Post by geauxtigerfan on Aug 15, 2020 13:12:12 GMT -5
From Dandy Don's website:
In the meantime, we have some baseball news to pass along, thanks to a Zoom chat conducted by Coach Paul Mainieri yesterday. During it, he delivered several interesting nuggets about the fall and the 2021 baseball season. Here are the highlights:
Perhaps the biggest takeaway right off the bat was Paul Mainieri stressing that LSU is on track to have both fall baseball and its season in the spring. Mainieri’s staff and medical professionals put together a COVID-19 policy similar to what the MLB uses. This means no high fives or spitting and wearing gaiters unless socially distant. It also means dugout and locker room adjustments.
“We are using two dugouts this fall for our intra-squad games as opposed to everybody working out of one dugout,” Mainieri said. “We will keep pitchers and other players who are not involved in the game spaced out in the stands so that they are not in contact with each other. Even the ways we have assigned lockers have changed. We used to have all the pitchers in the same area and the position players in the other half of the room. Now, we are alternating pitcher and position player so that we can send the pitchers home early from practice and then when the position players and the two pitchers that close out the scrimmage come in, they will be more spread out.”
Mainieri revealed that six players had COVID-19 but all got it when they were at home. LSU has gone to the extreme with testing players and trying to keep them free of the virus. “I don’t know that we could be doing anything more to make sure these kids stay safe.”
As for who is returning, Mainieri noted LSU’s key losses centered around valuable hitters like Saul Garza, Daniel Cabrera and Zack Mathis. I suppose that’s the bad news. The good news, as LSU fans know, is most of the Tigers’ pitching staff returns outside of Cole Henry. Mainieri said he looks for Jaden Hill to replace Henry in the rotation — that’s exciting news — and said, ”I think our pitching staff has a chance to be one of the best pitching staffs we’ve ever had.”
Tiger fans will be happy to hear that LSU added several lefties to its roster, and Mainieri delivered a small scouting report on each one. He said Javen Coleman has “come on like gangbusters.” And though Brody Drost is one of the better hitters coming in, Tiger fans could see him become a pen arm and lineup bat. Mainieri also highlighted Alex Brady as a Chris Cotton-like finesse pitcher.
Of course, when discussing the new players coming in, Mainieri made sure to point out Dylan Crews. Crews was a projected first-round pick before pulling his name out of the MLB draft and committing to playing at LSU. Crews was once ranked as the No. 2 prospect in the 2020 class by Baseball America before having somewhat of a down summer and falling to No. 54 in the publication. Mainieri certainly wasn’t down on Crews at all. In fact, he said Crews could have a Daniel Cabrera-like offensive impact. He also said, “He looks like a big leaguer out there. He’s got the talent, the work ethic. He’s smart.”
Crews may be the headliner of LSU’s signing class, but Mainieri emphasized the class as a whole is exceptionally strong due to a Major League Baseball draft that was cut to five rounds. Had it been a normal MLB draft, Mainieri said LSU would have lost multiple players to the pros.
The fresh faces on campus will add to a strong nucleus of returning veterans. And when it comes to returners who have stepped up, Mainieri made a point to highlight catcher Alex Milazzo and shortstop Collier Cranford. Even though they were freshmen a year ago, they had that competitive fire and energy needed to give LSU a spark.
Mainieri said the Tigers have 18 healthy players for the fall to field two nine-man teams. Hayden Travinski has a knee injury that will keep him out and Maurice Hampton will be with the football team. Nick Storz will be focused on football this fall too. In case you may have forgotten, Storz joined the Tigers as a tight end over the summer.
Mainieri also noted that no opponent has canceled coming to Baton Rouge, and though the schedule hasn’t been approved yet, it includes Notre Dame, Army and Air Force for the opening weekend.
LSU players are currently engaged in taking physicals, attending meetings via Zoom and other preseason activities. Next week, they’ll begin conditioning workouts, and individual practices will start at the end of August. The full-squad Fall practice session is scheduled to begin on Sunday, September 20 and will include six to eight 9-inning scrimmages.
