LSU baseball’s No. 1 recruiting class from this summer already has three regular members in the starting lineup: catcher Brady Neal, outfielder Paxton Kling and first baseman Jared Jones.
All three started in the season opener, and so far Neal leads the pack in starting 13 of LSU’s 14 games so far. Jones has 12 while Kling has 10.
Both Kling and Neal are consistent in their approach at the plate, and are second and third, respectively, on the team in on-base percentage among regular starters.
Kling, who has a .564 on-base percentage, has been riding a hot bat lately.
“We have a lot of good players,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said Wednesday. “Paxton was like 10 for 8 this weekend. And he came off the bench a couple of games last week, so there’s more guys in spots who can do a lot of stuff and I don’t think there’s really any finality to our team.”
After Friday’s 2-for-2 performance from the plate, Kling has 12 hits in his past 17 at-bats, recording two doubles, one triple and two home runs. His speed is both advantageous on the bases and in the outfield — he caught a hard-hit line drive to right field to flip the third inning against Samford on Friday.
Neal is tied with Dylan Crews for a team-high of 14 walks so far this season. Even when Neal doesn’t get on base, he has been difficult for pitchers to get out. In the bottom of the second inning against Lamar, Neal fouled off six pitches on a 2-2 count before he grounded out. He’s batting .290 this season.
“He’s one of the best catcher players in the country,” Johnson said on Feb. 28. “There’s not freshmen around campuses right now who can do what he can do. I’m very fortunate that we got him to school, and a lot of work went into that.”
Then there’s Jared Jones who, in addition to being able to fill in at first base to make room for Tommy White in the lineup at designated hitter while he rehabs a shoulder injury, is one of the most powerful hitters on the team.
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