LSU No. 7 in Baseball American recruiting ranking

LSU is No. 7 in the 2019 Baseball America magazine recruiting ranking released Thursday, marking the Tigers’ 12th Top 10 finish in the past 13 years.
The Tigers have finished No. 1 in a recruiting ranking in 2007, 2010, 2014 and 2018; No. 3 in 2009; No. 4 in 2012; No. 5 in 2017; No. 7 in 2011, 2015, 2016 and 2019; and No. 10 in 2013.
The 14-man recruiting class is composed of 10 position players and four pitchers, and it contains four players that have been chosen in an MLB Draft — outfielder Maurice Hampton and infielders Zach Arnold, Zack Mathis and Cade Doughty. Berwick High alum Mitchell Sanford is a member of the class.
“The 14 players coming in are significant players,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said in a news release. “You can tell that there’s much more emphasis on the position-player type of athlete compared to last year, where we brought in mostly pitchers.
“This year, I think our pitching depth is going to be good,” Mainieri added in the release. “I think we have great talent, and we have a good chance of having a very dominant pitching staff. We addressed the catching position, the infield where we added two new infielders, and we brought in some outfielders that I think are impact players as well.”
The new Tigers began conditioning drills and individual workouts earlier this week with the returning LSU players, and the team will hold its first full-squad workout of the fall practice period Sept. 29.
The Tigers will play two exhibition games this fall —Oct. 27, at 3 p.m. versus UNO in Alex Box Stadium, and Nov. 3, at 1 p.m. at Nicholls in Thibodaux.
Fall practice concludes with the intra-squad Purple-Gold World Series Nov. 7-8, and the 2020 season opens Feb. 14, when the Tigers host Indiana in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.