How No. 3 Draft pick Anderson followed in Skenes' shoes

This story originally ran previously, before Kade Anderson was drafted with the No. 3 pick by the Mariners.

Greatness has become the norm at LSU baseball lately.

Since head coach Jay Johnson's arrival in 2022, the Tigers have won national championships in 2023 and '25. The program has produced 26 Draft picks in those four years, including 2023's No. 1 overall pick Paul Skenes, one of nine Tigers taken in the first two rounds during that span.

History could be repeating itself. On the heels of another LSU title, their staff ace, MLB's No. 2 Draft prospect Kade Anderson, is a favorite to become the first pick in the 2025 Draft. And although Skenes and Anderson are quite different pitchers, Johnson sees his Friday starter as someone who could not only be a top-level pitcher in the Majors but also be the face of a franchise like Skenes.

On paper, Skenes and Anderson share few similarities.

Skenes is physically imposing at 6-foot-6 and 235 pounds and came out of college with a fastball up to 102 mph and a 70-grade slider. And that's not even counting the devastating hybrid splinker pitch he learned in pro ball, already one of the best pitches in baseball in his rookie season last year.

Anderson, meanwhile, has done a good job of filling out his 6-foot-2 frame and may yet have more projection left despite already pitching like a workhorse at LSU. He doesn't have a single pitch as good as any Skenes' top three offerings, but his fastball, changeup, curve and slider are each at least above average, with the potential to be plus.

More than anything, it's their approaches to the game that Johnson sees as what's allowed each of them to become the top pitcher in college baseball in their final season in Baton Rouge.

"I think the similarities are the intentionality in what they do," Johnson said. "They've taken their career in their own hands, and everything they do is done by design, nothing by default. Probably the biggest similarity that I see is that they would go out, have an outstanding outing on Friday, and then by Saturday morning, they were immediately talking about what they were going to do better the next week. And that's really, really uncommon when you go 7 innings, 1 run and strike out like 11, 12 or 13. But both Paul and Kade have that.

"So as different as they are from a pitching arsenal, if you will, or left-handed or right-handed, the intentionality, the character, the always wanting to get to the next click, they're nearly identical in that regard. And then just take the baseball out of it, take the preparation out of it, you're talking about two of the best human beings that I've not just coached but ever known in my entire life."

Johnson thought highly of Anderson when the southpaw arrived on campus in 2024 -- he was talented enough to be drafted out of St. Paul's High School in Covington, La., but Tommy John surgery prevented him from pitching in front of teams his senior year. However, Anderson's high character was on display even before he became a star.

During his freshman campaign, the Tigers were coming off a championship season. But when they were eliminated in a heartbreaking extra-inning game during the NCAA Tournament regionals, the player most upset by them not advancing wasn't one of the key returnees. It was a little-used 19-year-old lefty who had a 3.99 ERA with 59 strikeouts in 38 1/3 innings.

It was in that moment that Johnson could tell that Anderson would be something special as a Draft-eligible sophomore. And it didn't take long for him to become the team's unquestioned pitching leader and next great Tigers starter.

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Anderson was already a strong athlete but dedicated himself in the weight room to developing his body, strength and conditioning and durability to become a workhorse starter. He also expanded his arsenal with pitching coach Nate Yeskie to develop his slider and become a true four-pitch starter.

"I think it does speak to his aptitude," Johnson said. "He's incredibly intelligent, and he's also a terrific athlete. If I had let him be a two-way player, I strongly believe he would have ended up being a starting outfielder for us as well because of his athleticism. … We just felt like we could get to a high ceiling by peeling it back and focusing on the pitching, and that's what he did."

With four impressive pitches, batters can't sit on one offering since a given pitch could break in any direction. He has the weapons to get out any batter. The newly improved pitch mix also enabled him to pound the zone more and improve his strikeout rate (33.9 to 37.4 percent) and walk rate (11.5 to 7.3 percent), putting him third nationally with a 30.1 percent K-BB%.

Anderson was effective all season, as LSU lost only two of his 19 starts, and he led the nation with 180 strikeouts while ranking sixth in the SEC with a 3.10 ERA. And notably for theTigers, he showed up when it mattered most. He fired LSU's first two complete-game shutouts since 2018, the second of which came in Game 1 of the Men's College World Series, and, like Skenes, was named the MCWS Most Outstanding Player.

That kind of profile reminds Johnson of 2008 Cy Young Award-winner Cliff Lee and Yeskie of three-time All-Star Max Fried.

"Complete in every facet," Johnson said. "The elite makeup, competitiveness and character. Complete as a pitcher with strikes, pitchability, out-pitch weapons, feel for the game. He is about as polished a prospect and person that you could send to professional baseball."