Welcome to Freshman Phenoms, in this episode, we talk about LSU Baseball’s Derek Curiel and LSU Softball’s Jayden Heavener.
Both players are having incredible freshmen seasons, which will be some of the best in their programs history.
Derek Curiel is a left-fielder from West Covina, California and he was the tenth ranked player in the country coming out of high school. He and opted out of the draft and lucky for LSU he chose to come play ball for the Tigers.
Through 33 games Derek Curiel has a higher batting average than players like Dylan Crews, Alex Bregman and DJ Lemahieu had in their freshman seasons. Derek also boasts a higher on-base percentage.
Curiel ranks fourth in the sec in on-base percentage coming in at .535. His ability to get on base makes him one of the best leadoff hitters in the country. Pairing his stellar play from the leadoff spot, with Jared Jones and Daniel Dickinson batting behind him lead to a ton of runs scored for LSU Baseball.
What separates Curiel from other freshmen is his plate discipline and pitch recognition. He has reached base in every game this season and his is on pace for 69 walks, which would be fourth all-time in single-season history at LSU.
Softball’s Jayden Heavener is a pitcher out of Pace, Florida.
Jayden was another highly rated prospect coming out of high school. In high school she pitched and hit, but we have yet to see her hit for LSU this season.
She made her presence known by throwing a perfect game in her debut. This is the first time a freshman pitcher has ever thrown a perfect game in their debut at LSU.
Up to this point in the season she ranks third amongst all freshmen in era with at least 15 appearances.
Jayden’s fastball is what makes her so good. Opposing teams have a tough time catching up to the fastball which leads to whiffs and strikeouts.
She is second in strikeouts among freshmen in the SEC. To put it into perspective, LSU Softball greats Britni Sneed and Rachele Fico had 89 and 137 strikeouts through their first 17 appearances. Through 17, Jayden has 122.
Both freshmen hope to keep up their stellar play as both programs look poised to make a deep playoff push. Expect both teams to lean on these freshmen throughout the postseason.