The Atlanta Braves have a plan and it has hurt one college team more than any other. LSU walked into this year ranked No. 2 in the preseason polls. They won the national title in 2025 and were riding that high. They where predicted to come in and dominate with players like the No. 5 overall pick Derek Curiel and the 65th pick in the 2nd round, Jake Brown. But they fell incredibly short, dropping from the No. 2 team in the nation to being unranked in any polls. They finished the season at 30 and 28 and missed the NCAA Tournament altogether.
The offense scored 7.8 runs per game. How was it that bad? What were they missing? Pitching. In a massive way. They only had two starters make over 10 starts. One with a 4.22 ERA and the other with a 5.93 ERA. Only one pitcher on the team had an ERA under 4, and he only appeared in 6 games all season. They had no fire power to fear. They could score runs, they just couldn't stop anyone else from scoring them. They had no work horse. No true Friday night or Saturday starter for the marquee matchups. Where were they?
This brings us to why. Why are the LSU Tigers not Braves fans these days? Well, it is because we have their pitching. We took who could have solidified those spots.
Braves have pilfered LSU's talent pipeline like no other in the MLB Draft lately
With the 24th overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, your Atlanta Braves were on the clock and selected Cam Caminiti. A 6'2, 195 pound lefty who reclassified to enter the draft a year early and was committed to who? You guessed it. LSU. He walked in ranked as the Braves' No. 2 prospect on MLB.com, and currently sits 2nd on both MLB and Baseball America.
Caminiti would have been a sophomore in college this year if he had stuck to his commitment. Throwing gas touching up to 97 mph. A slider that falls off the table he can use to get lefties and righties out with. And a change that falls out of the zone. Caminiti had a game in Rome this year where he struck out 14 batters and set a record with 33 whiffs, in Rome.
On the year, Caminiti has a 3.69 ERA through 97 innings and has already advanced his career to the AA level where he has gotten off to an even hotter start with a 2.51 ERA. He just turned 20 two weeks ago and is dominating professional hitters. Hitters you would think are more developed than who LSU would be facing night in and night out. How would LSU's season have gone differently if Cam was starting under the Friday night lights in Baton Rouge?
And that was not the end. Not at all.
The Braves selected Briggs McKenzie as an over slot pick at No. 127 overall who commanded a hefty $3 millon bonus. Another 6'2, 190 pound lefty. Another pure talent with a low 90s fastball some of the most insane off speed stuff you will see out of a 19 year old. He was the 69th ranked prospect going into the draft. And where was he going? Yep, LSU. Atlanta gave him first round money, which was more than was given to first round pick Tate Southisene, to pry him away from his commitment to LSU. What has he done in what would have been his freshman year in LSU?
In just seven appearances, McKenzie has advanced three levels of the minors, from rookie ball all the way through to High-A Rome. His one game in low-A Augusta was so dominant that he was only given that one game there before getting another promotion. Five innings with one hit and eight K's. For the year, McKenzie has a 2.08 ERA and has only allowed a .189 average against. Stuff+ rated his changeup at a 142 in his game at Augusta. That is an astronomical rating. McKenzie's curveball spins at close to 3000 RPM, which is along the lines of some of the best curveball metrics in professional baseball.
To top all of that off, McKenzie is still throwing a fastball hitting over 90 mph, which definitely plays at the college level. LSU's second-most used starter had a 5.93 ERA. How different would that team have looked handing the ball to the Baseball America No. 6 Braves prospect Briggs McKenzie instead?
Two drafts in a row saw the Braves rob LSU of top pitching talent. A team with a much better chance to show they deserved that preseason ranking. Instead, the Braves have two young, left-handed arms with loads of potential moving their way up the system and ranking boards. So what about next year? How does LSU recover? How does a national powerhouse bounce back? Well, LSU won't like what comes next.
2026 continued Atlanta's trend of scooping up LSU recruits when they picked RHPJensen Hirschkorn, a 6'7, 205 pound righty with big time projection. How did Atlanta pry him away from that commitment? They wrote a check for first round money. A bonus that matched that of the 9th overall pick, AJ Gracia. The result is a mountain of a prep arm making his way to Georgia instead of Louisiana, and bringing with him some of the easiest 96 MPH gas you will ever see as wel as a plus slider and a changeup to boot.
So what will LSU be doing on those Friday or Saturday nights? Well, we can all but guarantee you that they won't be rooting for the Braves.
Add us as a preferred source on Google