Tag: Ty Floyd

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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LSU pitcher Luke Holman drafted by Cincinnati Reds in competitive balance rounds

LSU’s Saturday starter became the second Tiger off the board in the draft.

With the 71st pick of the 2024 MLB draft, the [autotag]Cincinnati Reds[/autotag] selected [autotag]Luke Holman[/autotag], a right-handed pitcher from LSU.

Finally, after a long night of waiting Holman hears his name called in the MLB draft as the Cincinnati Reds have taken him in the competitive balance portion of the second round.

Holman transferred to LSU after spending two seasons at Alabama. He became the Saturday starter for the Tigers and pitched very well. He finished the season with a 9-4 record and a 2.75 ERA. He struck out 127 hitters and walked 33 over 91.2 innings of work.

The Reds drafted [autotag]Ty Floyd[/autotag] out of LSU last season so they have returned to the LSU pipeline by picking Holman. The Junior pitcher has a chance to return to LSU if he would like, but the draft slot value for the No. 71 pick is $1,110,600.

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Former LSU baseball star Tre Morgan shining in minor leagues

Former LSU first baseman Tre Morgan is one of the top hitters in the minor leagues.

LSU baseball’s 2023 national title team was full of MLB talent. [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] and [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag] were the first two overall picks with [autotag]Ty Floyd[/autotag] going later in the first round.

Former LSU first baseman [autotag]Tre Morgan[/autotag] went a couple of rounds later, and so far, he’s rewarded the Rays for their pick.

Morgan posted a 1.024 OPS in rookie and low-A ball last year. His hot bat continued into 2024, leading to a quick promotion to high-A. Morgan hasn’t slowed down there as he’s put together his best professional stretch yet.

So far, he’s hitting .452 with a 1.359 OPS for the Bowling Green Hot Rods. In just 11 games, he’s homered twice and drove in 12 runs. He’s walked eight times and struck out only once. Morgan’s been running too, stealing 10 bases in the minors this year.

Morgan has college experience, but he’s putting up these numbers while being over a year younger than the average player in his league.

According to MLB.com. Morgan is the 13th-ranked prospect in the Rays organization.

The potential Morgan is showing with the bat is promising given his already elite defensive skills. The Rays would still like to see Morgan add some power, but it’s hard to be disappointed with the hit tool he’s put on display so far.

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LSU baseball to face former pitching coach Wes Johnson in SEC Tournament

LSU will face a familiar foe at the SEC tournament on Tuesday.

When LSU opens the SEC baseball tournament against Georgia on Tuesday, a familiar face will be in the opposing dugout. The Bulldogs are led by former LSU pitching coach [autotag]Wes Johnson[/autotag], a key member of LSU’s national title staff in 2023.

Johnson was with LSU for just a year, but in that time, he built one of the best pitching staffs in the country, landing [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] and [autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag] from the transfer portal and developing [autotag]Ty Floyd[/autotag] into a second-round pick.

Following the title run, Johnson was offered the head coaching position at Georgia, where he’s delivered an instant turnaround.

The Bulldogs were 11-19 in conference play in 2023, but in year one under Johnson, UGA went 17-13 in the SEC and 39-14 overall.

Johnson’s background is in pitching, but it’s the lineup that’s carried the Dawgs in 2024. Georgia leads the SEC in runs per game with 9.4 while Charlie Condon has put up video game numbers with 35 home runs and 219 total bases.

As for Johnson, much of LSU’s pitching staff is new, so his stint with the Tigers may not provide much-added advantage.

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What is wrong with LSU baseball?

The 2024 season has not gotten off to the best start for the Tigers.

The 2024 season has not gotten off to the best start for the LSU baseball team. After three conference series, the Tigers are 20-9 overall and 2-7 in conference play and have lost all three series. The Tigers dropped series to Mississippi State and Florida 2-1 and then got swept by Arkansas last weekend.

So, what is going on with this team? For one, let’s rewind to the 2023 season. [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] and the LSU Tigers had the two best players in college baseball on their team, [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] and [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag]. The No. 1 and No. 2 overall draft picks in the 2023 MLB draft.

