Home run hitters

Last year a big weakness for LSU was a lack of home run hitting, only 48 homers in 66 games. When the tigers would fall behind, some leads seemed almost insurmountable because LSU had to cobble some hits together and rarely could win games with a big home run.

It’s early, but this team looks to have way more power hitters. We have five home runs in just two games. There will be more to come because there is so much more power.

LSU has at least seven players who have exit velocity over 100 mph, Cabrera, Garza, Watson, Mathis, Dugas, Bianco and Beloso. By way of example, both of Duplantis’s home runs had exit velocities less than a hundred. Beloso hit 104 today, he has gone over 107 in scrimmage.

I know some people think exit velocity is an over rated stat, but in fact it’s an objective measure of bat speed. If you have a team full of players with exit speeds over 100, you are going to see more home runs.

We have a heck of a lot more options for pinch hitters this year than last. We had way too many hitters with warning track power last year. This year’s team is going to hit a lot more home runs and, every now and then, win some close games with a walk off homer like today.