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Why didn't LSU greats like Brandon Larson, Eddy Furniss, etc. make more noise in MLB?
Posted on 3/16/23 at 10:54 pm
Posted on 3/16/23 at 10:54 pm
They were absolute monsters in college baseball. To be that prolific, it seems like something would have transferred over. Larson lasted two seasons with the Reds, and Furniss never made it out of AA, not to mention other LSU notables over the years.
22
Posted on 3/16/23 at 10:56 pm to shutterspeed
Wooden bats and MUCH better pitching.
Posted on 3/16/23 at 10:57 pm to Hot Carl
quote:
Wooden bats and MUCH better pitching.
The thread should end there.
Posted on 3/16/23 at 11:03 pm to shutterspeed
Because home runs in college with the 1997 bats more often turned into lazy fly balls with a wood bat.
Posted on 3/16/23 at 11:04 pm to Hot Carl
quote:
Wooden bats and MUCH better pitching.
quote:
Furniss batted .403 average in 1998 with 27 doubles, three triples, 28 home runs, 85 runs scored, and 76 RBIs, an
quote:
[Larson] had one of the most prolific years in college baseball history, his one year of NCAA Division 1 Baseball, where he hit 40 home runs and had 118 RBIs with a .381 batting average.
These two were at the top of the game at the time. Surely others playing at the same time who weren't leading the SEC/NCAA maintained an MLB career, so why not them?
Posted on 3/16/23 at 11:07 pm to LSUcajun77
quote:
Wooden bats and MUCH better pitching.
The thread should end there.
I’m too young to have ever seen either play but the obvious issue with this theory is that There are still wooden bats and better pitching now but guys like Bregman and the Nola Bros, even as far back as DJ Lamehieu (sp?) made it.
Why couldn’t a guy that hit 30 bombs a year and hit almost .400 have any semblance of a pro career? Was the talent in college baseball really that bad back then?
Posted on 3/16/23 at 11:09 pm to shutterspeed
quote:
These two were at the top of the game at the time. Surely others playing at the same time who weren't leading the SEC/NCAA maintained an MLB career, so why not them?
Because they were better baseball players than Larson and Furniss. College baseball in ‘97 and ‘98 was basically a different sport than the professional game.
Posted on 3/16/23 at 11:10 pm to shutterspeed
quote:
These two were at the top of the game at the time. Surely others playing at the same time who weren't leading the SEC/NCAA maintained an MLB career, so why not them?
Eddy never projected well for the majors, it's why he exhausted all of his eligibility at LSU. Had Larson realized his potential, he would've been a solid 3B/LF that hit 25-30 homers a season, but he didn't keep up the conditioning once he got to the majors.
With that said, college numbers in that era – no matter how fantastic they may have been – don't mean much in terms of professional projection. To put it simply, with those bats, it was an entirely different game being played compared to the minors and majors.
ETA: Dammit Carl
This post was edited on 3/16/23 at 11:10 pm
Posted on 3/16/23 at 11:11 pm to Hot Carl
Lance Berkman hit more HRs than Larson that year and did it with a dad bod at 21 years old.
Posted on 3/16/23 at 11:28 pm to ProjectP2294
quote:
Throughout college, [Berkman] batted a collective .385 with 67 home runs and 272 RBI.
quote:
Larson hit 40 home runs and had 118 RBIs with a .381 batting average
Why did Berkman enjoy such a prolific MLB career and not Larson since they played during the same era?
Posted on 3/16/23 at 11:30 pm to ProjectP2294
Larson was on roids and everyone knew it but the Red’s.
Posted on 3/16/23 at 11:30 pm to ProjectP2294
quote:
Lance Berkman hit more HRs than Larson that year and did it with a dad bod at 21 years old.
I know. But he was a much better overall hitter than Larson. That’s why he had such a long MLB career. And he switch hit. It’s just the ‘97 bats mitigated the difference in their numbers that year. Or maybe Lance just worked harder.
Posted on 3/16/23 at 11:33 pm to Broski
quote:
To put it simply, with those bats, it was an entirely different game being played compared to the minors and majors.
It was slow pitch softball vs mlb baseball
Posted on 3/17/23 at 12:44 am to shutterspeed
quote:
These two were at the top of the game at the time. Surely others playing at the same time who weren't leading the SEC/NCAA maintained an MLB career, so why not them?
K. Name them.
Posted on 3/17/23 at 1:40 am to shutterspeed
Most don't.
Go to baseball cube.com and go thru the old college teams.
Many top draft picks didn't make it past AA. Others hit .300 range multiple years in AA/AAA and weren't called up. Many got their cup of coffee for a season and that's that. Very VERY few eek out a career. Up until recent rookies/call ups didn't make much money either. Imagine finally making to MLB an only netting 50-100k.
Go to baseball cube.com and go thru the old college teams.
Many top draft picks didn't make it past AA. Others hit .300 range multiple years in AA/AAA and weren't called up. Many got their cup of coffee for a season and that's that. Very VERY few eek out a career. Up until recent rookies/call ups didn't make much money either. Imagine finally making to MLB an only netting 50-100k.
Posted on 3/17/23 at 5:14 am to shutterspeed
The bats were so hot back then, pitchers were scared for their life.
Posted on 3/17/23 at 5:24 am to BGLAVI2
I think Jason Williams led AAA in hitting for two years and never got the call. He was stuck behind Pokie Reese I think.
Posted on 3/17/23 at 5:38 am to shutterspeed
Stars in high school aren't always in college.
Stars in college aren't always in the pros.
Stars in college aren't always in the pros.
Posted on 3/17/23 at 6:18 am to shutterspeed
The simple answer is baseball is very hard. About .17% of minor leaguers make it to the majors. You have a better chance of getting struck by lightning! (.19%). Less than 10% of first round picks make it to the big leagues. That’s hard.
Posted on 3/17/23 at 6:41 am to shutterspeed
There was a former Tiger baseball player on one of the local shows once and he was a late first round pick who was in the minors at the time.
The host indicated he had heard it said that college baseball was about the equivalent of AA baseball in the minors.
The player literally scoffed at that and said, maybe a big SEC game with a Friday night starter, but otherwise he said you will face much better competition and AA ball than most days playing college baseball.
The host indicated he had heard it said that college baseball was about the equivalent of AA baseball in the minors.
The player literally scoffed at that and said, maybe a big SEC game with a Friday night starter, but otherwise he said you will face much better competition and AA ball than most days playing college baseball.
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