Junior Blake Gill might play every position on the baseball diamond before his stay at LSU is over.
In all seriousness, Gill played first base, second base and designated hitter as a true freshman in 2002. Last season, he settled at second base, but only after starting the season at first.
With redshirt freshman shortstop Matt Horwath coming back slowly from shoulder surgery, Gill is now seeing some time at shortstop, according to coach Smoke Laval. Gill played the position in high school.
Gill said the versatility he possesses along with the array of positions he can play helps him to focus at the plate and keep him on his toes in the field.
“I like it,” Gill said. “I think it’s more of a challenge for me. It keeps my head in the game more instead of getting the same thing day in and day out and getting lazy.”
The Brandenton, Fla. native, who hit .304 with 54 RBIs last year, heads a solid list of returning infielders. Third baseman Ivan Naccarata, who is currently spending a the week practicing with the Canadian National team, returns after hitting .320 with six homers and 53 RBIs.
In addition, junior first baseman Clay Harris is back after a solid .332, 16 homer-62 RBI season. Harris’ brother, sophomore Will Harris also could fill in at first or designated hitter.
The list does not even include newcomers like Alexandria, La. infielder Jordan Mayer, Ashland, Mass. infielder Lance Zawadzki, Santa Ana (Calif.) College transfer Bryan Harris and El Camino (Calif.) College transfer Derek Hebert.
“I’m glad I don’t have Smoke’s job right now,” Gill said. “We have a bunch of talented guys on the infield. We have young guys who can step in and play with no problem and you have older guys who have played well already. It just makes it more fun. We just push each other to play out there.”
Laval agrees that competition will be interesting as fall practice continues and each player showcases their skills.
“I guess it’s a pretty good problem to have,” Laval said. “There’s a lot of competition. They’re competing real well all fall. Usually it will work its way out. You hope nobody gets hurt.”
Clay Harris said while the surplus of talent could be a bad thing on some teams, it works well for the Tigers.
“Not this team,” Harris said. “Maybe it could be [a problem] on other teams, but everybody gets along so good here. We really don’t compete against ourselves. We just compete to get better. Whoever gets a job, everybody else is going to cheer them on.”
Laval said everything will sort itself out and the creme will rise to the top.
“We still have a long way to go with tons of intrasquad [games] to go,” Laval said. “That may show some strengths or weaknesses. You just have to let it iron out. That’s what the fall is all about. Nobody’s played themselves into a position. But the bad part or the good part is that nobody’s played themselves out of a position. It’s a wait-and-see.”
The Tigers will have an intrasquad game at 5 p.m. today in Alex Box Stadium.