LSU Professional Athletes

The Week in Tiger Baseball

Three LSU alumni commanded the MLB spotlight this week, and their stories couldn't be more different in tone.

Kade Anderson Arrives

The most anticipated debut of the summer became reality Saturday when the Seattle Mariners called up Kade Anderson, MLB's consensus No. 1 pitching prospect. The former Tiger wasted little time announcing himself, throwing 5.2 innings against the Cubs, striking out five, and posting a 4.76 ERA in his first big-league outing. For a Mariners club chasing a postseason push, Anderson represents more than a prospect graduation — he's a potential rotation anchor for October.

The call-up had been building for weeks, with Seattle making clear Anderson's development warranted the spotlight. He didn't cruise through his debut, surrendering three earned runs, but facing MLB lineups for the first time and lasting into the sixth inning is a sound foundation. The Tigers-to-Seattle pipeline just got very interesting.

Bregman Walks Off — Twice

While Anderson was making his debut Saturday, Alex Bregman was making a statement of his own — on the same field. The Cubs third baseman went 3-for-something with two home runs, three RBI, and two runs scored as Chicago took the Saturday matchup against Seattle 5-4. It capped a two-game stretch that will live in Wrigley lore: Bregman also delivered a walk-off single up the middle Wednesday against the crosstown White Sox to complete a Cubs sweep of the city rivalry series, following up a game in which he drove in two runs to tie the contest.

Back-to-back walk-off contributions from the same player — including a multi-homer explosion — is the kind of week that shifts MVP conversations. Bregman is batting .258 on the season, and his late-inning clutch has become the Cubs' most reliable weapon down the stretch.

Skenes Under the Microscope

The difficult headline belongs to Paul Skenes. The reigning NL Cy Young winner has become the subject of mounting concern in Pittsburgh, with questions about his velocity, mechanics, and health converging in an uncomfortable week. The Pirates pushed his start back to give him "a few more days to recover" after he made just 65 pitches — many below his typical velocity — in a previous outing against Miami.

When Skenes finally took the mound Wednesday against the Tigers, he lasted only 4.1 innings, allowing three earned runs while striking out five. His ERA now sits at 3.95, which in isolation looks respectable, but the trajectory has analysts and former pitchers publicly critiquing his mechanics. One outlet openly questioned whether Wednesday's outing against Detroit could be his final start of the 2026 season.

Skenes, for his part, is trying to stay grounded. He told reporters he has to "remember what's real" amid outside noise, and expressed confidence a bounce-back is coming. Pittsburgh's fading playoff odds make that timeline urgent. The Pirates can ill afford to lose their ace — in effectiveness or availability — with the postseason window closing fast.

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Elsewhere in the LSU diaspora: Tommy White (Athletics) went 3-for-something Saturday and is hitting .265 on the week; Dylan Crews (Nationals) added a hit and an RBI Saturday; and Grant Taylor (White Sox) continues a quietly strong relief campaign with a 2.01 ERA, striking out two in his Friday appearance.

Two LSU alumni are writing wildly different stories this August — one is torching baseballs across the Midwest, the other is watching his velocity disappear with his team in freefall.

Bregman Puts on a Show in Chicago

Alex Bregman is doing things he has never done before. On Wednesday, August 12, the Cubs third baseman blasted three home runs and drove in seven against the Washington Nationals in a 12-6 rout — the first three-homer, seven-RBI game of his career. He added another homer the day prior, going 2-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored on Tuesday, making it a four-homer stretch across consecutive games against Washington.

The hot streak is more than a highlight reel. Bregman has been central to a Cubs lineup that is drawing World Series comparisons, and his turnaround from a slow start has dramatically raised Chicago's ceiling heading into the stretch run. His batting average has climbed to .253 on the back of this surge, and the Cubs' series win over the Nationals underscored just how dangerous this roster looks when Bregman is locked in.

The Nationals, meanwhile, got a small measure of consolation from their own LSU product: Dylan Crews went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored on Thursday, August 13, continuing a quietly encouraging stretch for the young center fielder.

Skenes and the Velocity Mystery

The view from Pittsburgh is considerably darker. Paul Skenes — the most hyped pitching prospect in recent memory — is mired in the most troubling stretch of his young career. A velocity drop that has alarmed Pirates brass has now cost him starts, and on Tuesday he was pulled after just 65 pitches in a 2-0 loss to the Miami Marlins, his third defeat in four outings. Pittsburgh has gone 3-13 in Skenes' last 16 starts and has sunk to last place in the NL Central.

