Scott Sanders doesn't have any family connection to LSU these days, but the former MLB pitcher sees more than his fair share of the Tigers.
But it was a conversation with legendary former LSU coach Skip Bertman that stood out as he considered the top-ranked Tigers chances heading into the 2023 season, with the opener against Northwestern scheduled for Friday.
Bertman told him: "This is the best LSU team in the history of LSU," as Sanders recalled to Mike Detillier and Bobby Hebert this week on SportsTalk. Sanders is the father of Cam Sanders, who pitched for LSU in 2018 before being drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 12th round.
Listen to the full interview with Scott Sanders in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
Skip, who led LSU baseball from 1984-2001 and 5 College World Series titles, thinks this Tigers squad could have as many as four first-round picks in the upcoming MLB draft, and another four a year later. That group is obviously headlined by top overall prospect Dylan Crews, but now features a pitching staff ready to back it up.
"If they stay healthy … they are built to win," Sanders said. "They’re built to win now.”
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One of the reasons that's the case, particularly compared to a year ago, is the depth of the pitching staff, even after the unfortunate, season-ending injury to Grant Taylor. They have an ace Friday starter in transfer Paul Skenes, an ascending talent for Saturday in Ty Floyd, and potentially the best of the bunch in Thatcher Hurd, a transfer from Vanderbilt. An issue a year ago was that the pitching staff would typically start the weekend with only 4-5 innings guaranteed from the starter. Now they can feasibly expect 6-7 innings all three days, allowing for optimal rest and deployment of a bullpen that's also littered with impressive arms.
"[LSU] brought in Wes Johnson who is a major league pitching coach, got him to go from the big leagues down to college, which is incredible," Sanders said. "But he plugged up holes and the pitching this year is as deep as probably LSU has ever had in a long, long time."
First pitch for LSU-Northwestern is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Friday at Alex Box Stadium, 3 hours earlier than the originally scheduled time due to an impending cold snap.
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WHAT QUESTIONS ARE LEFT TO ANSWER FOR LSU?
- Can Tommy White start and hold things down at third base?
- Can Gavin Dugas stay healthy and be an offensive weapon at 2B?
- Who starts at catcher? Alex Milazzo feels like a good bet, but it's likely that rotation shifts depending on the pitcher.
WHAT MAKES JAY JOHNSON SUCH AN EFFECTIVE COACH
“Jay Johnson is a constant pro. He reminds me of a professional manager, you know what I mean? You don’t always get that in college. Sometimes it’s a rah-rah guy, but he is a constant pro.
"And then his leader of the team is Dylan Crews. If you watch Dylan Crews work in practice … and you put an Angels uniform on him or a Padres uniform on him and threw him out there, you would never know he was a college baseball player. So the leadership, and he’s a very quiet leader, too. He’s not your rah-rah guy carrying out the boombox, that’s Cade Beloso. They’ve got that guy on the team, too, but they follow Dylan Crews. Even Jordan Thompson, last year he had a rough start but he finished strong. That kid’s gonna play in the big leagues someday. They have the character to put that weight on their shoulders and carry it.”
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