Finishing the 577 innings of the 2018 season with 312 earned runs and a 4.87 earned run average is not the way LSU envisioned its final pitching stats to look.
After such a talented pitching staff in 2017, with Alex Lange and Jared Poché leading the way, the Tigers expected then-sophomore Zack Hess to move from the closer role and take over a starting job efficiently in 2018.
Hess had an inconsistent season but said that helped him to figure out what he needs to do as a starter and is confident he can bounce back and lead the rotation.
“Understanding what it’s like to go out there and get blown up in the third inning and then going out there and throwing eight shutout innings,” Hess said. “Just being able to kind of figure out more consistently what you’re doing when you’re successful, so I think just having that experience is really going to help me in 2019.”
Having a confident Friday-night starter will help build confidence in a young pitching staff. Championship teams tend to always have deep, talented pitching staffs, and after experiencing Florida’s star-studded 2017 pitching staff and Oregon State’s in 2018, LSU coach Paul Mainieri knew he had to recruit young stars of his own.
He signed seven Major League Baseball draft picks, including four pitchers —Landon Marceaux, Cole Henry, Easton McMurray and Jaden Hill.
These four freshman will add to the talented returning staff with Hess as the Friday-night starter, sophomore right-hander Eric Walker as the Sunday starter.
He played a key role on the 2017 pitching staff, but missed the entire 2018 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Mainieri said things could have been different in the 2017 College World Series if he were healthy.
The Saturday starter is still in question. After a stellar 2018 season, sophomore Ma’Khail Hilliard was expected to fill the role, but he is still injured after battling shoulder soreness that returned last week. He was shut down in the fall, but is scheduled to pitch an intersquad on Feb. 1. Mainieri will reevaluate following the scrimmage.
Mainieri said Marceaux will most likely be the Saturday-starter because he is the “most polished” of the pitchers battling for that spot. Marceaux is confident he can be successful in the high-pressure role.
“I have trust in all of my pitches,” Marceaux said. “I throw them all with conviction. If it’s the wrong pitch to throw, you throw it with conviction and you still have a chance.”
Marceaux was the No. 1 ranked player in Louisiana and selected in the 37th round of the MLB draft by the New York Yankees. He features a four pitch arsenal — four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball, curveball and changeup.
The ability to control both sides of the plate is critical, especially in the talent-laden SEC. Marceaux said he feels comfortable throwing arm-side and glove-side, which is a rare trait in young pitchers.
Behind the trio of Hess, Marceaux and Walker is the Tigers odd bullpen. With baseball on a trend of moving to matchups more frequently in recent years, the Tigers only have one left-handed pitcher on the roster, freshman Easton McMurray.
The rest of the bullpen is predominately made up of hard throwing right-handers. Mainieri said that he gives pitching coach Alan Dunn a lot of authority on recruiting pitchers and to get the best guys out there, and this year the players they signed were almost all right-handers.
This predicament is not lost on Mainieri.
“Some of the best pitchers have been left-handed — Jared Poché and Nick Bush,” Mainieri said.
Continuing the trend of right-handers is junior Todd Peterson. After the unforgettable performance in the 2018 SEC tournament from the man who hit “bombs,” Peterson looks to carry that success into this season from a different role as a closer.
Mainieri said that Peterson grew after that game and has improved on the mound significantly since coming in and throwing five shutout innings in that tournament game. During his freshman year, he was able to see Hess and his success from the same role. Peterson will take over Hess’ former role and have one of the hardest jobs in baseball, getting the final three outs.
With a little over two weeks away from opening day, Mainieri has a strong idea of how strong this pitching staff is — big, talented and confident. It’s likely that no one will truly know the full potential of this staff until conference play begins, so the only thing left to do is have the same attitude as the team, “take each game one at a time.”