Dickinson, Jones, Mayers all hear their names called
Day two of the 2025 MLB Draft has come and gone, with picks from rounds 4-20 flying by in a fury, and while I would have loved to dedicate a post to all the players picked today, it would have taken me all day to piece that together. So for my own sanity, here’s a comprehensive rundown of all things LSU baseball related from day two of the draft.
Day two got off to an ominous start for LSU as three high school signees went early in round four. Catcher commit Landon Hodge was the first pick of the day, going 105th overall to the Chicago White Sox. While it would have been nice keeping Hodge, the future of the catcher position is still in good shape with Cade Arrambide entering his sophomore season, and incoming freshman Omar Serna announcing a few weeks ago he’s bypassing the draft and sticking with his commitment to LSU. Serna might even have a bigger role for himself than previous anticipated now that Ethan Frey is off to begin his professional career with the Astros’ organization; the Tigers are going to need some power in 2026, and Serna’s got a lot of pop in his bat.
The bigger blows to LSU’s signing class came a few picks later, when Miguel Sime Jr. was picked 111th overall by Washington, and Briggs McKenzie went 127th to Atlanta. LSU was hoping to keep at least one of the two, instead neither are going to wear the purple and gold.
From an LSU perspective, things slowed down for about an hour or so. That was until Daniel Dickinson heard his name called by the Milwaukee Brewers in round six (185 overall). Dickinson only played one year in Baton Rouge but made the most of it. He earned Second-Team All-SEC honors en route to a .315 average with 12 home runs, 49 RBI and his 67 runs scored ranked sixth in the SEC this season. Dickinson also posted a .458 on base percentage, which was good for ninth in the league. He was even better in the field with a .982 fielding percentage.
Just like another famous LSU second basemen some 30 years ago, Dickinson battled a broken bone in his left wrist throughout the NCAA Tournament. Despite breaking his Hamate Bone in the Baton Rouge Regional opener against Little Rock—a game in which he homered twice by the way—Dickinson never missed time and batted .352 (6-17) with four RBI and two runs scored in Omaha.
Jared Jones would be the next Tiger selected, going in the ninth round, No. 263 overall, to the Pittsburgh Pirates who, ironically enough, already employ a Jared Jones on their big league roster.
Our Jones, Bear Jones, is one of the greatest home run hitters in program history. Jones leaves LSU with 62 Bear Bombs, good for third all time. His final one came in the 8th inning to tie things up against Arkansas in the national semifinal round. If only we knew at that moment in time that would be his second biggest hit of the night. Jones put himself in LSU lore with a walk-off base hit in the bottom of the ninth to send the Tigers to the championship series. Now he’s off to begin his professional career with the Pirates and, hopefully, reunite with Paul Skenes one day. The difference? Jones will have two national championship rings, while Skenes has one.
A few picks later, No. 268 to be exact, Jacob Mayers was the next Tiger to hear his name called, and for the second time this weekend it was by the Boston Red Sox. Boston took Anthony Eyanson in the third round of the draft, and then dipped back into the Baton Rouge pipeline to take the hard-throwing Mayers.
Mayers didn’t get a whole lot of work in 2025, 15 total innings, but went 2-0 with a 4.80 ERA across 17 appearances. Mayers was known to have control issues coming into Baton Rouge and that showed with 26 strikeouts against 20 walks. When he was able to throw it over the plate, however, the stuff is absolutely dominant as evident by his .085 batting average against.
Mayers hit his groove at the end of the regular season. Between April 11 and May 31 (my birthday!) Mayers made eight appearances, threw a total of seven innings, and had 11 Ks against two hits and one run. His best outing as a Tiger was probably the 2.1 scoreless innings he threw against Ole Miss in Hoover; Mayers struck out four and gave up no hits or walks in that outing.
Now he’s off to Boston to develop alongside Anthony Eyanson. Who knows, maybe they’ll work their way up the ranks together and be teammates at the big leagues.