Geaux Tigers
In the meantime, we have some baseball news to pass along, thanks to a Zoom chat conducted by Coach Paul Mainieri yesterday. During it, he delivered several interesting nuggets about the fall and the 2021 baseball season. Here are the highlights:
Perhaps the biggest takeaway right off the bat was Paul Mainieri stressing that LSU is on track to have both fall baseball and its season in the spring. Mainieri’s staff and medical professionals put together a COVID-19 policy similar to what the MLB uses. This means no high fives or spitting and wearing gaiters unless socially distant. It also means dugout and locker room adjustments.
“We are using two dugouts this fall for our intra-squad games as opposed to everybody working out of one dugout,” Mainieri said. “We will keep pitchers and other players who are not involved in the game spaced out in the stands so that they are not in contact with each other. Even the ways we have assigned lockers have changed. We used to have all the pitchers in the same area and the position players in the other half of the room. Now, we are alternating pitcher and position player so that we can send the pitchers home early from practice and then when the position players and the two pitchers that close out the scrimmage come in, they will be more spread out.”
Mainieri revealed that six players had COVID-19 but all got it when they were at home. LSU has gone to the extreme with testing players and trying to keep them free of the virus. “I don’t know that we could be doing anything more to make sure these kids stay safe.”
As for who is returning, Mainieri noted LSU’s key losses centered around valuable hitters like Saul Garza, Daniel Cabrera and Zack Mathis. I suppose that’s the bad news. The good news, as LSU fans know, is most of the Tigers’ pitching staff returns outside of Cole Henry. Mainieri said he looks for Jaden Hill to replace Henry in the rotation — that’s exciting news — and said, ”I think our pitching staff has a chance to be one of the best pitching staffs we’ve ever had.”
Tiger fans will be happy to hear that LSU added several lefties to its roster, and Mainieri delivered a small scouting report on each one. He said Javen Coleman has “come on like gangbusters.” And though Brody Drost is one of the better hitters coming in, Tiger fans could see him become a pen arm and lineup bat. Mainieri also highlighted Alex Brady as a Chris Cotton-like finesse pitcher.
Of course, when discussing the new players coming in, Mainieri made sure to point out Dylan Crews. Crews was a projected first-round pick before pulling his name out of the MLB draft and committing to playing at LSU. Crews was once ranked as the No. 2 prospect in the 2020 class by Baseball America before having somewhat of a down summer and falling to No. 54 in the publication. Mainieri certainly wasn’t down on Crews at all. In fact, he said Crews could have a Daniel Cabrera-like offensive impact. He also said, “He looks like a big leaguer out there. He’s got the talent, the work ethic. He’s smart.”
Crews may be the headliner of LSU’s signing class, but Mainieri emphasized the class as a whole is exceptionally strong due to a Major League Baseball draft that was cut to five rounds. Had it been a normal MLB draft, Mainieri said LSU would have lost multiple players to the pros.
The fresh faces on campus will add to a strong nucleus of returning veterans. And when it comes to returners who have stepped up, Mainieri made a point to highlight catcher Alex Milazzo and shortstop Collier Cranford. Even though they were freshmen a year ago, they had that competitive fire and energy needed to give LSU a spark.
Mainieri said the Tigers have 18 healthy players for the fall to field two nine-man teams. Hayden Travinski has a knee injury that will keep him out and Maurice Hampton will be with the football team. Nick Storz will be focused on football this fall too. In case you may have forgotten, Storz joined the Tigers as a tight end over the summer.
Mainieri also noted that no opponent has canceled coming to Baton Rouge, and though the schedule hasn’t been approved yet, it includes Notre Dame, Army and Air Force for the opening weekend.
LSU players are currently engaged in taking physicals, attending meetings via Zoom and other preseason activities. Next week, they’ll begin conditioning workouts, and individual practices will start at the end of August. The full-squad Fall practice session is scheduled to begin on Sunday, September 20 and will include six to eight 9-inning scrimmages.
Geaux Tigers