Tag: lsu baseball

LSU pitcher Gage Jump signs for over slot value with Athletics

Gage Jump will officially join Tommy White in Oakland’s organization after signing an overslot deal.

I have mentioned a lot about how the MLB draft differs from the NFL draft and NBA draft. Each draft slot in the MLB has an amount of money tied to that specific draft position.

For [autotag]Gage Jump[/autotag], he was drafted with the 73rd pick of the [autotag]2024 MLB draft[/autotag] in the supplemental round. The slot money for his specific pick was $1,076,900. Jump wound up signing for $2 million. Usually, teams overpay for high school prospects to entice them to sign with them instead of going to college.

In Jump’s case, he still had college eligibility left, so the Oakland Athletics wanted to ensure he would not return to Baton Rouge. They sweetened the pot for him to join their organization and begin in their minor leagues sooner rather than later.

Congratulations to Gage as he gets ready to start the next journey of his baseball career back on the West Coast.

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LSU ranks No. 1 in Baseball America’s ‘way too early’ top 25

LSU comes in at No. 1 in Baseball America’s Way Too Early top 25.

College baseball season ended a month ago, but it’s never too soon to start looking at 2025. Baseball America dropped its “way too early” top 25 and Jay Johnson’s LSU squad earned the top ranking.

It comes as no surprise after LSU retained its top talent, had a busy transfer portal season, and convinced some top high school prospects to pass up the draft and head to school.

If the ranking holds, it would be the second time in three years that LSU began the season No. 1 overall. The Tigers owned the top spot heading into 2023 and paid it off with a national title win.

Baseball America notes LSU has a lot to replace with [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag] and a few top pitchers turning pro, but there’s a lot to like about this squad.

“LSU has as much pure talent as anyone. Now it will be up to Johnson to manage that roster, and he’s proven to be very adept at that part of the job over the last two years,” Baseball America’s Teddy Cahill wrote.

Joining LSU in the top five is Florida, Florida State, Clemson and Texas A&M. The SEC will get a bit tougher with the addition of Texas with the Longhorns sitting at No. 19.

Eleven of the top 25 belong to the SEC.

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Former LSU baseball star Tommy White officially inks deal with Athletics

Tommy White made his choice to turn pro official by signing with the Oakland Athletics.

[autotag]Tommy White[/autotag] made the start of his professional career official by signing with the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday.

The A’s selected White out of LSU with the No. 40 overall pick earlier this month. White had the option to return, but that was always unlikely given his talent level.

The slot value for White’s pick is $2.3 million. According to reports, White signed above slot value with the deal sitting around $3 million.

White spent three years in college. One at NC State and two at LSU. In that time, he hit 75 homers and drove in 249 runs. He helped lead LSU to a College World Series title in 2023, which included hitting a walk-off home run in the CWS semi-final against Wake Forest.

White was the first LSU player off the board in this year’s MLB draft. The A’s are in the midst of a long rebuild and hope White can be a central part of that. With the upcoming move to Vegas, it’s unclear if White will ever play in Oakland.

LSU’s had a good run of players entering pro ball. [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] is already in the big leagues and looks like an ace. [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag] is in Triple-A and should be approaching his call-up. Tre Morgan’s career is off to a good start too, hitting at multiple levels in the Rays system.

It will be tough for LSU to replace White’s power next year.

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LSU pitcher Luke Holman signs underslot deal with Cincinnati Reds

Former LSU pitcher Luke Holman has signed an offer to play with the Cincinnati Reds.

Former LSU pitcher [autotag]Luke Holman[/autotag] has signed an offer to play with the Cincinnati Reds.

Holman was selected with the 71st pick of the draft, during the supplemental part of the second round, and his slot value was worth $1,110,600. Holman signed with the Reds for only $997,500. The Reds can now use that money to try to sign a prep player for over their slot value.

Holman finished his only season with the Tigers with a 9-4 record and a 2.75 ERA. He struck out 127 hitters and only walked 33 over 91.2 innings of work. He became the Saturday starter for the Tigers and he was as advertised.

The Reds picked up [autotag]Ty Floyd[/autotag] in the 2023 MLB draft after he pitched a gem for LSU at Omaha. The Reds liked Floyd’s potential so much that they went back to the LSU well to grab Holman. Holman will start out in the minor leagues and look to work his way to Cincinnati sooner than later.

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Paul Skenes suffers first loss in big leagues with Pirates

Paul Skenes only allowed two runs in his first start since the All-Star Game, but that wasn’t enough to keep his perfect record intact.

[autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] made his first start since being the starting pitcher for the National League during the [autotag]2024 MLB All-Star Game[/autotag]. He picked up right where he left off as he continued to deal.

The only issue was he failed to get any run support from his offense. Skenes was charged with his first loss of the season as the Pirates lost 2-1 to the St. Louis Cardinals. Skenes was pulled from the game after pitching 8.1 innings. He gave up two runs on four hits, eight strikeouts, and zero walks.

Skenes now has a 6-1 record and a 1.93 ERA. He did everything his coaching staff could have asked of him but he still could not pull off a win. That’s the life of a pitcher. It takes all nine guys in the lineup to help you win on a good day or on a bad day. We will see Skenes again soon and hopefully, his team can get him another win.

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Watch Dylan Crews hit a crazy walk-off for Rochester Red Wings

Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.

Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. In [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag]’ case, he is both. The former [autotag]Golden Spikes Award[/autotag] winner and star LSU outfielder secured a win for the [autotag]Rochester Red Wings[/autotag] on Tuesday night with a walk-off E6.

An E6, if you do not know, is an error on the shortstop. On this play, the shortstop attempts to flip the ball to second base for out No. 3 and to get Lehigh Valley out of the inning but his throw was off the mark and the errant throw led to a runner scoring to win the game for the Red Wings.

Crews has played in 24 games for the Red Wings and has five doubles, four homers, and 14 RBI and has a batting average of .257. He is one step away from playing in the major leagues. His next stop would be the [autotag]Washington Nationals[/autotag], who could use a good outfielder right now.

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Former LSU pitcher Nic Bronzini announces transfer to Washington

The No. 2 left-hander in California coming out of high school in 2022 is heading back out west.

A former LSU left-hander is heading out west to join a new member of the Big Ten for the 2025 season.

Late on Monday night, redshirt freshman [autotag]Nic Bronzini[/autotag] announced his commitment to Washington out of the transfer portal following two seasons at LSU. The former No. 2 left-handed pitcher in the state of California coming out of high school, Bronzini entered the transfer portal following the Tigers’ elimination at the 2024 Chapel Hill Regional.

After redshirting in 2023, Bronzini only saw sporadic action this past spring. He made six appearances, pitching just 4.2 innings while allowing five hits, three earned runs and four walks with eight strikeouts.

Bronzini’s last appearance for the Tigers came on April 30 against Grambling when he faced just one batter, recording an out in the 26-2 win.

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Former LSU baseball star Dylan Crews on a hot-streak in Triple-A

Dylan Crews could be on the fast track to his major league debut.

Former LSU star [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag], the 2023 Golden Spikes Award winner and No. 2 pick in last year’s draft, was having some struggles in the Washington Nationals minor league system earlier this season.

He has put those issues behind him, however, and may now be on the fast track to the big leagues. Crews was called up to Triple-A earlier this summer, and he’s in the midst of an impressive streak for the Rochester Red Wings.

Crews is currently on an eight-game hitting streak, hitting two home runs with five RBI and seven walks in that span. In 23 total games at the Triple-A level, he’s batting .257 with five doubles, four home runs and 14 RBI.

Crews’ college teammate and first overall pick [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] already made his rookie debut earlier this season, earning All-Star honors for the National League amid an impressive campaign. With his play in the minors picking up, Crews will hope to join Skenes in The Show sooner rather than later.

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Jay Johnson excited about LSU baseball’s roster heading into 2025

LSU added the top transfer portal class and brought three top-15 signees to campus this offseason.

LSU fell short of expectations despite a midseason turnaround in 2024, exiting the NCAA Tournament on the road in the regional round.

While the Tigers lost some key pieces in the 2024 MLB draft, namely their top thre pitchers and slugger [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag], it’s hard not to be optimistic about what coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] has coming in.

LSU signed the No. 1 transfer portal class in the nation this offseason with an absolutely loaded group, and it added to that with an elite recruiting class that saw three top-15 prospects withdraw from the draft and reaffirm their commitments to the Tigers.

During an appearance on the “Mik’d Up” podcast with Mikie Mahtook, Johnson said he was excited about the roster the staff has put together for 2025.

“I mean, we had a great high school recruiting class. We knew we were going to lose some of those guys,” Johnson said, per On3. “Really good additions through the portal. We only lost one of those guys, which you know, we kind of knew that was probably going to happen, even when we we got him.

“So you know, I don’t know if you grade it. You certainly can’t right now. All that matters is what happens on the field in the spring. But I’m really excited about the roster.”

Johnson reiterated that quite a bit of attrition was expected this offseason, but with some unexpected players returning paired with that strong transfer class, he feels much better than he did earlier this summer.

“We had a long way to go, frankly, from when we ended the season, and I think at one point we had 11 returning players,” Johnson said. “Obviously, getting a couple of these guys back that maybe we didn’t expect helped. Then, the guys we added in the portal, too.

“We obviously needed to do good with the high school guys getting to campus. And I’m super proud of some of them for having conviction and their belief in themselves to come to LSU and delay the gratification of a little bag of money, as I like to call it, and dive into this thing.”

LSU will hope to return to the national title picture as it will likely enter 2025 ranked in or near the top five once again.

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LSU pitcher Chase Shores progressing nicely after missing 2024 season due to Tommy John surgery

Chase Shores missed all of 2024 as he recovered from injury, but Jay Johnson said he would have been available in the super regionals.

LSU has the makings of a very talented pitching rotation next season with a stud transfer class and several prized high school recruits making it to campus.

There is also a potential X-factor in the group of returning pitchers as [autotag]Chase Shores[/autotag] is expected to be back after missing the entire 2024 season following Tommy John surgery.

Shores impressed early as a true freshman in 2023, appearing in seven games with four starts. He ended the year with a 0.96 ERA in 18.1 innings before his campaign ended with a torn UCL on March 31.

Though he missed the entire campaign, coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] recently said the Shores would have been available if LSU had reached the super regionals in the NCAA Tournament.

The hard-throwing 6-foot-8, 245-pound right-hander had a breakout season cut short in 2023, but the former top prospect in Texas should be finally back to full health by the time LSU’s 2025 season begins.

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