re: LSU Pitching Stats last 3 seasons with 3 different coaches

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Looking at the median ERA team on NCAA's website each year it's:

2024 - 6.02/6.03 (295 teams, looked at teams 147/148)
2023 - 5.95 (295 teams, again looked at teams 147/148)
2022 - 5.68 (293 teams, looked at teams 146/147)

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This is helpful for context. Small sample size, but maybe enough to determine a trend. Several factors, I'm sure, but not sure which were the most impactful. The SEC strike zone for sure was bigger in '22 than it was in '23 and '24. Ben McDonald has been talking about the balls being juiced for the last couple of years (he's been talking about it for a couple of years, not sure how far he thinks it goes back).

We're still having the effects of the extra COVID year of eligibility and the shrunken draft, so a lot of teams are older and more experienced across the board than in previous years. I think that probably affected more position players that are really good college players without much of a professional future. NIL probably plays a little part. (Just take LSU the last 2 years. Guys like Beloso and Dugas wouldn't have been back for '23 5-10 years ago. Neither would guys like Milazzo, Travinski this year. Wouldn't have had Bingham, despite his relative disappointing season).

And maybe we're finally seeing the trickle down of MLB's focus on the 3 outcomes and launch angle as more kids are growing up training for max exit velocity and learning how to get the ball up in the air and trying to lift it out of the park. But all that is the same for all teams throughout the country, so these median numbers are still really helpful for context. And, in context, it looks all our pitching coaches have produced similar results.

I think we can look at 3 main guys in '25 to see how Yeskie is able to handle them and see how they develop:

1) Anderson--after missing all of last year with TJ, he probably wasn't ready to have a much bigger role this season, despite showing great stuff in spots. I think he can develop into a Friday night guy, future 1st rounder. Do we see that guy next year?

2) Herring (assuming/hoping like hell he comes back)--can Yeskie help him develop a 3rd pitch he can trust to throw in any count and turn him into a weekend SEC starter who can extend to 6-7 innings/100 pitches once a week. I know he's got that in him, can Yeskie lay out the right plan to get him there by February?

3) Mayers--ton of stuff to work with, but has to cut down significantly on the walks. Can Yeskie turn him into a valuable piece of the staff, whether that's as a Sunday starter or a high leverage back of the bullpen guy they can trust to come in and throw strikes? Or is he relegated to more of a Moffett '24 role?

Obviously, there are other guys he'll have to continue to develop, but I think those 3 are huge for not only the success of the '25 team, but for future recruiting as well. A highly touted high school guy that doesn't get offered what he wants due to injury or other factors? Come to LSU, we can develop you into a 1st rounder. Another high school guy coming into a loaded rotation? Come to LSU, you'll have a chance to compete as a freshman, you might wind up being a big piece of the pen for a year or 2, but we'll continue to try to develop you into a starter and you could wind up being in the weekend rotation your Jr. year and have the opportunity to be a 2nd rounder instead of a 3rd or 4th.

Could use Herring as an example to get portal guys too who may have been used as extended bullpen guys at their previous schools. Throwing 3-4 innings a weekend out of the pen, but think you could be a starter with the proper coaching? Come to LSU and we'll have a plan to develop you into a starter and increase your draft stock. Have a guy at a smaller school with great stuff but inferior coaching that can't figure out how to reign you in and cut down on your walks? Want to fine tune your mechanics and be a big piece of a staff that has a chance to make it to Omaha and win the CWS and pitch against the best hitters in the country and get drafted in the 1st 5 rounds? Come to LSU and we can do for you what we did for Jacob Mayers.