Along with that, the team had [autotag]Tre Morgan[/autotag], [autotag]Gavin Dugas[/autotag], [autotag]Jordan Thompson[/autotag], [autotag]Brayden Jobert[/autotag], [autotag]Cade Beloso[/autotag] and [autotag]Ty Floyd[/autotag]. That equates to two out of three starting pitchers, first and second base, shortstop, designated hitter, and two of the three outfield spots. One outfield spot ([autotag]Josh Pearson[/autotag]), one starting pitcher ([autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag]), and two catchers ([autotag]Hayden Travinski[/autotag] and [autotag]Alex Milazzo[/autotag]) were all that remained from last year’s starting lineup.

Replacing six hitters in your starting lineup and two of your starting pitchers is not an easy task. Johnson had to hit the recruiting trail hard for high school kids and players in the transfer portal. He did a great job of rebuilding the team, but some players you just can’t replace. There is no replacement for those guys.

With that out of the way, let’s take a look at some stats so far. LSU is in the middle of the road for most hitting statistics in the conference. The Tigers are seventh in the conference in batting average, on-base percentage, and hits, eighth in slugging percentage, doubles, and triples. The biggest issue for LSU on the offensive side is that we are ranked 11th out of 14 in RBI and runs scored. LSU is not hitting the long ball as well either as the Tigers rank ninth in that stat.

Three more interesting offensive stats, LSU ranks first in the conference in double plays and caught stealing. First in those areas is not a good thing. That means you have hit the most double plays and been caught stealing the most. [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag] leads the conference in double plays. He has hit into eight of them. That’s three more than the next closest player.

Now, let’s look at the Tigers’ performance on the mound. [autotag]Luke Holman[/autotag] is the silver lining of this pitching staff. Without him, you would not want to see any of these numbers. Holman has the second-lowest ERA (1.38), second-highest strikeouts (61), and fourth-lowest opponent batting average (.173). Why am I singling him out? Because if you take him out of the equation, LSU does not have another pitcher in the top 15 of the conference.

LSU has the MOST walks in the SEC (131) and the second most wild pitches in the SEC (28). [autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag] is tied for the most losses in the conference with four and three LSU pitchers are tied for sixth in the conference in wild pitches with four. ([autotag]Kade Anderson[/autotag], [autotag]Gage Jump[/autotag] and Hurd)

LSU is sixth in the conference in fielding percentage but [autotag]Michael Braswell III[/autotag] is tied for first for the most errors in the conference with seven. Those numbers will not get the job done, especially in conference play.

LSU will play Southern at home on Monday before hosting Vanderbilt this weekend.

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Starters and shutouts for LSU baseball against Xavier last weekend

Last weekend against Xavier, the starters put up great numbers.

Entering the 2024 season, LSU had a couple of question marks regarding who would be in their starting rotation. We knew that [autotag]Thatcher Hurd[/autotag] would be one of the starters based off of his performance in the College World Series.

LSU lost their other two starters, [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] and [autotag]Ty Floyd[/autotag], to the MLB Draft. Skenes was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates and Floyd was the 38th pick in the draft by the Cincinnati Reds.

With two spots to fill, where would head coach [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] turn? Johnson has recruited very well as he has landed a lot of talented players out of high school and out of the transfer portal.

The two best pitchers in the transfer portal committed to LSU. [autotag]Luke Holman[/autotag] and [autotag]Gage Jump[/autotag]. Holman was the ace for the Alabama Crimson Tide last season and due to his experience in the SEC, he seemed to fit the mold for another starting pitcher spot.

Jump was coming off of a season where he was unable to pitch due to an injury, but as a freshman at UCLA, he was fantastic. The initial plan for the rotation appeared to be Hurd, Holman, and [autotag]Javen Coleman[/autotag]. That’s how things began as Johnson began to ramp up the pitch count for Jump.

Fast forward to now, the Tigers are starting conference play this weekend and the lineup has changed slightly. Hurd did not get off to the greatest start this year so he has slid from the ace to the Sunday starter. Jump has gotten more healthy and he has become the Saturday starter. Holman has proved that he has the ability to be an ace in this rotation.

Last weekend against Xavier, the starters put up great numbers. In total, between the three starters, they finished the weekend 2-0 with zero earned runs allowed over 16 innings pitched. They only allowed seven total hits as they struck out 29 hitters and only walked four.

