The LSU Tigers have lost a lot of players to the transfer portal, mostly by design to open up room for incoming transfers, but none of their losses have been bigger than sophomore catcher Brady Neal, who entered the portal on Monday.

Neal came to LSU as a very highly touted catcher prospect and made an impact immediately. He started 26 games to begin the 2023 season, but a back injury sidelined him for the Tigers Omaha run.

In 2024, Neal, Alex Milazzo and Hayden Travinski took turns behind the plate, but when he wasn't catching, he was in the DH position a lot of the time. He appeared in 44 games this season, batting .276 with nine homers and 31 RBIs. With Milazzo and Travinski graduating, it felt like the starting catcher spot was free for Neal to take, but he will be playing ball elsewhere in 2025.

The Tigers currently have Blaise Priester on their team, but they'll really be crossing their fingers and hoping that Cade Arrambide makes it through the MLB Draft and gets to Baton Rouge. The LSU commit is 6-foot-3 and an absolute beast behind the dish.

They also brought in Luis Hernandez from Indiana State, who has experience at catcher. He played first base for Indiana State most of the year, but if Jones returns or they need him at catcher, he can play there.

This is a pretty big loss for the Tigers. Neal has a lot of talent and a big bat, but I think he wants to go somewhere that he'll be the bonafide, full-time starting catcher, and maybe Jay Johnson wants to keep him catcher-by-committee routine going.

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