re: Some local wannabe writer talking about LSU's lack of black baseball players

The fact that college baseball only gives out partial scholarships is of course a huge part of the problem (and also a reason why academic schools like Stanford, Rice, Vandy, & UNC are known to get so many good pitchers).

A few points that haven't been mentioned:

#1. Black baseball players in the U.S. tend to have a competitive advantage at the OF positions, but these are exactly the positions that are most likely to go straight to the minor leagues out of HS.

#2. On the flip side, black baseball players in the U.S. are very rare at the pitching and catching positions--at least when it comes to being at an elite level. Part of this has to do with the fact that tall white kids are less likely to focus exclusively on basketball. Part of it has to do with the fact that black people have no discernible genetic athletic advantage over white people when it comes to pitching and catching. And part of this has to do with the year-round training that many teenage kids in affluent suburbia get for these highly skilled positions.

#3. College baseball currently (it wasn't always this way) tends to have more MLB-level talent at pitcher than it does for big hitters. Thus, most elite black baseball players who play OF in HS will be among the most likely to go pro without going to college.


I mean, just think about it. How many black LSU baseball players can you think of who didn't play in the OF?

OF -- Terry Belle, Joey Belle, Ron Lim, Lyle Mouton, Cedrick Harris, Jared Mitchell, Trey Watkins, Leon Landry, Arby Fields, etc.

P/INF -- Shane Youman ... who else???


I think LSU just caught a random spike of white outfields over the past few recruiting classes, and that pretty much explains entirely the absence of black players, at least relative to the numbers of black players LSU used to have.