Weekend Preview: Week 9

It was a night not totally unlike any other, at least not in the magical world Alex Bregman and his Louisiana State Fighting Tigers teammates are living in this spring. The setting was magnificent Alex Box Stadium-Skip Bertman Field in Baton Rouge, La., and the Bayou Bengals’ opponent this past Wednesday night was a valiant crew from Northwestern State.

LSU allowed three early runs but eventually finished off a 9-6 victory, thanks in no small measure to 15 hits, three of them home runs. While workmanlike, it was also the Tigers’ sixth straight win and the 12th straight game they delivered double-digit hits.

Bregman, a junior shortstop from Albuquerque, N.M., was hitting out of the three-hole – his usual spot in veteran head coach Paul Mainieri’s lineup – and was routinely remarkable, if those two words placed side-by-side make any sense. It’s just that as this season progresses, Bregman does seem to make the remarkable appear all the more routine.

In five plate appearances Wednesday, he doubled, singled and walked twice, scored three runs and drove in another, and became only the fourth player in LSU baseball's storied  history to steal four bases in one game.

“I feel like Alex can do anything on the field that he puts his mind to,” Mainieri told PG during a telephone conversation Thursday morning.

Bregman is a big reason – but certainly not the only reason – LSU is 29-5 and PG's No. 1-ranked team in the country heading into this weekend’s three-game set against Southeastern Conference opponent Auburn at Alex Box Stadium.

The 2011 Perfect Game All-American and 2011 Perfect Game National Showcase alumnus goes into the weekend hitting .341 in 34 starts at shortstop, with team-highs of 13 doubles, seven home runs, 32 RBI, 34 runs scored and 21 stolen bases. He has become the face of a team that is both talented and experienced, one that won’t be satisfied until it lands back at the College World Series for the second time in three years.

“We are very confident that we have one of the best, if not the best, offenses in the country; I know that we like to think that,” Bregman told PG over the telephone from Baton Rouge on Thursday. “… We’re off to a great start. We’re very confident but we know we have a long way to go to reach our final goal, and that’s to win a national championship.”

This is Mainieri’s ninth season in Baton Rouge and his 33rd season as a head coach after previous stops at St. Thomas (Fla.), Air Force and Notre Dame; he’s put together thousands of lineups through the years. Of the nine everyday players he trots out there this season, four are seniors and four are juniors, and all eight were hitting .306 or better heading into the weekend. LSU has a team batting average of .326, second only to Arizona's .327 nationally.

“I think our guys are playing with an awful lot of confidence right now,” Mainieri said. “This is about as veteran of a lineup as you could ever hope for in college.”

The four seniors will obviously be lost to graduation and Mainieri fully expects all four of his junior starters to be drafted, so he will have to replace eight of his nine everyday players next season. That's a concern he will deal with in 2016.

“I’ve never had that happen before; I’ve never let it happen before,” he said. “I’ve always made sure I mixed in underclassmen so we wouldn’t have as great of a turnover, but it’s just kind of evolved this way.”

BREGMAN BLEW INTO HIS FRESHMAN SEASON IN BATON ROUGE with such force the locals could be excused for thinking he was just another Gulf Coast hurricane, although the only thing Bregman was tearing up was the opposition’s pitching staffs.

His numbers were dizzying, especially considering Bregman had just turned 19-years-old on March 30, 2013, and was playing his first full season in the mighty SEC, regarded by many as the best league in the land. He helped lead the Tigers to the SEC Western Division championship, the SEC Tournament title, championships in both the NCAA Regional and NCAA Super Regional and finally their first appearance at the College World Series in Omaha for the first time since 2009.

A starter in 67 of LSU’s 68 games in 2013 (the Tigers were 57-10 in the games he started and 0-1 in the one he didn’t), Bregman hit .369 (104-for-282) with 18 doubles, seven triples and six home runs. His 104 base hits ranked second in the country, and he added 52 RBI, 59 runs scored and 16 stolen bases to those impressive offensive numbers.

At season’s end, the awards and accolades marched in like so many saints in New Orleans’ French Quarter during Mardi Gras. He was named a First-Team All-American by Perfect Game, Baseball America and ABCA and the National Freshman of the Year by several media and organizational outlets; he was first-team All-SEC and the SEC Freshman of the Year.

“I was pretty confident coming into (college) but it took a lot of great people around me,” Bregman said of his freshman season success. “I had great teammates and coaches that helped me make the adjustments that were necessary (to transition) from the high school game and slow the college game down for me.”

In all his years of coaching, Mainieri can recall only a handful of freshmen who excelled during their first season of varsity action on the same level as Bregman, including DJ LeMahieu, the former Perfect Game All-American who is now a Gold Glove second baseman with the Colorado Rockies.

