LSU sophomore outfielder Ryan Patterson spent all of last season at Texarkana Junior College in Texas trying to prove himself as a solid baseball player, with his goal to gain the attention of a major Division I school.
Patterson, who hit a stellar .439 with 19 home runs, 25 doubles, 75 RBIs and stole 24 bases, succeeded in his goal.
Not only did he capture the attention of the LSU baseball program, but he also caught the attention of the Atlanta Braves, who drafted him in the 34th round of the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft.
According to Patterson, professional baseball can wait a bit.
“I thought this was the best opportunity for me,” he said. “Where better can you get than LSU baseball?”
Patterson is just one more of the many newcomers having a tremendous impact on the LSU baseball team.
He is hitting .322 with a team-high four home runs, along with 11 RBIs going into Tuesday night’s game with Southern.
“You always hope that you have the impact, but you try to not expect too much from yourself,” Patterson said. “You can’t set your standards way too high because you want to give yourself a chance to grow. I’m still young. I was just wanting to come in here and at least help the team anyway I could.”
A player who can play multiple positions along with hitting comfortably anywhere in the lineup, Patterson’s performance has not been a surprise to LSU coach Smoke Laval.
Laval expects even bigger things from the 5-foot-11, 195-pound Texas native down the stretch.
“He was supposed to come in here and swing the bat better,” Laval said. “And he will once he gets into the flow of things. He’s stepped up big for us when he could have went down the tank at one time.”
Having played left and right field and being able to play first base and designated hitter along with hitting as high up as third to as low as ninth in the batting order, Patterson said he is just happy to be in the lineup.
I’m just excited to be in the lineup,” he said. “I try to go all out wherever I’m at.
“I just want to do what’s best for the team. If they want me in left field, right field, first base, DH, I don’t know; I don’t care; I just want to help the team in any way I can.”
Patterson said the biggest adjustment to Division I baseball, besides the pitching and depth, are the crowd sizes — especially at Alex Box Stadium.
“We had about 20 people at every one of our games [at Texarkana Junior College],” he said. “Going from 20 [people] to 5,000 or 6,000 a game is a pretty big adjustment.”
Patterson said learning to follow the leaders on the team is the most important thing he has learned in his short stint in Baton Rouge. He cited team members Aaron Hill, Bo Pettit and Jake Tompkins as players who he deems leaders of the team.
“Those guys have been here, and they’re good people to follow,” Patterson said. “They know what it takes to win here. I’ve never been around this, so I am just trying to follow them.”
Even though the LSU baseball experience is new and sometimes eye-opening to Patterson, it is one he is cherishing every moment of.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “The fans are amazing. The facilities are great. It’s a blast. I love it. I get goosebumps every time I play here.”