With veteran pitchers Alex Lange and Jared Poche’ potentially playing their last season for LSU, coach Paul Mainieri has placed emphasis on a certain role this season: A third starting pitcher.
“We’re going to develop a third starter — and potentially even a fourth starter,” Mainieri said. “If we feel that we need that extra arm to fight through the SEC weekend, of course they’d take on prime importance to us. I would prefer to have some starting pitching experience returning.”
As for the candidates for the position, Mainieri has spotlighted freshmen Eric Walker and Zack Hess.
Hess, a native from Forest, Virginia, bypassed an opportunity to play professionally after he was drafted in the 35th round by the New York Yankees.
Hess was named a 2016 Perfect Game first team All-American and finished with a 7-1 record his senior year at Liberty Christian Academy with a 0.60 ERA, 110 strikeouts and 11 walks in 58.2 innings.
The 6-foot-6 hurler knows his game must improve as he advances to the collegiate level.
“You just have to minimize mistakes,” Hess said. “Everyone in college was a clean up hitter on their high school team. You just have to keep the ball down and put a big emphasis on mixing up your speeds.”
Walker, who hails from Arlington, Texas, posted a 7-3 mark his senior year at Arlington Martin High School with a 1.24 ERA and 95 strikeouts. He was named the 2015 Dallas/Fort Worth All-Area Pitcher of the Year.
Hess and Walker have picked the brains of the veteran pitchers on the team, namely senior Poche’ and junior Lange.
“It’s really awesome to have that leadership on your staff,” Hess said. “You just try to pick their brains as much as you can and see what they did early on in their careers to make themselves so successful.”
Walker added, “Veteran guys like that, you can learn a lot from. Just kind of pick their brains and see how they’ve gone about it for four years. Learn what they did, how they did it, and just try to replicate that the best way you can.”
While Mainieri said he isn’t certain who the third starter will be just yet, he made his outlook headed into the season pretty clear.
“They’re as different as they can be in terms of their pitching styles, but I think they both have a chance to be equally effective,” Mainieri said. “I think what we’ll do is start one of them on Sunday in the non-conference games and one of them in the midweek game, and then after about three weeks, we’ll kind of reanalyze the situations and say, ‘Which one are we best starting on the Sundays in the SEC schedule?’”