The Injury Update: The Latest on LSU Baseball's Chase Shores Ahead of 2025 Season

LSU right-handed pitcher Chase Shores underwent Tommy John surgery during his true freshman campaign in 2023 after suffering the injury prior to the Tigers' National Championship run.

Shores was viewed as one of the top freshman pitchers in college baseball after handling business throughout his first season in Baton Rouge.

The No. 1 prospect out of Texas made four starts for LSU in 2023 where he pieced together a 1.96 ERA in 18.1 innings pitched.

In the midst of a breakout season, Shores then suffered a torn UCL in his throwing arm against Tennessee in March of 2023.

The 6-foot-8, 245-pound monster was on track to suit up for the Tigers in the Super Regionals in 2024 if needed, according to head coach Jay Johnson.

"It’s hard to talk about right now, because it brings back some of the pain of the Regional,” Johnson said during an appearance on Mik’d Up w/ Mikie Mahtook. “But had we beaten and held on to that lead in the ninth inning, he would have been on the roster for [Super Regionals].

“It’s one of those things like everything happens for a reason. You know, you hear that all the time. Maybe that wasn’t supposed to happen or meant to be, but he has crushed it with his rehab, his throwing. He looks like a physical specimen right now. He’s already 6-foot-8 or whatever, but I mean, big arms, big body, in the weight room every single day. He’s on track.”

It was evident LSU could have utilized another arm during postseason ball in 2024, and with Shores trending in the right direction, it's a promising sign.

Shores is back up to roughly 97mph with his pitching arsenal getting back to speed.

Johnson appeared on On The Clock where he dove deeper in Shores' status ahead of Opening Day this Friday.

“People ask me about adversity in that national championship season,” Jay Johnson said. “And I can honestly say, the worst I felt, the biggest pit I had in my stomach, was he threw a 97 mph fastball here in like the eighth inning to strike somebody out from Tennessee in a game that we won 6-4. This place is going bonkers and he walked in and he said his elbow was bothering him. I was like, wait a minute, that was 97 mph. The next day, finding out he needed Tommy John surgery. I remember like a pit in my stomach of, not just I felt like we could get through ’23, but I knew that was going to impact last year.”

“He’s healthy. He’s rocking and rolling, pitches have improved,” Johnson said. “And excited to get him back out there.”

Johnson dove deeper into Shores' arsenal of pitches:

“You start with the fastball, obviously, from him. I think he locates it incredibly well. It’s a ball that’s very difficult to square up. So, I think as a young pitcher, just leaning into it and how well he commanded it, and the electricity of it, you lean into it,” Johnson said.

“But this is a guy that works incredibly hard, wants to be a complete pitcher. I think the slider took a massive step forward this Fall. We really set up some of his outings to make sure that that and the change-up were being developed where you know what the talent is, you know what he can do. So, we kind of pitched off of how do we get him better, and kind didn’t worry about the results — and the results still were pretty good. That signaled to me an improvement in that stuff that you’re talking about.”

LSU will open the season this Friday, February 14th against Purdue-Fort Wayne.

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