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Freshman Starting Pitchers Having a Successful Season
Posted on 5/10/26 at 5:49 pm
Posted on 5/10/26 at 5:49 pm
I have been thinking of this since last year. It seems like when we had Aaron Nola, Kevin Gausman, Alex Lange, and Jared Poche that they came in and from Day one you could count on them to go out there and give you a solid performance for 6 innings. I thought Schmidt would do this as hyped as he was coming out of high school. Did we just get lucky on an incredible run of great pitchers? Or is a freshman coming in and having a big impact as a starter just a thing of the past?
2
Posted on 5/10/26 at 5:54 pm to David Puddy
My response is based around more general college baseball trends, not just with LSU.
Since 2021 every team has been loaded with 22 and 23 year olds. It’s made it difficult for freshmen to break into starting roles but also to excel if they do because they were facing guys with 5, 6, or even 7 years of post high school playing experience.
Also, everyone you named but Poche made it to the majors. So the bar to being a rotation regular as a freshman was already high, and it only got higher post COVID
Since 2021 every team has been loaded with 22 and 23 year olds. It’s made it difficult for freshmen to break into starting roles but also to excel if they do because they were facing guys with 5, 6, or even 7 years of post high school playing experience.
Also, everyone you named but Poche made it to the majors. So the bar to being a rotation regular as a freshman was already high, and it only got higher post COVID
Posted on 5/10/26 at 6:11 pm to David Puddy
Unless the transfer portal is dialed back you will rarely see a freshman start on the weekend for SEC teams.
Posted on 5/10/26 at 6:14 pm to ProjectP2294
I appreciate the response. I was thinking the portal and Covid leading to more older players on rosters was an impact. But landing a guy like Schmidt last year seemed like maybe some of these high school kids that we normally lost to the draft would make it to campus. I guess everyone being older has made it harder for a freshman even a highly rated one to make as big of an impact as they used to.
Posted on 5/10/26 at 7:05 pm to David Puddy
The conference has never been more competitive than it is now because of the portal and NiL. Georgia’s roster is full of experienced transfers on the mound and in the lineup just as one example. I would say a freshman weekend starter will be even more rare than it was, but maybe possible. We do have a freshman batting 2 and hitting like 330 in conference play.
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