head coaching jobs,” Johnson said. “You know, I actually think it goes back a lot further than the summer time. It goes back to last year. We did a probably an underrated job in the transfer portal for the 2022 season. I’m very pleased with what we accomplished last year, winning 40 games, had the highest SEC finish for LSU in five or six years, and Jacob Berry had a lot to do with that. Tyler McManus had a lot to do with that. Riley Cooper had a lot to do with that. Eric Rezyelman had a lot to do with that.

“And when I looked at the transfer portal, it’s really hard to picture last year’s team without the guys that we added. So when we looked at this last summer coming up, we want to contend for a national championship. I want to high five coach Rooney in Omaha. So where were we short?”

Johnson elaborated on LSU’s portal strategy, which saw needs at both pitcher and in the lineup with [autotag]Jacob Berry[/autotag] and [autotag]Cade Doughty[/autotag] moving on to the professional ranks.

“We were short with starting pitching talent,” Johnson said. “And then we were going to lose Jacob Berry and Cade Doughty you know, first and second round draft picked hitters that were kind of the core of our lineup. So we addressed all of that in the portal this year. And it was pretty intense. It was pretty intentional with how we did what we did and very excited that we got the results of getting these guys on our team.

“They all bring something pretty unique from a player and person standpoint to this group. And we’re certainly going to be better because we have those five players.”

The Tigers are going to look a lot different this spring, and they’ll enter with sky-high expectations. LSU will toss its first pitch of the season on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. CT vs. Western Michigan at Alex Box Stadium.

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WATCH: Jacob Berry blasts are back in minor leagues

The No. 7 pick in the MLB draft is already making plays for the Marlins organization.

[autotag]Jacob Berry[/autotag] was a star in his lone season on the bayou as he hit .370 with nine doubles, 15 homers and 48 RBI. He started at third base for most of the season while also making an appearance or two in the outfield.

He was deemed the best college hitting prospect of the 2022 MLB draft by MLB.com. Those stats led to him being selected in the first round at No. 7 overall by the Miami Marlins.

Berry started his minor league season in Rookie ball before he was called up to the Marlins Single-A affiliate Jupiter Hammerheads. In 18 games for the Hammerheads, Berry has hit .235 with one homer and 11 RBI. Hopefully, this is the start of a long career in the bigs for Berry who has a long road ahead to the MLB.

The biggest knock on Berry as he transitions to the majors was his fielding. So far, he has a fielding percentage of 92% so he has checked that box already.

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Lucky 13: Every LSU player selected in the 2022 MLB Draft, signing decisions tracker

The Tigers saw 13 players picked this week, seven of which were signees in the 2022 recruiting class.

The 2022 MLB draft has come and gone, and it was both a blessing and a curse for coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] and his LSU Tigers squad.

On one hand, four of his players from last year were drafted ([autotag]Jacob Berry[/autotag], [autotag]Cade Doughty[/autotag], [autotag]Eric Reyzelman[/autotag] and [autotag]Paul Gervase[/autotag]), but on the other hand, a lot of his recruits were taken away.

Seven signees and two transfers from the 2022 recruiting class were picked up by MLB squads. Not all of them will sign with the clubs that drafted them, but most will. So, here is a rundown of every draft pick that played for or was committed to LSU this year.

LSU pitcher Paul Gervase reverses course after he was drafted by Mets, will now go pro

In a since-deleted tweet, Gervase announced his return to LSU on Monday. But after he was drafted in the 12th round, it seems things have changed.

Life comes at you fast.

On Monday night, LSU relief pitcher Paul Gervase tweeted “Tiger nation!! LETS RUN IT BACK! #GeauxTigers !!!!”

But on Tuesday, Gervase was drafted by the Mets at pick No. 359 in Round 12, and it seems as though his plans have changed and he will now head to the Big Apple. He has since deleted the tweet announcing his return, and in a new post, he implies that he will be moving on and signing with New York.

Gervase was a star in his first season at LSU in 2022 as he finished the season with a 4-1 record with a 1.85 ERA, 52 strikeouts, and 15 walks. Previously, he played two stints at the JUCO ranks after beginning his career in Division III at Pfeiffer University.

He is the fourth player from last year’s Tiger team to be drafted in the 2022 MLB draft, joining [autotag]Jacob Berry[/autotag] and [autotag]Cade Doughty[/autotag], who were both drafted on Night 1 in the first and second rounds, respectively, and fifth-round pick [autotag]Eric Reyzelman[/autotag].

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LSU pitcher Eric Reyzelman is headed to the Bronx at pick No. 160

Reyzelman will hope to work his way into a role with the Yankees bullpen.

One of the best closers in college baseball goes off the board in the fifth round at No. 160 to the prestigious New York Yankees. What a great fit this is for [autotag]Eric Reyzelman[/autotag] as he goes from one pinstripe team to another.

Last season at LSU, he finished 1-3 with a 4.04 ERA with 66 strikeouts and 18 walks in 42 innings pitched over 29 games. When Reyzelman was on, everyone was getting struck out by his fastball and looking crazy on his off-speed stuff, but there were times when he wasn’t having a great day and got knocked around a little bit — as is the life of a pitcher.

