LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson has released the fall roster as the Fighting Tigers begin preparations to repeat as national champs. On the pitching side, LSU must replace its two top starters, Paul Skenes and Ty Floyd and one of its more trusted relievers, Riley Cooper.
As it stands now, LSU has 26 players who can pitch and ten of them are left-handers. If you remember in 2019, LSU didn’t have a single left-handed pitcher available to use.
Javen Coleman, Griffin Herring and Nate Ackenhausen are returning southpaws. Nic Bronzini and DJ Primeaux were also lefties on last year’s team but didn’t pitch due to injuries.
The rest of the left-handers are newcomers headlined by Cameron Johnson. He’s six-foot-five, 240 pounds from Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Johnson was at the IMG Academy last spring, where he was considered a big-time pro prospect.
Scouts say his fastball runs between 93-to-95 miles per hour and he’s touched 97. He also has a high spin breaking ball.
The Cardinals drafted Johnson in the 20th round as MLB teams passed on him because of concerns they could not sign him as they expected he would attend LSU.
New pitching coach Nate Yeskie is already impressed with Johnson, comparing his size to major league reliever Ardolis Chapman.
“He’s a kid who has background in strength and conditioning with his father and he’s put in the work,” said Yeskie.
Also on LSU’s campus is Jake Brown from Sulphur. The Gatorade High School Player of the Year for 2023 can also play first base and the outfield.
He put up stellar numbers on the mound at Sulphur High. A 10-2 record with a 1.71 ERA and just 39 hits in 73. 2 innings pitched while striking out 118.
Kade Anderson from St.
Paul’s High School is another incoming freshman left-handed pitcher. He’s ranked as the number two overall player in Louisiana by Perfect Game for the Class of 2023.
Johnson also signed two lefties out of the transfer portal, Gage Jump from UCLA and Justin Loer from Xavier.
Jump didn’t pitch last season due to injury but coming out of high school he was considered the number one left-hander in California.
Loer was outstanding for the Musketeers out of the bullpen last season. He made 29 appearances with a 6-2 record and had a 1.89 ERA and seven saves in 57 innings pitched. The Minnesota native also struck out 63 and held opposing hitters to a .182 batting average. He received second-team All-Big East honors.