1 week Ago
LSU pitcher Gavin Guidry (8) pitches during a fall scrimmage, Thursday, October 10, 2024, at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save May 7 was a transformative night for Gavin Guidry . For the first time in the right-handed pitcher's collegiate career, he got through four innings in a game.
The sophomore allowed one hit and no runs to Northwestern State on a night LSU baseball had to win in order to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes alive. Trailing 5-2 before he entered the game, Guidry's dominance allowed LSU to crawl back and earn a 6-5 victory. Jared Jones' two-run homer in the eighth inning proved to be the difference.
LSU won eight of its next 10 contests before the NCAA Tournament, reached the SEC Tournament final and were a win away from hosting a super regional at Alex Box Stadium. The crushing loss to North Carolina in the Chapel Hill Regional was the end of the road for LSU. But last season was just the start for Guidry, who returns this year intent on having more outings akin to that night against the Demons.
"That was probably the exact outing that me and the coaches kind of look back at after the season ...
and realized that I could do it and really extend," Guidry said Friday, LSU's opening day of preseason scrimmages. "(It) helped me convince them that I could extend and potentially start here." A multi-inning role is the plan for Guidry and seven others ahead of the Tigers' season opener Feb.
14 against Purdue Fort Wayne. Freshmen right-handers William Schmidt and Casan Evans, sophomore left-hander Kade Anderson, redshirt sophomore right-hander Chase Shores, right-hander and Wofford transfer Zac Cowan, junior college transfer and left-hander Conner Ware and right-hander and UC San Diego transfer Anthony Eyanson will join Guidry as pitchers expected to be stretched out to start the season. LSU coach Jay Johnson isn't sure which of those eight will become starters, but Guidry being in consideration for a starting role is a departure from what he's done the past two seasons.
Guidry isn't just open to the new challenge; he wants to make the change. "Multiple things made me want to go down that path, but one of them is just the versatility," Guidry said. "If you're built up and you have the stamina of pitching seven innings, it's very easy to peel back and kind of go back into a closer role where I'm throwing an inning or two a weekend.
"Just really not trying to limit myself this year, even if I was slotted into a role like Griffin (Herring) was last year, where he's throwing a lot of innings and chewing a lot of innings out of the (bullpen)." To prepare for the new gig, Guidry spent more than a month during the offseason at Driveline Baseball's facility in Arizona. Driveline is a data-driven baseball training and development organization.
More than 200 MLB draft picks, five Cy Young Award winners and four MVPs have worked with Driveline, according to its website. The goal for Guidry while he was in Phoenix was to improve his mechanics — from a standpoint of efficiency — and strength. He wanted to get quicker and become more explosive on the mound.
"It was a strength program," Guidry said. "Went through multiple blocks, different goals. Some of them were power-based, trying to create more force.
Some of them were to build stamina. Some of them were to move faster, be more explosive." The strength program was designed to help him gain the stamina necessary for his new role, but — at least theoretically — it also would help him add velocity to his fastball.
Guidry has sat around 90 miles per hour with the pitch the past two seasons. Increasing that average and maintaining it throughout an outing was an area of his game he wanted to improve on this offseason. He also wanted to locate the pitch better.
Guidry is satisfied with the shape of his fastball because of how it carries through the top of the strike zone, creating an illusion of an upward trajectory for hitters. For him, it's just being able to consistently locate that pitch well enough to where the optical trick can be effective. "It was always the thing for me going into this year, being able to pitch up in the zone and keep it at the top of the zone and just control my misses better," Guidry said.
"Keep it all around the strike zone, and just be able to get ahead in counts with it, and be able to go to it above the zone with two strikes." Even if he doesn't end up becoming a starter, the specificity behind Guidry's work this offseason could be a big boost for the pitching staff. LSU lost 12 of its top 14 pitchers, in terms of innings, and struggled to find reliable multi-inning options outside of Herring, left-hander Gage Jump and right-hander Luke Holman last year.
"One of the things I think we struggled with last year is we didn't have guys that could go twice in a weekend and really be effective the second time," Johnson said Jan. 7. "And so by opening up some length with all of them — be it Guidry, Cowan, Conner Ware, Shores — they can either start or have the ability to bounce back better.
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