Reyzelman is the third LSU player to be picked in the draft after [autotag]Jacob Berry[/autotag] (first round) and [autotag]Cade Doughty[/autotag] (second round). Assuming he signs with the Yankees, he’ll be heading to the minors with the hopes of eventually reaching the New York bullpen.

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BREAKING: LSU baseball’s Jacob Berry taken by Miami Marlins with sixth pick in 2022 MLB draft

Berry becomes the highest drafted LSU player since Alex Bregman went second overall in 2015.

After a phenomenal season at LSU, [autotag]Jacob Berry[/autotag] should be heading to the pros as he was picked with the sixth overall pick in the 2022 MLB draft on Sunday night.

He becomes the highest drafted LSU player since [autotag]Alex Bregman[/autotag] went second overall in 2015, and he’s the first Tiger to go in the first round since [autotag]Alex Lange[/autotag] went 30th overall in 2017.

Berry had a .370 batting average with 15 homers and 48 RBI last year as part of a star-filled Tigers lineup. Going into the draft, he was mocked by MLB.com to go to the Minnesota Twins at No. 8 overall, but he ultimately went two picks earlier.

The Marlins were one of the teams I thought would be a good fit for him. Berry was possibly the best hitter in all of college baseball this season, and now they can put his powerful bat in a lineup with Jazz Chisolm, Garrett Cooper, Jorge Soler, and Jesus Aguilar. He has the potential to fit perfectly into that group.

Berry was LSU’s top draft prospect, but there are several other players and a number of signees that could get picked during this week’s festivities, which are being televised on the MLB Network. Stay tuned to LSU Wire for future updates as the Tigers’ draft hopefuls wait to hear their names called.

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LSU baseball’s top-10 prospects in the 2022 MLB draft

Here’s your primer on the potential draft picks from LSU.

Sunday is the big day.

For a lot of baseball players across the country, their dreams are going to come true. All the hours of hard work and sacrifice will finally pay off when they hear their names called in the 2022 MLB draft as the first round kicks off at 6 p.m. CT with the second round following later in the night.

LSU finished with the No. 1 recruiting class in 2022, and that is a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that you have an incredible amount of talent coming to your team next season. The curse is that seven of the 10 LSU players on MLB Pipeline’s top 100 prospects list are prep prospects.

The players coming out of high school can choose to say no to the team that drafts them and come to LSU instead, but money talks. A lot of major league teams are willing to overpay for top prep talent.

Every draft pick in the first 10 rounds comes with an assigned value, with the total for a club’s selections equaling what it can spend in those rounds without incurring a penalty. If a player taken in the top 10 rounds doesn’t sign, his pick’s value gets subtracted from his team’s pool.

Clubs near the top of the draft often spend less than the assigned value for those choices and use the savings to offer more money to later selections. So, most teams will spend under value for guys that they are pretty sure will sign with them and use that money to pay more than the slot value to try and convince a prep player to sign instead of going to college.

For live MLB draft updates, stay tuned in to LSU Wire on Sunday. For now, here are the top 10 Tigers players and signees that should hear their names called this week.

The future is bright for LSU baseball with Jay Johnson

The Tigers are primed to return to the top of the sport in the coming years.

That was a wild ride.

It’s hard to think of a better way to sum up LSU baseball in its first year under coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag]. The Hattiesburg Regional was just one weekend, but it represented what LSU was in 2021.

They were a fun team capable of providing fireworks and winning any game. They were also a group that could never find consistency.

Despite offensive superstars like [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag] and [autotag]Jacob Berry[/autotag], LSU just did not have the run prevention to back it up.

Pitching and defense were spotty from the start to the finish this year and LSU. They were weaknesses that were revealed once again in Hattiesburg as LSU dropped that crucial Game 7.

Despite all that, it’s hard not to be optimistic about where this program is headed.

Johnson checked a lot of boxes in his first year. He led a team that showed fight and never quit. He had to find ways to manage a pitching staff that rarely gave length and, to be frank, was overmatched at times.

On top of that, Johnson and staff killed it on the recruiting trail and are slated to bring in the top class in the country.

LSU is always going to have talent. In 2021, a transition year, Johnson managed to sign a top 10 class. In 2020, LSU’s class was ranked in the top five.

The Tigers will have big-time firepower at the plate again next year. A couple of sluggers are likely headed off to the MLB, but Crews will be back along with [autotag]Tre Morgan[/autotag].

The lineup depth could even be improved with more production from the bottom half.

It would be unfair for LSU to magically solve their pitching woes in one year. Pitching is something that takes time to develop, but the Tigers should be improved.

There will be a natural progression of guys already on the staff, and plenty of talent will be coming in. LSU could also be active in the transfer portal.

There’s good reason to have confidence in Johnson’s ability to figure it out. He’s proven himself to be a coach that does just that.

It’s been a while since LSU has been to Omaha, and the Tigers will have to wait at least one more year. But going forward, they have positioned themselves to be a power in the sport.

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