The worst part of the weekend is that Hurd was given a no-decision as Xavier beat LSU 2-1 on Sunday to end the Tigers’ winning streak. In spite of that, I believe that this pitching staff has the talent to take LSU to Omaha once again.

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Two LSU baseball players named preseason All-Americans by D1Baseball

LSU is expecting big years from Tommy White and Luke Holman.

We’re less than a month away from LSU baseball beginning its national title defense, and the preseason honors are rolling in.

[autotag]Tommy White[/autotag] and [autotag]Luke Holman[/autotag] were named preseason All-American by D1Baseball.

White is expected to be one of the top hitters in the sport after a 2023 campaign that saw him homer 24 times while driving in 105 runs. Along with that, he posted a .725 slugging and a 1.158 OPS.

Holman, who was one of the best available transfers on the market, joins LSU after spending two years at Alabama. In 15 starts last year, he had an ERA of 3.67 to go along with 87 strikeouts in 81 innings.

LSU needs big years from both White and Holman. White will be expected to anchor the lineup with [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag] and [autotag]Tre Morgan[/autotag] gone.

LSU will be counting on Holman to help replace the void left in the rotation with [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag] and [autotag]Ty Floyd[/autotag] now playing professional baseball.

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5 LSU baseball players named to 2023 ABCA All-South Region Team

Five LSU players have been named to the ABCA All-South Region Team.

The 2023 college baseball season has come and gone and so has the MLB Draft, but the accolades continue to pile up for LSU players. After winning the national championship, multiple Tigers players have found themselves on All-American teams, All-Conference teams and All-Region teams.

This time, five LSU players have been named to the ABCA All-South Region Team. Out of those five guys that made the team, four of them were drafted in this year’s MLB draft. The only one that didn’t get drafted was not drafted because he is ineligible.

[autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag], [autotag]Dylan Crews[/autotag], [autotag]Ty Floyd[/autotag], [autotag]Gavin Dugas[/autotag] and [autotag]Tommy White[/autotag] all made the All-South Region Team.

Ty Floyd officially signs with the Reds

Ty Floyd saved his best performance as an LSU Tiger for last, and it propelled him into the MLB draft’s first round.

[autotag]Ty Floyd[/autotag] saved his best performance as an LSU Tiger for last.

In the College World Series against Florida, Floyd pitched eight innings allowing only three runs on five hits as he struck out 17 and walked only one. He led the Tigers to a much-needed win in game one of the series.

That performance propelled Floyd’s name up MLB draft boards all the way into the supplemental part of the first round. The Cincinnati Reds picked Floyd as their second pick of the 2023 draft, drafting him right behind former Wake Forest pitcher, Rhett Lowder.

As you can see from the graphic below, that 17-strikeout game in the College World Series made Floyd some money as he signed with the Reds for just over $2 million.

Floyd went undefeated as a starter last year as he posted a 7-0 record with a 4.35 ERA as he struck out 120 hitters and only walked 37.

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Alabama starting pitcher reportedly visiting LSU as a transfer

The Crimson Tide’s ace could be bound for Baton Rouge in the transfer portal.

LSU already has a couple of transfers on board this offseason after winning a national championship in 2023, and it’s in the mix for even more.

One of those players is former Alabama starting pitcher [autotag]Luke Holman[/autotag], who will be making a visit to Baton Rouge early next week. That news was first reported by On3’s Matthew Brune.

Holman, who entered the transfer portal on June 22, was the Crimson Tide’s Friday night starter this year. He had an earned run average of 3.67 while striking out 87 batters compared to the 31 walks he issued.

For an LSU staff in need of starting pitching following the departures of [autotag]Paul Skenes[/autotag], [autotag]Ty Floyd[/autotag] and [autotag]Grant Taylor[/autotag], Holman would be a huge addition.

He’s perhaps best known around the country for being the ace that former coach Brad Bohannon scratched for back tightness ahead of Game 1 against the Tigers earlier this season. Bohannon was later fired after it was determined that he was in communication with someone who placed a large bet on the game.

Holman is looking for a fresh start in the transfer portal, and that could come with the team he was ultimately scratched against.

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