LSU’s Jaden Hill looked at home on a big-league mound this weekend in the annual college baseball get-together in Minute Maid Park, prompting Texas coach David Pierce to kiddingly question Hill’s current home.
“I don’t know why Hill is in college, to be honest with you,” Pierce said with a slight grin after the tall righthander slammed the door shut over three innings in the teams’ opener of the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic on Friday.
Hill’s dynamic assortment of pitches – topped by a 98-mph fastball – has turned the most heads in Minute Maid through two days of the classic, both in the batter’s box and in the stands. To Pierce’s point, if Hill (6-4, 233) was in his second season of professional baseball, he’d also be turning heads in the minor leagues based on unbounded potential.
“Not only did he throw the fastball, he was able to hit (the strike zone) with his breaking ball,” Pierce said of Hill’s hitless outing against 10 UT batters in LSU’s 4-3 opening victory. “And when you’re seeing that kind of velocity, you’re going to chase some breaking balls, because you’ve got to release early to get to the fastball.”
With Hill in the dugout on Saturday following his Friday night showcase, the No. 14 Tigers fell to Baylor 6-4. Missouri defeated Oklahoma 8-7 in 10 innings in Saturday’s first game. Texas and Arkansas played late Saturday night. The 20th classic wraps up on Sunday with OU vs. LSU at 11 a.m., Texas vs. Missouri at 3 p.m. and Baylor vs. Arkansas at 7 p.m.
The Bears (7-3) entered the classic having lost two of their last four games, but have dispatched former Big 12 foe Missouri and LSU in the two games in the Astros’ home.
Starter Evan Godwin struck out eight Tigers and allowed three runs over 5 2/3 innings. Four relievers spelled him with LSU (7-4) adding a lone run the rest of the way. The Bears scored four runs in the seventh in the comeback victory, an inning sparked by second baseman Ricky Martinez’s two-run home run off Tigers reliever Brandon Kaminer.
Meantime Hill’s outing was all the more intriguing to pro scouts based on where he was at this time last year as a true freshman at LSU: sidelined with an elbow injury. In 2019 he had earned a spot in the Tigers’ starting rotation – not easy to do in one of the nation’s most storied programs – and pitched the first two weekends.
He allowed two runs over 10 innings, and appeared destined for early purple-and-gold stardom. But the elbow issue flared up and LSU shut Hill down in his first season. Later that year he had surgery to remove a screw from his collarbone, the result of an old high school football injury.
In Hill’s third appearance this season, he struck out the side in the seventh inning against Texas. He has 14 strikeouts over 7 2/3 innings. It’s all left LSU coach Paul Mainieri with a big smile 11 games into the year, and with SEC play set to start March 13 at Mississippi.
“He’s got a good slider and a good changeup, and he’s also got a cutter,” Mainieri said. “And he throws them all for strikes.”
Mainieri emphasized Hill is healthy and raring to go, but added there’s no sense in pushing appearances and innings this early in the season.
“It had such an affect on our team last year when (he) went down after the second weekend,” Mainieri said. “This year I’m very adamant about bringing him along slowly, and not overdoing it. We let him go three innings (on Friday) and he did that last week as well. He’s feeling better each time he goes out.
“I want him to feel confident in his health, and build up stamina. I also thought he’d be quite a weapon for us out of the bullpen.”
Based on Hill’s progress, he could pick up where he left off in the starting rotation at some point this season. Two years ago the St. Louis Cardinals selected Hill in the 38th round of the draft out of Ashdown (Ark.) High, but he chose to pursue an education while pursuing baseball.
“I learned a lot about myself,” Hill said of possessing patience over the past year in his rehabilitation. “I learned a lot from things that went right, and things that went wrong. I’m glad I got it all over with.”
brent.zwerneman@chron.com
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