re: I’ll go ahead and admit it: the rest of the SEC is as good as LSU at baseball now

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I love LSU baseball as much as anyone but I think we are ignoring reality. Unless LSU kind of took the SEC tourney off, the hitting issues are real. Last year, although pitching struggled (Skenes is a major improvement this year) LSU could outhit everyone. That’s not happening right now. If hitting doesn’t improve quick, I’m not sure they make it out of regionals. If I’m wrong I will gladly admit.

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They did well against SC, ran into great pitching against Arkansas, and had trouble with RISP against A&M. There were no patterns to be gleaned based solely on the SEC tournament. Each game was different.

Overall, yes, since the Auburn series, LSU has struggled driving in baserunners on average. There are at least three reasons not to consider that predictive of the future. First, they were very good at driving in runners in the first 7 SEC series and nonconference, which shows that not being able to hit with RISP is not an inherent flaw in this team. Second, even though they struggled on average down the stretch, it was not a consistent pattern reflecting the randomness that happens in small sample sizes and again showing this isn’t an innate flaw in the team. Finally, every study on the issue has consistently shown that hitting with RISP mirrors overall hitting over time. LSU was still getting runners on base at a strong rate during the cool down. Over time, they will drive those runners in.