A Look Into The Future For LSU Baseball

BASEBALL

While I made it clear in my last post that I'm not giving up on the 2010 LSU Baseball team, I thought we'd take a quick look ahead to 2011.  Who is leaving?  Who is staying?  What new players can make a difference? 

Obviously, the seniors have to leave so we'll have to say goodbye to Blake Dean, Matt Gaudet, and Paul Bertuccini. 

If a player enrolls in college, they must play three years of college baseball before being eligible for the Major League draft.  Therefore we know that LSU will return the following players: 

Mikie Mahtook (So)
Austin Nola (So)
Tyler Hanover (So)
Trey Watkins (So)
Grant Dozar (So)
Johnny Dishon (So)
Matty Ott (So)
Chris Matulis (So)
Joey Bourgeois (So)
Shane Riedie (So)
Alex Edward (Fr)
Mason Katz (Fr)
Wet Delatte (Fr)
Beau Didier (Fr)
Matt Fury (Fr)
Jordan Rittiner (Fr)
Zach Lasuzzo (Fr)
Forrest Garrett (Fr)
Chris Cotton (Fr)
Michael Reed (Fr)

Some of LSU's juniors are highly regarded by Major League Scouts and may be leaving LSU's team as well.  Heading into the season, Anthony Ranaudo was a candidate to be the #1 overall pick in this summer's draft.  Even though Ranaudo has not had the season we have all hoped for, he'll still be a high first round pick. 

Micah Gibbs and Leon Landry (pictured) are also considered high round draft picks and will most likely not return to LSU's team next year.  If either of them do return, it will be a most pleasant surprise.

Pitcher Austin Ross is another guy that the scouts have their eye on.  Despite the fact that Ross hasn't enjoyed any consistent success at the college level, he's got great "stuff" and can top 90 MPH with his fastball.  For that reason, some team will likely take a chance on him in hopes they can coach up his raw skills.  This site projects Ross as a sixth round draft pick, which is a bit of a surprise to me.  If Ross goes anywhere in the Top 10 rounds, he'll probably leave. 

Other juniors on the team will likely return.  They are:

Daniel Bradshaw (Jr)
Kyle Koeneman (Jr)
Mitch Mormann (Jr)
Ben Alsup (Jr)

LSU has a number of high profile incoming freshmen that will get drafted at some point.  It's obviously in LSU's best interest for them to go as late as possible in order to increase their chances of showing up at LSU.  Here are some to watch in the early rounds:

P Kevin Gausman (CO) - Likely 1st or 2nd Round Pick
Chances to come to LSU:  Doubtful

P Cameron Bedrosian (GA) - Likely Top 5 Round Pick
Chances to come to LSU:  Doubtful

INF Delino Deshields Jr. (GA) - Likely Top 5 Round Pick
Chances to come to LSU:  Doubtful

P Zach Lee (TX) - Likely Top 10 Round Pick - Football could scare teams away
Chances to come to LSU:  Average

OF Austin Southall (University High) - Likely Top 10 Round Pick
Chances to come to LSU:  Average

INF Jacoby Jones (MS) - Likely Top 2 Round Pick
Chances to come to LSU:  Doubtful

INF Garin Cecchini (Barbe HS) - Likely Top 10 Round Pick
Chances to come to LSU:  Average

If any of those guys make it to LSU, they'll likely be in the mix next season.  Here is a list of the remainder of new incoming players:

P Kurt McCune (Destrehan HS)
P Nick Rumbelow (TX)
INF Joe Broussard (Holy Cross HS)
P Josh Burris (Scotlandville HS)
P Mitch Hopkins (LSU Eunice)
INF Ryan Eades (Northshore HS)
INF Kevin Koziol (IL)
OF Marcus Davis (OH)
OF Lucas Leblanc (Delgado)
C Jackson Slaid (Lakeside HS)
C Tyler Ross (FL)

Another guy to consider is incoming freshman running back Spencer Ware, who is an outstanding baseball prospect as well.  Back in July, I wrote a little bit about Ware and his baseball ability. 

Here is one good article about LSU's signing class. 

As the draft approaches, I'll do my best to keep tabs on the draft stock of everyone of interest to LSU.  This post should give us a good starting point.