Seventeen new players entered the 2018 season looking to make their mark on the LSU baseball team, but none have made a bigger mark than the 6-foot, 150-pound freshman right-handed pitcher Ma’Khail Hilliard.
Hilliard has thrived in his role out of the bullpen becoming LSU’s go-to guy when the starters struggle in the game. Hilliard has now appeared in five games allowing no earned runs and recording a team-high three wins.
The 19-year-old freshman has been dominant during the season pitching a perfect nine strike inning against Grambling. Hilliard is tied for second on the team with 11 strikeouts only trailing sophomore starter Zack Hess who has 25.
The velocity of Hilliard’s fastball is not off the charts sitting at 86-87 miles per hour, but the movement on his pitches, especially his curveball, is what makes him special.
“A good curveball by a major league player would be about 3,000 rpm,” said coach Paul Mainieri. “We only have one pitcher who has touched 3,000 rpm and that’s Ma’Khail Hilliard. That means he can spin that thing even tighter, which makes it break that much more. Even Alex Lange didn’t have that kind of spin break on his curveball.”
LSU can read the spin rate of breaking balls with a device called the Gametracker. The Gametracker allows the team to calculate the spin rate of Hilliard’s 12-to-6 curveball and compare it to major league pitchers to determine how effective his pitches are at recording strikeouts.
Even though the freshman has pitched outstandingly to start the season, he knows his defense always has his back if he struggles to find the strike zone.
“I can definitely trust my defense,” Hilliard said. “I feel very confident in my defense. My defense is really good.”
Hilliard comes to LSU from Central High School where he helped lead his team to the 2017 state championship. Hilliard posted a 1.09 ERA his senior season, allowing just nine earned runs and striking out 71 in 57.2 innings pitched.
Hilliard’s best game of the season so far came against the Southeastern Lions. Coming in during the third inning, Hilliard retired 11 straight batters on his way to a four strikeout, one hit outing against the Lions.
“He has good pitches,” Mainieri said. “His fastball cuts like crazy, and he has a good curveball, but this is what we saw all fall out of Ma’Khail.”
Hilliard has recorded the third most innings on the team with 12, behind starters Hess and junior Caleb Gilbert. Early season struggles by Sunday starter Todd Peterson have raised the question of whether Hilliard should be taken out of the bullpen and inserted into the starting role. With continued dominant performances by Hilliard, it will be interesting to see if Mainieri makes the switch.
Even though Mainieri has not made any moves, Hilliard is confident that he would take on any role he is given and thrive like he has consistently done
all season.
“Anywhere he puts me I’m confident I will do good in and produce for my team,” Hilliard said. “Anywhere he puts me, I will be very happy.”