“Alex Bregman is a uniquely mature young man, and I attribute a lot of that to the experiences he had when he was in high school, whether it was playing in the various Perfect Game events or with Team USA” Mainieri said. “He just showed up as a very confident kid that knew he had the talent, but he wasn’t arrogant, he wasn’t boastful. He just carried himself in a very confident manner.”

Bregman actually arrived on campus having spent a lot of time catching during his high school years at Albuquerque (N.M.) Academy. In fact, Mainieri recalled, a lot of pro scouts were telling Bregman that his future was most likely as a catcher. But Mainieri knew he was going to need a shortstop in the spring of 2013 and he encouraged Bregman to take ground balls at short everyday on his own time during the summer of 2012.

“It took me about 10 minutes of watching him take ground balls, and I said, ‘Hey, this kid can do it,’” Mainieri said. “I knew that Alex was a real student of the game – he was obsessed with the sport – and sometimes when guys are like that they can become very mechanical. … When I saw him that first day, he was the very opposite of that.”

Compared to that freshman season, some would say Bregman came back to earth in 2014, but the world he lived in during his sophomore season was still a pretty special place. He started all of the Tigers’ 63 games at shortstop, and batted .316 (77-for-244) with 16 doubles, six home runs, 35 runs and 12 stolen bases.

He really turned it on over the final 12 games of the season, hitting .451 (23-for-51) with six doubles, three home runs and 16 RBI; LSU finished 46-16-1 after dropping 2-of-3 to Houston in the Baton Rouge NCAA Regional.

“Last year he went through the worst stretch of his life for about a month but he never let it affect his defense, he never let it affect his enthusiasm for the game; he never let it affect his desire to win and to root for his teammates,” Mainieri said.

BREGMAN’S FOUR-YEAR PREP CAREER AT ALBUQUERQUE ACADEMY was mostly sweet but tinged with a tad bit of sour when he missed almost his entire senior season with a broken finger. He had, however, played so lights-out during his junior season in 2011 that scouts and college recruiters had enough to go on even without an adequate sampling in 2012. That 2011 season was historic in the context of New Mexico high school baseball, with Bregman hitting .678 to go along with a state record 19 home runs in 25 games.

Perfect Game scouts took notice and Bregman attended five events in the summer and fall of 2011, including the PG WWBA 18u and 17u National Championships in Marietta, Ga., playing with Team Citius and the PG WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla., with FTB Mizuno/Cardinals Scout Team.

He was also at PG’s two most prestigious showcase events that summer: the PG National Showcase at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, Fla., and the PG All-American Classic at Petco Park in San Diego, Calif.

Bregman earned a perfect PG Grade of 10.0 at the 2011 National, an event that featured 22 first-round or first-round compensation MLB draft picks, including Puerto Rican shortstop Carlos Correa, the No. 1 overall pick of the Houston Astros in the 2012 amateur draft.

In San Diego, Bregman was part of the West Team roster that included Max Fried, Joey Gallo, Lucas Giolito, Courtney Hawkins and Daniel Robertson, all first-round MLB draft picks in 2012. In Jupiter, he was teammates on FTB Mizuno/CST with first-round or first-round compensation picks Albert Almora, David Dahl, Jesse Winker and Zach Eflin.

“You (had the opportunity) to compete against some of the best players in the country, and it definitely gets (your name) out there,” Bregman said of his PG experiences. “I thought it was very beneficial, I thought it was fun – it was a blast, really – and there were some great coaches there.

“Also, it was great to learn from some of the best players in the country and to go out there and compete against them as hard as you can and just lay it all there; I loved it.”

Other highlights of Bregman’s high school years was his participation in the 2011 Area Code Games, and his inclusion on two Team USA outfits, including the 2011 18u U.S. National Team that won a gold medal at the International Baseball Federation World Championships.

He continued that relationship the past two summers as a standout performer for the U.S. Collegiate National Team. He drove in 17 runs, scored 20 more and was 10-for-10 in stolen bases for the Nationals last summer, and helped the 2013 team to a 20-3 record by hitting .361 in 18 games.

“It’s an honor anytime you get to represent your country,” Bregman said of his four years playing for Team USA. “Whenever you get to wear the Stars and Stripes across your chest, it’s an unbelievable experience; it’s an honor. Every chance that I get to represent my country, I try to do it to the best of my ability and remember that we’re playing for the United States of America. When you go out there it’s a battle, it’s like, ‘Let’s go,’ and it’s hard to even describe the feeling you get playing in the Red, White and Blue.”

