Busy summer for LSU baseball program
Paul Mainieri was away from Baton Rouge for almost one month this summer due to his job as head coach of Team USA.
Mainieri led the national team to a 12-3 record. He was joined by three of his LSU players – pitcher Zack Hess and outfielders Zach Watson and Daniel Cabrera, who was a replacement for the injured Antoine Duplantis.
Mainieri acknowledged that it was an eventful period of time for him while he was running Team USA.
“This has been a unique summer for me,” Mainieri said. “Managing the United States national team was everything I dreamt it would be. There was not one negative influence on our team all summer.”
Mainieri had the opportunity to watch the three aforementioned players during the 15-game schedule. Duplantis suffered a shoulder injury right after joining the squad. Mainieri said that Duplantis will be “100 percent healthy in a week or two.”
Hess, who decided to return to the Tigers for his junior year, threw nine scoreless innings for Team USA. According to Mainieri, Hess did not have one three-ball count in those three outings.
“The jump Zack made this summer was unbelievable,” Mainieri said. “His mechanics were so smooth. There was no head jerk. The other players were captivated by Zack and how dominant he was. He had some great outings last year for us and then he had some on the other end of the spectrum.
“Next season will be Zack’s third year of college. He has figured it out. I believe Zack is going to be a great starting pitcher and a first-round pick next year.”
Cabrera was Team USA’s cleanup hitter – placed between College World Series Most Valuable Player Adley Rutschman of Oregon State and Golden Spikes Award winner Andrew Vaughn of California.
“Daniel is becoming awesome,” Mainieri said. “He could have signed coming out of high school, but he came to LSU. He had a rough start to his freshman year. Then, he had a very sore leg during the last month of the season.
“Daniel batted between Rutschman and Vaughn and he belonged there. He was turning on balls and going the other way with some pitches. His pitch recognition was great. His outfield defense and his baserunning are improving.”
Watson, who also decided to return for his junior year, had a somewhat up-and-down time with Team USA. Watson was the everyday centerfielder for the national team.
“Zach played during the summer like he did for us last spring,” Mainieri said. “There would be periods of absolute greatness. Then there would be games where his pitch recognition was not what it should have been and he made easy outs. Hopefully, he’ll be better with another year of experience.”
When Mainieri returned home from Cuba – the last stop of the exhibition schedule, he received an update on the injured players pitcher Eric Walker and shortstop Josh Smith. Walker missed the 2017 season after elbow surgery. Smith missed all but six games due to a back injury.
“Eric threw three bullpens last week,” Mainieri said. “All three were without an incident and (pitching coach) Alan Dunn said that he threw well.
“The injury frustrated him, but then he got back to work. He knew this is what I have to do. All you have to do is spend two minutes with Eric and you see how mature he is. Eric has got it all together.”
Smith has done no baseball activity this summer as he has spent the time strengthening his back muscles.
“Josh is doing great,” Mainieri said. “He and our trainer Cory Couture went around the country meeting with back specialists. Josh told me that he has not had an ounce of pain in four weeks. He started to run last week. Josh is a real key to our team. He is our shortstop and one of most clutch hitters.”
Mainieri also needed to make a decision on the makeup of his coaching staff. When Micah Gibbs had knee surgery last January, Mainieri replaced him as hitting coach with Sean Ochinko. Gibbs was given the role of Director of Player Development. Mainieri will go with the same setup in 2019.
“I decided to leave things as the status quo,” Mainieri said. “Sean has the drive to be a great hitting coach. It was tough for him last year since he didn’t have the luxury to watch the hitters in the fall. Sean did it to the best of his ability on the run.
“I couldn’t recruit while I was with Team USA, so the NCAA gave Sean a temporary recruiting license. (Assistant) Nolan (Cain) showed him the recruiting world. Sean watched our incoming players in the summer leagues. He gained some great knowledge meeting with other coaches.”
Former LSU player Jared Foster will be the team’s student assistant coach in 2019. Ochinko was in that position two years ago. Leon Landry, who was the Tigers’ student assistant coach last season, was hired as an assistant coach at Southern.
Mainieri also made a few announcements about the 2019 schedule. First, LSU will not play Tulane. The home-and-home series between the Tigers and the Green Wave is over. Mainieri was not happy that Tulane did not televise the game in New Orleans except for a pay-per-view situation.
Tulane could have played LSU one game at The Box next season, but the Green Wave declined. Beginning in 2020, Tulane will replace UL-Lafayette as the Tigers’ opponent in the Wally Pontiff, Jr. Classic in Metairie. ULL will play LSU in the 2019 game.
The Tigers will start fall practice during the third weekend in September. Fall drills will end during the first weekend in November. The NCAA now allows a team to play an opponent two games in the fall. LSU will play a home-and-home series against UNO in October.