An SEC-record eight LSU pitchers were selected in this week’s Major League Baseball Draft, marking the second straight season the Tigers have tied the conference mark for drafted hurlers.
LSU shares the SEC drafted pitchers record with Mississippi State, which also had eight pitchers chosen this season, and Vanderbilt, which had eight hurlers selected in 2011.
Making MLB Draft history has become a familiar theme of coach Jay Johnson’s three-season tenure at the helm of the LSU program.
Last season, LSU pitcher Paul Skenes and outfielder Dylan Crews became the first players from the same school to be selected first and second overall in the draft. Skenes was selected No. 1 by the Pittsburgh Pirates and Crews was selected No. 2 by the Washington Nationals.
LSU’s 2023 nation’s-best total of 13 drafted players tied the SEC mark also held by Vanderbilt in 2019, Kentucky in 2018 and Texas A&M in 2016.
The Tigers have had four first-round selections in Johnson’s three seasons at LSU – Skenes, Crews and right-handed pitcher Ty Floyd in 2023, and infielder Jacob Berry in 2022.
LSU has produced during Johnson’s tenure a total of 27 drafted players, including 12 selections in the Top 5 rounds and 16 selections in the Top 10 Rounds.
Below is LSU’s 2024 MLB Draft list. The Tigers had nine total players selected this season, marking the second-highest total in the nation:
• 3B Tommy White (Second Round, No. 40 overall – Oakland Athletics)
• RHP Luke Holman (Competitive Balance Round B, No. 71 overall – Cincinnati Reds)
• LHP Gage Jump (Competitive Balance Round B, No. 73 overall – Oakland Athletics)
• RHP Thatcher Hurd (3rd Round, No. 89 overall – New York Yankees)
• LHP Griffin Herring (6th Round, No. 181 overall – New York Yankees)
• RHP Fidel Ulloa (7th Round, No. 198 overall – Colorado Rockies)
• LHP Nate Ackenhausen (10th Round, No. 287 overall – Kansas City Royals)
• RHP Christian Little (11th Round, No. 333 overall – Seattle Mariners)
• LHP Justin Loer (13th Round, No. 378 overall – Colorado Rockies)
Since the MLB Draft began in 1965, LSU players have been selected on 262 occasions, including 21 first-round selections.
Since 1984, LSU players have been selected in the MLB Draft on 241 occasions – 123 pitchers and 118 position players – an average of nearly seven players per season. The Tigers have produced 20 first-round selections since 1989.
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