Junior outfielder Greg Deichmann was able to show off his power last season, with his team-leading 11 home runs, this season he has a chance to show off something else.
His arm.
“I kind of didn’t really get to use it much at first base last year,” Deichmann said. “I’m looking forward to trying to throw a few guys out this year.”
Deichmann, who started 50 games at first base last season, made the transition in the off season to right field. Deichmann said the last time he played in the outfield was when he was 11 years old.
The Metairie native said he feels comfortable in his new position and LSU coach Paul Mainieri approached him the off season about the switch.
“It kind of felt that this was my position,” Deichmann said. “You know, obviously, I had to work at it and get as many reps as I can, seeing different balls. This is the best on defense I’ve felt in a while.”
Pair of freshman leading candidates to be third starter
As LSU is preparing to lose senior starting pitcher Jared Poche and potentially junior Alex Lange, Mainieri is beginning to develop some of his younger talent.
Mainieri mentioned two young arms as leading candidates for the number three starting job, freshmen Eric Walker and Zach Hess.
“They’re as different as they can be in terms of their pitching styles,” 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.”
Walker comes from the Dallas/Fort worth area where he was a two sport athlete in high school, playing quarterback as a three-year starter. He received numerous accolades his senior year including being named 2015 Dallas/Fort Worth All-Area pitcher of the year.
“There was a bunch of different outings that I learned a lot from,” Walker said about fall practice. “Mainly just kind of pitch my game or try and do something I can’t do, just stay within myself and throw strikes. That’s the one thing I learned.”
Hess hails from Forest, Virginia and was drafted in the 35th round of the MLB draft by the New York Yankees. Hess was named a 2016 Perfect Game first-team All American and rated among Baseball America’s Top 400 college prospects.
“I’m real confident that Walker and Hess are going to be guys that are going to be good, solid starting pitchers,” Mainieri said.
