Michael Papierski and Jake Latz don’t talk about baseball often with each other, at least not much in the last year.
While Papierski was cementing his role as the everyday catcher in his second year with the Tigers, Latz — his childhood friend, high school teammate and roommate — was left pondering a question he had been frequently asked.
“When are you going to get back out there?”
Even non-verbal reminders of his almost two-year absence from the mound in a live game, like requiring treatment in a training room, became nauseating.
“Right now, every single day, I have to tell myself, ‘I’m not going to experience that anymore,’” Latz said Monday, one day before his collegiate debut against McNeese State. “I have to get past that, get it over with and just focus on throwing strikes and going out there and feeling good.”
After a 1.1-inning start Tuesday against the Cowboys, Latz took his first step toward putting his injury past behind him. Although he allowed three runs off three hits, the redshirt freshman lefty struck out a pair of batters on 36 pitches.
The timetable for Latz’s return hadn’t always been firm because his elbow had deceived him a few times before.
Having already passed on signing a professional contract, The Lemont, Illinois native and 2014 Illinois High School Player of the Year arrived at LSU for summer classes in June, just a day after his high school team won the Class 3A state championship.
As the fall semester began, the then-true freshman was off to a decent start in fall practices, he said, before he began to feel pain, which was diagnosed later as a stress reaction.
He was shut down for the first time in his playing career and then attempted to rejoin the rotation after seeing improvement toward the end of last season.
However, any hope he could make an appearance proved to be fleeting as he was shut down again, not throwing a meaningful pitch in his first year in Baton Rouge.
It was more of the same in 2015 fall practice. Solid performances in fall scrimmages proved to be fool’s gold when he eventually re-aggravated his elbow. This time, he needed a screw to mend what had become a stress fracture.
For Latz, the procedure and recovery was a “mentally-draining” experience. But at the very least, he wouldn’t have to worry about it flaring up again.
Despite so much time away from competition, Papierski said Latz kept a positive disposition, and Latz’s spirits were even further lifted when he knew he would actually be pitching at some point in the year.
“I don’t think I would quit,” Papierski said Monday. “But I don’t know if I could keep the positive attitude that he did day-in and day-out with baseball.”
Based on more than a decade of playing sports with each other, Papierski knows Latz as well as anybody and has seen him grow as a person since high school. Papierski, who caught Latz for two years at Lemont High School, considered the soft-spoken hurler to be a “quiet leader” in high school, even though his 10 wins, 114 strikeouts and 0.22 ERA in his senior season were critical pieces to a title-winning prep team.
While he agreed with his batterymate’s sentiment, Latz feels his passion for the game still burning internally, even if his on-field demeanor never shows it.
“Once I entered the field, I guess you could say I’m a little quiet,” Latz said. “But, inside, I’m fired up and emotional. Me and [Papierski] are usually on the same page, and he knows who I am and what kind of pitcher I am. So, that helps.”
Even Latz said he prides himself on being an “intelligent pitcher” with laser concentration, easily able to control his emotions. LSU pitching coach Alan Dunn said the message doesn’t change when a pitcher makes his collegiate debut.
“It’s still about executing pitches, staying within yourself and getting dudes out,” Dunn said Monday. “That’s going to be the approach. But that’s approach with Jake Latz, Alex Lange, Jared Poche’, Hunter Newman and Parker Bugg. The approach with every guy is the same.”

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Wingate Jones

LSU freshman pitcher Jake Latz (67) pitches during LSU's 7-0 defeat on Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at Alex Box Stadium