re: LSU Baseball 2025 (and beyond) Recruiting Thread

Stat update for recent LSU transfers or other notable LSU linked players

#Neal struggled
#Dutton with another solid outing
#Plog with another good start: 4.2 IP, 4H, 2R 0BB, 4K

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Brady Neal, C, #16 (Alabama)
103AB, 23H, 33R, 2HR, 14RBI, 22BB, 28SO, .223/.372/.330/.702

Sammy Dutton, RHP, #44 (Auburn)
12GS, 6-2, 2.37 ERA, 68.1 IP, 59H, 20R, 18ER, 13BB, 81K, 1.054 WHIP

Cam Johnson, LHP, #175 (OU)
8G, 7GS, 2-0, 5.85 ERA, 20.0 IP, 17H, 14R, 13ER, 21BB, 21K, 7HBP 1.900 WHIP

Paxton Kling, CF, #189 (Penn St)
180AB, 61H, 51R, 12HR, 46RBI, 29BB, 42SO, 14-16SB, .339/.444/.622/1.066

Aiden Moffett, RHP, #679 (Texas)
6G, 0-0, 4.0 IP, 2.25 ERA, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 4BB, 7K, 2HBP, 1.250 WHIP

Zeb Ruddell, OF, #2024 (La Tech)
138AB, 37H, 32R, 7HR, 25RBI, 25BB, 34SO, 4-5SB, .268/.402/.493/.895

Ryan Kucherak, INF, #2273 (Northwestern)
168AB, 44H, 29R, 13HR, 32RBI, 17BB, 42SO, .262/.349/.560/.909

Micah Bucknam, RHP, #2626 (DBU)
11GS, 6-1, 4.61 ERA, 56.2 IP, 50H, 34R, 29ER, 23BB, 76K, 1.288 WHIP

Austen Roellig, INF, #3511 (Utah)
177AB, 60H, 28R, 1HR, 32RBI, 9BB, 24SO, 5-9 SB, .339/.385/.435/.820

Trenton Lape, RHP (Chipola)
12G, 9GS, 2-2, 1S, 5.86 ERA, 35.1 IP, 39H, 28R, 23ER, 22BB, 32K, 1.73 WHIP

Griffin Cooley, OF (LSUE)
56AB, 15H, 19R, 1HR, 14RBI, 18BB, 19SO, .268/.393/.462/.855

Trevor Schmidt, 1B (Fullerton College).
154AB, 49H, 39R, 5HR, 46RBI, 31BB, 42SO, 2SB .318/.447/.500/.947

Landon Victorian, P (OU)
1GS, 0.00 ERA, 2.0 IP, 3H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 1K, 2.000 WHIP

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LSU JUCO commitments for 2026

Daniel Harden, OF (McLennan)
188AB, 66H, 64R, 11HR, 52RBI, 40BB, 26SO, 17-17SB, .351/.504/.622/1.126

Ethan Plog, LHP (Iowa Western)
11G, 9GS, 4-3, 5.34 ERA, 30.1 IP, 31H, 20R, 18ER, 19BB, 39K, 1.65 WHIP

I think there is some really good D2 competition, and players, out there. But they're in California, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and especially Florida.

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Daniel Harden looks to really be a player

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Pretty much the perfect JUCO baseball candidate. Multi sport guy in high school, super athletic but raw, needing at bats.

And the Texas JUCO league is strong and a great place to get that experience.

On the other JUCO recruit, Ethan Plog's season numbers look pedestrian, but the trend is great. He's gotten way better as the season has gone along and it looks like he's pitching today in the regional playoffs. Should be able to stream here at 2pm central: LINK

quote:

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Project, why don’t we go after as many Louisiana guys anymore? Is it a Jay thing or did the talent in Louisiana shrink

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It is a Jay thing. Like when Saban went to Alabama and tried to raid Louisiana.

Jay likes the west coast guys and playing in the SEC is more attractive than it has ever been for them.

The idea of what an LSU recruit is has changed. It's Not the state. And when a kid elects to sign in the draft, their spot is going to be taken by a transfer, not the in-state prospect that was waiting for an offer.

quote:

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It is a Jay thing. Like when Saban went to Alabama and tried to raid Louisiana.

Jay likes the west coast guys and playing in the SEC is more attractive than it has ever been for them.

The idea of what an LSU recruit is has changed. It's Not the state. And when a kid elects to sign in the draft, their spot is going to be taken by a transfer, not the in-state prospect that was waiting for an offer.

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well lately the recruits that can compete immediately have been from Cali and texas with a little florida sprinkled in.

Jay is still recruiting Louisiana hard but he isnt going to take great HS players that are not college ready right now in HS. Im talking from a physical standpoint.

PM used to take fringe guys, let them sit in program for 3 years and get bigger/stronger.....cant do that now. Be ready to play as a freshman or go somewhere else and transfer.

Bored at work this morning, so for those of you interested, I have been crunching some numbers for next year.

I see 11 players on current team that are 100%-95% to return.

There is a big group of about 22 players that are maybe yes, maybe no. I'm thinking only about 6 returns from that group if we go down to a 34 man roster.

There are 7 more that are 100%-95% gone.

From the 20 players listed on page one of this thread, I think about 14 make the roster. The others either redshirt or go pro.

That puts us at 31 for next year. I don't think we will take more than about 5 players from the portal. I'm lumping our two JUCO's on page one with the freshman but in reality, they are more like portal additions.

Obviously, there are still a lot of unknowns at this point but I'm not expecting a big portal class. I believe we will need another MIF and some lefty pitching from the portal. Along with any impact players that you can grab.

Portal arm to monitor: Kaden Echeman - Northern Kentucky

ETA: Also being looked at by South Carolina, Texas, Minnesota, and Duke, among others.

The Talent is not there!

New FSS Mock has Kade going at 16 but no Tiger commits coming off the board LINK

Starting to think we may end up getting one of Ebel/Young. Which would y'all prefer?

Portal names to monitor

Mason Estrada, RHP, MIT (from Covington), Grad Transfer, #102
2.21 ERA, 6-0, 10GS, 40.2 IP, 22H, 16R, 10ER, 23BB, 66K, .154BAA, 1,119 WHIP (Committed to Tenn)

Kaden Echeman, RHP, Northern Kentucky, SR, #18
3.64 ERA, 2-3, 8GS, 47 IP, 34H, 23R, 19ER, 19BB, 73K, .201BAA, 1,128 WHIP

Colby Guy, RHP, UNC-Ashville, SR, #263
10.80 ERA, 5GS, 16.2 IP, 29H 30R, 20ER, 12BB, 15K, 2.460 WHIP

Erik Paulsen, 1B, Stony Brook, SO, #4
.352/.446/.575/.1.021, 41 R, 8 HR, 38 RBI, 7-9 SB, 23 BB, 11K