DUE IN NO SMALL PART TO THE BROKEN FINGER THAT COST him most of his senior season at Albuquerque Academy, Bregman slid down the draft charts in the spring of 2012. The Boston Red Sox finally selected him in the 29th round of the that year's MLB June Amateur Draft, much too low for Bregman to even entertain an offer.

 “I felt like LSU was the perfect fit for me; I think it was the best decision I’ve ever made in my life,” he said. “I think breaking my finger my senior year in high school was the best thing that ever happened to me because I got to experience LSU.”

Bregman made the necessary adjustments early in his LSU career, which led to that standout freshman season. He gives all the credit for his ability to make those adjustments to the coaches and teammates he’s had in college, the guys that helped him make the most out of the experience and situation.

Now, scouts are identifying Bregman as a can’t-miss first-round pick in this year’s June draft. Perfect Game’s Mike Rooney ranked Bregman No. 2 on his top-10 list of draft-eligible college shortstops, just one spot below Vanderbilt’s Dansby Swanson. In a report published on March 18, Rooney wrote:

“Bregman has turned himself into an elite defender while his offensive game remains very similar to the one he featured as a freshman … Bregman is still a pull-oriented hitter who is susceptible on the outer third, however his makeup is off the charts and he is a no-doubt first-rounder.”

Mainieri has already watched seven of his former Bayou Bengals reach the big-leagues and 49 LSU players have been drafted during Mainieri’s tenure; that number includes five first-rounders in the last six seasons. He does not mince words when asked about Bregman's potential at the professional level.

“I’ve never been more confident in my life of a ballplayer making it to the major leagues and succeeding at the major league level,” Mainieri stated emphatically. “Any major league organization that doesn’t think this kid can play shortstop in the big leagues is selling this kid short. He can play shortstop in the major leagues and play it really well.”

Perhaps with the big picture in mind -- meaning leading LSU to a CWS championship (the overwhelming No. 1 goal) and the MLB draft -- Bregman approached Mainieri in the preseason and told the veteran coach that he really wanted to steal more bases this season (he stole a total of 28 his first two seasons). He felt like if he was given the green light, he was capable of stealing in the neighborhood of 30 bases.

Mainieri had him work closely with assistant coach Andy Cannizaro on his base-stealing, and after his 4-for-4 effort Wednesday he leads the team with 21 swipes in 25 attempts; 30 stolen bases and beyond is certainly within reach.

“Coach Cannizaro has really wanted us to get out and run more and steal more bases; he’s really pushed that mindset with us,” Bregman said. “If teams are going to pitch around me and walk me then it’s going to turn into a triple, and that’s how we feel with (Andrew) Stevenson and (Mark) Laird, as well. Anytime we get on base we’re looking to run, but it was pretty crazy to get four in one game.”

That ability to steal bases should only serve to enhance his standing in the eyes of MLB front office execs when the draft begins June 8 and every facet of his game is under the microscope. It is also an ability that help could help pave the road to Omaha in June.

LSU RETURNED TO THE COLLEGE WORLD SERIES IN 2013, Bregman’s freshman season. It was the Tigers’ first trip back there since they won the 2009 national championship and expectations were extremely high. But the trip didn’t go as planned, with LSU getting eliminated after dropping first-round games to eventual national champion UCLA and North Carolina. Make no mistake, those losses stung.

“We left with a bad taste in our mouth,” Bregman said. “We thought we had the best team in the country – we were ranked number-one when we went there. It definitely left a bad taste in your mouth and it definitely makes us want to get back there that much more.

“We have a lot of experience in our lineup – a lot of veteran guys – so I think we’re going to have a great shot to go back,” he continued. “We have to play well at the right time and just keep getting better every day as a team, but that (2013 result) definitely drives us to become better.”

The Tigers do have experience on their side, with so many of this year’s everyday starters having already experienced Omaha and the CWS. Having so may teammates that played side-by-side over the last two years, Bregman feels like the players are able to feed off one another.

“We know if one guy doesn’t get it done the next guy is going to step up and get the job done,” he said. “I think that’s what makes us a great offense – just one through nine coming right at you, and you better get ready because our offense is really good.”

It is a good offense, and the Tigers’ young pitching staff is showing it can compete at a high level, as well. Bregman knows the draft is right around the corner, but in the here and now he is determined to keep being "routinely remarkable" and help the Bayou Bengal clear that final hurdle.

“I think everybody that is draft-eligible, it comes across their mind at some point,” Bregman said. “I’m just trying to focus on winning and helping my team do whatever it takes to get to Omaha and just let everything else take care of itself.

“One day I would love to be in the major leagues – I think that’s everybody’s goal ever since they were a little kid – and hopefully one day that happens. But right now, I’m just focused on LSU.”