LSU has added just two pitchers from the transfer portal since it opened on June 1st.
One of the reasons the Tigers haven’t signed several portal arms is that Coach Jay Johnson has faith in the hurlers returning for the 2027 season.
At the top of that list, despite recording a 9.20 ERA in his freshman season, is right-handed pitcher Marcos Paz.
Paz did not pitch his senior season in high school in Carrollton, Texas, because he was recovering from Tommy John surgery in the summer of 2024.
Despite suffering a significant injury, Paz was ranked among the top high school pitchers in the country. Coach Jay Johnson also believed in the talent and gave him the opportunity to start the last four weekends in SEC play.
Paz took his lumps, giving up seven earned runs in his last two starts against Georgia and Florida.
But Johnson still believed in the talent.
"He's got everything you need to be great,” Johnson said. “I think he's going to be the best pitcher in the program. I really believe that.”
Johnson added that he thinks Paz will be one of the best pitchers in the program at some point.
Paz might turn into a great collegiate pitcher, but he’ll do it somewhere else, as he provided quite a Friday news dump by entering the transfer portal as the weekend was getting started.
There’s speculation that Paz might pitch closer to his hometown, possibly Texas A&M.
The two pitchers LSU has added in the transfer portal, Landon Hood from Gonzaga and Diego Velasquez from USC, can start and have two years of eligibility left.
But Paz’s departure still hurts, especially considering how much Johnson believed in him despite his struggles.
And Paz’s entrance into the portal comes just a few days before it closes.
But this is what the portal does: it sometimes gives a program a great talent, but it can also take talented players out of your program.
