Texas A&M star Jace Laviolette makes return that shocks the entire college baseball world, but Aggies fall short in SEC tournament

Aggies head coach Michael Earley discussed the latest on the star's scary injury. 

"...He will be out for the remainder of the tournament."

"Yeah, he got an X-ray. He broke his hand, so he'll be out. We're going to see what we're going to do with it. I don't know if there's a situation where we get him operated on how what we're going capacity where he's able to pinch run as long as we're able to pad it up and he's safe and can't injure it," -- Michael Earley via SEC Network

A surprising return during SEC tourney

Laviolette surprised the entire college baseball world on Friday evening. After being ruled out by his coach and undergoing hand surgery less than 24 hours beforehand, the Aggies star was in the starting lineup for A&M against the LSU Tigers. 

Ultimately, it was not enough for the Aggies to continue their impressive run. LSU won the game, 4-3. Laviolette did have two RBI in the Aggies' potential final game of the season. His career with Texas A&M also may have come to a close, as the Aggies are currently not projected to make the NCAA tournament. 

Potential draft stock affected

Laviolette is widely expected to be a top ten selection in the 2025 MLB Draft. Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com unveiled a new mock draft last week. The Aggies star went tenth overall to the Chicago White Sox in that scenario.

He’s athletic, the power is legit (67 career homers in college and counting), but he’s hitting .274 at this point (.258 in SEC play) with concerns about his hit tool making it a little harder to pinpoint where he might go. He does still have the exciting tools that made him a potential No. 1 pick coming into the season. -- MLB.com

It remains to be seen how much this injury will affect his draft stock - if any. Hopefully, it is an injury that can be taken care of sooner rather than later, and Laviolette can be healthy for the start of his pro career.