Good outfielders are often seen diving to make spectacular catches or tracking down deep drives to the warning track.
They are able to do these things because they are fast.
Luckily for the 2010 LSU baseball outfield, they feel they possess great team speed.
“Our outfield is extremely athletic,” sophomore outfielder Mikie Mahtook said. “We don’t shy away from making plays, and I think the biggest adjustment we’ve had to do is share the ball. When the balls are in the gaps, the center fielder is the main priority — just communicating … I think we’ve done a good job with that.”
But with great speed comes great consequences, and LSU coach Paul Mainieri said he could potentially see his outfielders’ speed and aggressiveness working against them.
“My biggest concern with those three guys is that they’re all so fast and so aggressive that I worry about collisions in the outfield,” he said. “It’s really imperative that they communicate with each other.”
Junior center fielder Leon Landry and Mahtook are the only players in the outfield who played on last season’s squad, but sophomore Johnny Dishon played during the 2008 season.
Sophomore left fielder Trey Watkins will start this season after spending last season with LSU-Eunice.
Landry said Watkins and other newcomers to the team had a slightly tough time adjusting, but he expects them to come along fine as the season progresses.
“It was a little rough at first for them, but that’s natural when you’re stepping into a program like this,” Landry said. “It’s going to take some time to adjust, but they’re coming along really good and buying into the things that we do around here, so they’re starting to fit into their roles.”
Mahtook said he hasn’t seen a drop off in the level of cohesion among his teammates than what he saw from LSU’s 2009 national championship team.
“I feel like it’s a continuation of last year,” he said. “We have put up one of the fastest outfields in the country again, and we’re very athletic and very aggressive, and we work well together. I feel like we haven’t missed a beat at all.”
Defensive speed isn’t the only asset the Tiger outfield will take into the season, as they wield some pretty impressive batting statistics.
Both Mahtook and Landry batted for high averages and were responsible for many runs LSU scored.
Mahtook had a .316 batting average with 38 RBIs, seven home runs, a .377 on-base percentage and nine stolen bases.
Landry had a .300 batting average, chipped in with 12 home runs, 41 RBIs, a .379 on-base percentage and also had nine stolen bases.
Watkins and Dishon were no slouches at the plate either.
Watkins batted .418 with six home runs, 71 RBIs and stole a school record 58 bases at LSU-E in the 2009 season.
Dishon sat out with a redshirt last season, but he made 41 appearances and batted .240 with two home runs and 12 RBIs in his freshman season.
With time still to go before the season starts, Landry said he is happy with the outfield and the rest of the team’s progress.
“We’re coming together as a team,” Landry said. “We’ve got good team chemistry right now, and that’ll only get better as the year goes along, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes.”   
 
—-Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]