What stood out at MLB Draft Combine from LSU baseball players in attendance
College baseball players and high school prospects from across the country converged onto Chase Field in Phoenix last week to take part in the annual Major League Baseball Draft Combine.
Close to 40 players took part in on-field positional drills, bullpen sessions, live batting and batting practice in front of executives and scouts from all 30 MLB teams with hopes of improving their draft stock. The 20-round MLB Draft is set for July 14-16 from Fort Worth, Texas.
Seven current LSU baseball players participated in last week's MLB Draft Combine including junior right-handed pitcher Luke Holman, junior left-handed pitcher Griffin Herring, sophomore first baseman Jared Jones, sophomore left-handed pitcher Gage Jump, junior right-hander pitcher Thatcher Hurd, junior left-handed pitcher Justin Loer and senior right-handed pitcher Christian Little.
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Three high school signees, all top-nine prospects for this year's draft coming out of high school, were also on hand in shortstop Konnor Griffin and pitchers William Schmidt and Cam Caminiti as well as one junior college signee in pitcher Conner Ware.
Among the LSU contingency, here's what stood out to reporters and analysts in attendance.
Jared Jones had a big day at 2024 MLB Draft Combine
Jones had his shot on the first day of the Combine and put on a show for scouts.
The Tigers first baseman registered the highest exit velocity of any hitter at the showcase at 113.4 mph as he displayed his bat speed and raw power.
Yahoo! Sports' Jordan Shusterman said that Jones "was the superior prospect" over fellow first baseman from the Southeastern Conference in Mississippi State's Hunter Hines.
"He markedly improved across the board in his second season in Baton Rouge, cutting down on his strikeouts by nearly 10 percentage points while continuing to walk at an exceptionally high rate, further enabling him to consistently tap into his epic raw power (.747 SLG%, 28 HR)," Shusterman wrote.
After Jones' performance at the MLB Draft Combine, Shusterman projects Jones to be a Day 2 selection, going somewhere in the third to fifth rounds of the MLB Draft.
Pitcher Conner Ware among top spin rates
Plenty of the high school arms were the ones to watch at Chase Field for many MLB teams' scouts. But that didn't stop Pearl River (Mississippi) Community College and LSU signees Conner Ware from putting numbers up on the board.
In spin rate, the lefthander posted a 3,124 RPM, which was third-highest among pitchers during the two days.
The past two seasons at PRCC, Ware has maintained a sub-2.00 ERA.
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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: What stood out at MLB Draft Combine from LSU baseball players
