Superman made an appearance on the LSU baseball diamond two seasons ago, and he hasn’t left yet.That hero is junior catcher Micah Gibbs, according to LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri. “We’ve got Superman catching for us — the best in the country,” Mainieri said. “With all due respect to Jared Mitchell, DJ LeMahieu, Ryan Schimpf and everybody else, you don’t realize how great Micah Gibbs is until he’s gone.”Taking Gibbs for granted is often tempting, from his batting and fielding skills to his “calming influence” for the LSU pitchers, Mainieri said.”You can’t even quantify the importance of Gibbs — the way he handles our staff, catches them, blocks for them and goes out and talks to them,” Mainieri said. “He’s their Moses. He leads them to the Promised Land.”Gibbs said he delights in the opportunity to play behind the plate on a daily basis.”Defense is what I take the most pride in,” Gibbs said. “At the same time, the pitching staff makes me look good, that’s for sure. The biggest thing I work on is making sure I can work with the young guys … and help them settle down.”LSU junior pitcher Anthony Ranaudo, who returned in late March from a stress reaction he suffered in his elbow, said Gibbs helped him rebound from the injury.”It was like we hadn’t skipped a beat at all,” Ranaudo said. “He’s a great leader, and he’s one of my best friends.”Gibbs’ personable nature extends to the entire team, Ranaudo said.”He likes to give a lot of hugs and stuff,” Ranaudo said. “If you look at him, he’s kind of intimidating at 5-foot-11, but once you get to know him and become his friend, there’s really nothing he wouldn’t do for you.”Gibbs said he values the closeness he has developed with his teammates.”Handshakes are good, like a business-type thing,” Gibbs said. “But I feel like this team is a family, and I hug people in my family.”Gibbs’ love for baseball originated from the teachings of his father, Ben, who played catcher at Kansas State. Micah Gibbs said he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps at a young age. The Pflugerville, Texas, native said his father bought a pitching machine and aggressively trained him to block balls and catch pop-ups behind the plate.”I still have a scar behind my ear where my dad threw a ball to me early on, and I kind of chickened out,” Micah Gibbs said. “He would set [the pitching machine] on 100 mph and shoot it straight up in the air … It was like catching a brick.”Ben Gibbs said it was “constant working” both indoors and outdoors to teach his son the fundamentals of being a catcher.”We went to the sporting goods store, got the gear and started working on blocking balls in the living room,” Ben Gibbs said. “At that age group, it was basically you got on base, you stole second, you stole third and you scored on the ball getting by the catcher. Basically from the very beginning, I told him they’re going to stay at third.”Ben Gibbs said his son’s success at the college level has rekindled his appreciation for the game. He said he would love to see Micah to play in the major leagues.”For two years after I stopped playing, I didn’t watch as much as a World Series,” he said. “I know it’s Micah’s goal [to play professionally]. It’s his life though.”Micah Gibbs bats in the cleanup role usually behind first baseman Blake Dean, and he leads LSU with a .403 batting average this season. Gibbs has also committed just four errors and has one passed ball in 31 games, for a fielding percentage of .983.”I almost think one day I’ll wake up, and it’ll be a dream the way he’s hitting the ball right now,” Ben Gibbs said. “It’s hard to put into words.”Combining Micah Gibbs’ talent in the batter’s box and at catcher, Mainieri said Gibbs is “the rock of our team,” and it will be no easy task to replace him.”Everybody jumps onto his shoulders, and fortunately he’s got those big thick legs to hold a lot of people up,” Mainieri said. “The day the season ends, and I know he’s going into professional baseball, I’m certain I’m going to cry like a baby.”—-Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected].