LSU Tigers Baseball Adds Two Players Out Of Transfer Portal

The LSU Tigers have put this baseball season behind them and begun to build out their roster for next year. The Tigers have already had a handful of players who have left their program for the transfer portal, but now they've added some new faces of their own.

Two new Tigers have announced their commitments to the program as of Friday afternoon: Texas State Wildcats shortstop Dawson Park and Gonzaga Bulldogs righty Landon Hood.

Bringing in the wrong talent out of the transfer is one of the things that sunk LSU's season last year. Head coach Jay Johnson admitted it himself, so the Tigers are likely to be a little safer this time around when bringing in talent.

Park is a defense-first pickup as his glove is the most exciting aspect of his game, but his offensive output did explode as a sophomore. He posted a .301/.387/.575 slash line with 13 home runs. 

In theory, this would be as good of a replacement for what Steven Milam brought to the table as Johnson could prepare with. This is another great defensive shortstop, who posted similar offensive numbers, albeit against worse competition.

Milam is someone who could still ultimately end up coming back instead of going to the MLB draft, but now LSU at least has someone with a high ceiling in place in case he does leave.

Park has a cannon of an arm and could be a legitimate game-changer if he ends up playing up the middle in Baton Rouge. Anything he can do at the plate is a plus, but the Tigers can't get too excited yet after seeing how the bats translated out of the portal last season.

Hood was dominant as a freshman on the mound for the Bulldogs, putting up a better year than anyone did at LSU. He posted 54.1 innings over 16 outings with a 2.48 ERA and 78 strikeouts to 21 walks. 

Though the Tigers will be returning starters in Casan Evans, Cooper Moore and William Schmidt, they should not be shy about adding other arms who could potentially be weekend starters. Hood certainly is that.

The ex-Gonzaga standout has the makings of a lockdown starter. He has a big frame at 6-foot-3, 200 pounds and has a fastball that can get to the upper-90s. He could transform the pitching staff if his current trajectory holds when he comes to Baton Rouge.