The hard throwing righty is off to Anaheim
Just as we all thought would happen, an LSU pitcher ended up going to the Angels…just maybe not in the way we expected.
When the Washington Nationals passed on Kade Anderson with the No. 1 overall pick, many thought “okay the Angels will take him!” Well that didn’t happen, and maybe the Angels realized their mistake and made it up to LSU fans by taking Chase Shores with the 47th pick of the draft.
We know the deal with Shores. Standing at an imposing 6’8”, he’s got all the talent in the world but we never really saw the fully realized version of Shores. His freshman season was cut short by Tommy John and he didn’t pitch at all in 2024 as he was recovering from the injury.
His 2025 season was a little up and down, but it ended on the highest of highs. Shores started the season as LSU’s No. 3 starter in the weekend rotation, but he ended up losing his spot in the rotation about halfway through SEC play and pitched out of the bullpen for the rest of the season.
It took some time, but Shores emerged as a dominant bullpen weapon. Postseason play is when Shores hit a new level. In the SEC Tournament against Ole Miss, Shores threw 2.2 scoreless innings. Then, against West Virginia in the Super Regional, he closed out game two with 1.1 scoreless innings where he allowed no hits, no walks, and struck out three.
When the lights shined brightest in Omaha, Shores literally and figuratively stood tall. He pitched in four of LSU’s five games, allowing three runs on five hits, no walks, and eight strikeouts across seven innings of work. Shores earned two saves in Omaha: the winner’s bracket game against UCLA, and he threw the final 2.2 innings of the 2025 season as he closed out Coastal Carolina in Game Two of the championship series.
On the year, Shores went 5-3 with those two saves. He had a 5.09 ERA in 23 appearances (nine starts) and logged 63.2 innings. Shores struck out 70 versus 31 walks.
With his 100+ MPH fastball and hard slider, Shores could be a front of the rotation starter if he harnesses everything. Worst case scenario is he keeps the role he had with LSU to close out 2025: a dominant, hard throwing reliever called on to close games out.
Shores is the second Tiger to hear his name called, joining Kade Anderson over in AL West Country. LSU’s also seen four of its top commits (Brady Ebel, Jaden Fauske, Quentin Young, and Dean Moss) from its signing class all hear their names called tonight.