2/22/2024 baseball Edit

Meet Fidel Ulloa: LSU's most underrated pitcher

Luke Hubbard • Death Valley Insider

Analyst

Before the LSU Tigers kicked off their 2024 baseball season this past weekend, you probably had never heard of Fidel Ulloa. He's just a small-town kid from Lodi, California who began his college career at San Joaquin Delta College, a small JUCO school located in northern California.

Coming out of high school, Ulloa had zero offers to play baseball at the next level. That was until Delta reached out in the end of his senior season and offered him a spot on their team.

"I really didn't have any offers out of high school. One of my very last games, Delta Junior College, they picked me up, called me on the phone and said, 'hey, we'd love for you to play for us.' Went there for two years and then obviously committed here."

— Fidel Ulloa

Ulloa spent two years at Delta where he would become on of the Mustangs starting pitchers in 2023. His sophomore season started off shaky; in his first appearance he allowed seven runs on four hits in 1.1 innings of work, but by the end of the season, he was as good as it gets.

In conference play, Ulloa threw 16.2 innings, giving up six runs and striking out 19 batters en route to a 3-1 record.

After his sophomore season ended, Ulloa knew he had what it took to pitch at an even higher level, so he entered his name in the transfer portal in hopes of receiving a power five offer.

Shortly after, thanks to some help from an assistant coach at Delta who knew Jay Johnson personally, LSU called and asked him to come take a visit. He talked about how it came to be and his emotions when he got the call:

"One of our assistant coaches at Delta last year, he's really good friends with Jay [Johnson], so he kinda got the ball rolling that way. They came in and watched and I got a phone call that night saying, 'hey, we'd like for you to come on a visit,' and I was ecstatic."

— Fidel Ulloa

Believe it or not, Ulloa actually committed to LSU while he was on an official visit at a different school. He was on an official visit elsewhere and had a visit to LSU lined up, but he didn't want to let the offer sit for too long, so he called Coach Johnson and committed before he even stepped foot on campus.

"I was at another school at the time and that's just how it lined up. I had a visit scheduled, but I knew deep down this is where I wanted to go and I didn't want to let the offer hang too much in the air, so I decided to take it on the phone and it just felt right."

— Fidel Ulloa

Since then, Ulloa has come a long way as a pitcher. Coming from a JUCO school to a program like LSU, he's had a ton of new and improved resources to help him hone his craft. Jay Johnson told us that he's been able to add a few MPH's to his fastball. He's hit the weight room, and with the help of the nutrition staff, he's gotten bigger and stronger.

Finally, after a long offseason of training and preparing, Ulloa got his chance to take the mound for the first time in Alex Box Stadium last Saturday against Central Arkansas.

After Luke Holman and Griffin Herring held Central Arkansas scoreless through six innings, Herring allowed two of the first three batters in the seventh reach base on walks. Jay Johnson made the decision to pull Herring in favor of Ulloa, and I don't think he could've imagined it going as well as it did.

With runner on first and second and one out with a 1-0 lead, Ulloa struck back-to-back batters out to end the threat. He trotted back out there in the eighth and recorded two outs, one via strikeout, before he was replaced by DJ Primeaux.

That afternoon, Ulloa and his mustache took social media by storm. LSU fans were going wild on twitter for the righty with the handlebar mustache.

Believe it or not, Ulloa actually had never grown a mustache before this summer. He said it was at a bit of an awkward spot when he got here and he decided to let it grow out, and let's just say, that was probably the second best decision he ever made.

Here's a picture for those of you who didn't see it over the weekend:

After his appearance on Saturday, many thought his weekend would be over, but when the Tigers found themselves with a one run lead in the ninth inning on Monday, Johnson called on Ulloa again.

Ulloa entered the game and forced all three of Central Arkansas' batters to ground out. He threw just eight pitches, six of them for strikes and retired the side, earning his first save at LSU.

Ulloa finished his first weekend in an LSU uniform throwing 2.1 innings and giving up no runs on one hit and one walk while striking out three of the nine batters he faced. He was efficient, he was challenging hitters, and most importantly, he was getting outs.

Jay Johnson has told us that they have a vision for him to be a very big piece of this pitching staff in 2024, and we've only seen the beginning of what's to come for Fidel Ulloa.

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