LSU newbies freshmen in name only

Published 6:10 am Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Never mind that there’s nothing quite so foolhardy as jumping to knee-jerk reactions after one weekend of a baseball season.

It’s not particularly prudent for any sports season, but baseball especially tends to take a long and winding road to wherever.

But, what the hey? Let’s dive in with both feet anyway.

LSU has a chance this year.

OK, that’s not exactly earth shattering.

LSU has a chance every year. It’s the nature of Tiger baseball.

LSU has won exactly one national championship since Skip Bertman left in 2001 — the Tigers had won five of the previous 11 at that point — but that doesn’t keep expectations among fans from hitting the upper stratosphere every season.

It may be warranted this season.

Yes, yes, of course we’re getting way ahead of ourselves here.

One weekend against somewhat overmatched teams (Army and Air Force), as patriotic as it was, does not a season make.

A lot can still happen, and likely will. Some good, some bad, some unexplainable.

But this team, I’m telling you, has a chance.

Things can pop up, but the Tigers, a ridiculously veteran team by college baseball standards, entered the season with only three real question marks.

It was complicated in that all three involved freshmen — both corners of the infield and a third weekend starter.

First the infield corners. First baseman Jake Slaughter — and what a great baseball name that is — and third baseman Josh Smith.

Both appear to be freshmen in name only.

Slaughter hit .500 for the weekend, 4-for-8; Smith hit .429, 3-7. Both had a home run in their first weekend of college baseball.

“The biggest thing was how our freshmen played,” senior second baseman Cole Freeman said at the end of the weekend sweep.

At the least, they passed their auditions.

“There was no audition,” Mainieri laughingly corrected me Sunday. “We don’t even look at them like they’re freshmen.”

He compared them to the likes of former freshmen LSU stars Blake Dean, DJ LeMahieu and Alex Bregman.

They were, he claims, never question marks to him.

“I knew that they were both really good ballplayers,” Mainieri said. “We’re fortunate that they both came to school. They could have easily signed professionally. They were drafted much lower than they would have been had they not made their intentions (to go to LSU) known.”

Athletically, both are shortstops — albeit big, strapping shortstops.

Slaughter is playing first base for the first time in his life because athletes like him don’t often get relegated to shagging throws over there.

They put him at first because they felt like they had to get his bat in the lineup, and his more familiar haunts were spoken for.

He’s probably more comfortable at shortstop — or maybe wide receiver, where he was a two-time all-state pick and got several football scholarship offers while at Ouachita Christian in Monroe.

He looked comfortable.

“I wasn’t really nervous as much as really excited,” Slaughter said. “There’s so much energy in Alex Box. It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.”

The toughest play over at first might be the wide throw when the fielder has to catch and swipe tag the runner in one motion.

He pulled it off his first time — the first time of his life, like, ever.

You can’t really practice the plays, and it never came up in any scrimmages while he was learning the position.

He also made a full-speed, over-the-shoulder catch of a foul ball that recalled his former life as a wide receiver.

Don’t get used to it, Mainieri said, beyond this season.

Both Slaughter and Smith will play shortstop in summer leagues, with one taking Kramer Robertson’s place next year while other plays third.

Sunday LSU’s first three pitchers were freshmen.

The No. 3 starting spot last year was up and down, always a bit of a lottery.

If LSU can nail it down after Alex Lange and Jared Poch? lead off weekends, it’s going to be tough to take a series from them.

So far, so good.

It’s probably a two-way race between Eric Walker, a precision pitcher, and Zach Hess, a classic big power arm.

Walker had one rough inning out of five in his Sunday start against Air Force when he lost his command a bit, although he could have gotten out of it if not for a botched double play.

“Eric was dominant for the first three innings,”Mainieri said. “They got to him a little bit in the fourth. He had a 3-2 changeup that he kind of babied up there for ball four.

“When we’re playing in the SEC and the hitters we’re going against he’s going to have to be able to execute those kind. But I thought he was pretty good for his first start.”

Hess will start tonight against Hofstra after throwing one inning Sunday in which he gave up a solo home run. He was obviously overthrowing a tad.

“Zach came out and tried to throw 100 miles per hour he was so amped up,” Mainieri said, almost laughing. “He dominated their first two hitters …”

With the guys at the corners, it served notice that on a team full of juniors and unexpected seniors, youth will be heard from.

“I’m excited just to see what they can do, how much better they can get,” said Freeman, a senior who led the Tigers in hitting last year. “I’m just happy I get to play one year with them. It’s going to be fun to watch.”

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Scooter Hobbs covers LSU

athletics. Email him at

shobbs@americanpress.com