LSU baseball is just about halfway through the season and getting into the meat of their SEC schedule at a record of 17-7. As they get ready to jump into April, let’s take a look at where the team is currently and the developments in the first half of the season.
Jobert, Bats on Hot Streak
The LSU offense is living up to the preseason hype, plating 230 runs this season, good for 9^th in the NCAA and 2^nd in the SEC, trailing only Tennessee. Dylan Crews, Jacob Berry, Cade Doughty and Tre’ Morgan have been some of the Tigers’ best hitters this season, but recently it’s been someone else spraying the ball all over the park, but primarily out of it: Brayden Jobert.
Since starting their SEC schedule with a 1-2 series loss to Texas A&M, a home extra inning heartbreaker to Louisiana Tech and a 7-2 series opener lost on the road to Florida, the LSU offense has exploded in their last three wins, scoring 42 runs on 33 hits. Jobert has been the main catalyst, going 8-13 with a double, five home runs and 16 of those runs attributed to his name. On Tuesday night against ULM alone, Jobert went 3-4 with seven RBIs. The last Tiger to bat in that many runs was LSU hit king Antoine Duplantis, who reached that benchmark in March of 2017 against Georgia.
“I don’t think I’ve hit five homers in three games before,” Jobert said. “I’m just really focused on getting my foot down, putting a good swing on the ball and not really worrying too much about doing too much, and all the results are coming behind it.”
“When I took the job and was evaluating the roster, I looked at him and said, ‘This is a guy we can really get something out of,’” Johnson said of his designated hitter. “He had a good start to the season. He made an adjustment between Wednesday and Friday, both mentally and physically, that I think will really help him going forward. We won the series [against Florida] because of him and his performance at the plate.”
If you’ve read the Sabermetric article I released at the beginning of the season, you’ll probably be wondering where the Tiger bats stand in terms of advanced hitting statistics. Five Tigers are clear of a .450+ wOBA, in a league where the average is .390 (Doughty .478, Jobert .474, Crews .458, Dugas .456, Berry .453). These are tremendous starts for the season for an offense that wants to pressure their opponents with heaping mounds of runs to overwhelm and overtake.
The other component of the lineup has been their inherent ability to mix up lineups for opposing pitchers, particularly with prolific left-handed hitting. Jobert, Morgan, and Giovanni DiGiacomo have been producing naturally from the left side of the plate, while Berry, the only switch hitter on the team, faces all right-handers from the left side as well. LSU teams in the past have sometimes lacked the ability to continuously challenge managers with their decision-making in manipulating matchups, but when the team is able to mix in these four along with some other potential lefties like Will Safford, Josh Pearson, Josh Stevenson and Brody Drost, as well as with the possible return of Cade Beloso, the lineup can be dangerous to game plan against.
Pitching Progression and Production
The question for LSU going into this season was how well the pitching staff could perform with a lot of new and young faces on the team. So far, the hurlers have seen some ups and downs this season, with a staff that has dealt with injuries, inconsistencies and subpar defense behind them. Javen Coleman is out indefinitely with an elbow injury, leaving Riley Cooper and Trey Shaffer as the only two lefties who have been used this season. Blake Money also dealt with a brief wrist irritation that threw him out of rhythm a bit after serving as LSU’s most efficient pitcher early in the season.
LSU’s battles have been more about finding consistent performances from their pitchers. Transfers Paul Gervase and Eric Reyzelman have been two of LSU’s most effective relievers this year, as the only two players on the team with K/9 above 15. Ma’Khail Hilliard and Ty Floyd have been effective inning eaters for the team, mixing in as the starters behind Money on Fridays.
However, the biggest development has been the emergence of freshmen Samuel Dutton and Grant Taylor. The two newcomers were not guaranteed many innings coming into this season, but they have stepped up when their name has been called. They anchored an impressive two run performance to clinch LSU’s series win over Florida Sunday. Dutton has a 2.77 ERA and a 1.077 WHIP in 13.0 IP, while Taylor sports a 2.24 ERA and a 1.056 WHIP in 16.1 IP. The youngsters are going to be called upon often going forward.
“I’ve always liked the stuff on both of them,” Johnson said. “I feel like it’s starter caliber stuff, and until guys do it, it’s hard to say to give them the rope to do that. But when they throw, there’s a lot to like there. They throw strikes with their fastball and command it, they make their breaking balls go down and away from the hitter’s eyes and they both have a changeup that is a lot to deal with for a hitter.”
The team will begin establishing who can be trusted to take the mound for gutsy SEC games coming up, and it seems like the two freshmen, along with talented transfers and seasoned veterans, will be in that mix.
Cleaning Up the Defense
LSU has the lowest fielding percentage in the SEC, at .955, T-247^th in the NCAA. They’ve committed 40 errors this season, a number Johnson feels is unacceptable. To attempt to solve this, Johnson has been experimenting with different layouts of his defense to put his players in the best positions to succeed.
The first big move was swapping Jordan Thompson, who has 10 errors on the season, with his middle infield partner Doughty. Johnson has pledged that his team needs better defensive play at shortstop, while also expressing his desire to get Thompson in better rhythm defensively at second base, a friendlier defensive position for the sophomore.
Secondly, DiGiacomo is playing a lot more in the outfield. The senior has plus speed, a great glove and a good arm, so he has been used frequently in right. This has moved Berry to third base, where he has struggled some but has shown some improvement as of late.
The other possible option would be to play Jack Merrifield at third, who has been very consistent at the position when called upon, but that would leave either Berry or Jobert out of the lineup with only one DH spot to go around. With the way both of them are hitting right now, it’s hard to imagine Johnson opting to move one of them off to see a slight improvement defensively.
The best course of action seems to be hoping for more improvements. Over the last four games, LSU has only committed three errors, and it’s led to a 3-1 record with momentum on their side as Auburn comes into Baton Rouge this weekend. The team is 11-1 when they’ve made one or no errors in the game and 6-6 when they make two or more. Finding defensive consistency could be the difference between being a regional host or not.