Skenes addressed the early exit directly, saying "I understand why" he was pulled — an acknowledgment that signals he's aware something is off, even if the cause remains unclear. The Pirates have not indicated a structural injury, but the diminished fastball and abbreviated outings have sent his trade value sliding and prompted a wave of bleak predictions for the rest of his season. Questions are mounting, and so far, no one in Pittsburgh has a clean answer.

Around the Rest of the Tiger Alumni

Hunter Feduccia provided one of the week's cleaner moments in Dodger blue, going deep for a solo homer in Los Angeles's 4-2 win over the Royals on Thursday, August 13. The backup catcher is hitting .235 on the season.

Gage Jump turned in a strong outing for the Athletics on Saturday, striking out 11 over six innings in a 7-3 win over the Red Sox — a performance that was one of the week's more overlooked gems. Tommy White also chipped in for Oakland, recording hits in consecutive appearances.

Aaron Nola's week had a jarring detour: the Phillies ace was struck by a line drive off his leg and had to exit a game in the sixth inning. Nola said he hopes to avoid missing time — a significant development for a Phillies staff already stretched thin. Earlier in the week, Nola reached 2,000 career strikeouts as a Phillie, joining rare company in franchise history, before the bullpen squandered his milestone night.

Josh Smith has continued to make early impressions for the Blue Jays since arriving via trade deadline deal, as Toronto has gone 7-4 in the stretch and stabilized its playoff push.

The Paul Skenes Problem Is Getting Louder

It was supposed to be the season Paul Skenes announced himself as the best young pitcher in baseball. Instead, the LSU product is headlining a very different kind of conversation in Pittsburgh.

Skenes' Aug. 5 start against the Brewers — five innings, three earned runs, six strikeouts — marked his third consecutive rough outing, and the Pirates can no longer afford to look the other way. His velocity has dipped noticeably from prior norms, a sign that something beyond bad luck may be at play. The numbers aren't catastrophic in isolation, but the timing is brutal: Pittsburgh is in the thick of a rare playoff push, and their ace is the last person they can afford to have wavering.

The scrutiny has only intensified. FanSided floated the uncomfortable question of whether the Pirates should consider shutting Skenes down entirely if they continue to fade from contention — a sentence that would have seemed absurd in April. Pittsburgh even traded for reliever Luke Weaver at the deadline to shore up the bullpen, which some read as a subtle acknowledgment that Skenes' workload may need to be managed. The pressure is real, and the excuses are running thin.

Meanwhile, in Chicago: Two Tigers Are Thriving

While Skenes navigates turbulence, a pair of LSU alumni are making Cubs fans very happy.

Alex Bregman has been quietly excellent all week. He went 1-for-3 with an RBI and a walk in Saturday's 6-4 win over the Royals, capping a stretch in which he homered and drove in two against the Blue Jays on Thursday and collected hits in four of five games. Bregman is hitting .248 on the year, but his week-long production — contributions in nearly every game — paints the picture of a professional hitter locked in at exactly the right moment of the season.

Then there's Kevin Gausman, who delivered one of the cleanest debuts a trade acquisition could hope for. The LSU product — acquired from Toronto ahead of the deadline — took the mound Friday against the Royals and tossed seven innings of two-run ball, picking up the win in a 6-4 Chicago victory. He allowed an RBI single in the first and a solo homer in the fifth but was otherwise in command, finishing with four strikeouts and an ERA that now sits at 4.29 in his new uniform. Gausman has openly said Chicago's environment — sharper focus, clear postseason intent — feels different from Toronto, and his debut suggested he's bought in fully.

For a Cubs rotation that needed stabilizing for a stretch run, Gausman's performance was exactly the statement Chicago's front office was banking on when it made the deal.

Around the LSU Diaspora

Elsewhere, Dylan Crews (Nationals) logged hits in multiple games this week and is batting .218 in center field. Tommy White (Athletics) has been a quiet contributor, posting a hit in four of five contests and sitting at .266. Gage Jump turned heads Saturday with six innings and 11 strikeouts against the Red Sox, though he allowed two earned runs. Josh Smith made a memorable Blue Jays debut, going 2-for-2 with two runs scored on Friday and hitting a solo home run in the process — giving manager John Schneider an early reason to smile about his new acquisition.

It's a week that captures the full spectrum of the LSU MLB family: one ace under the microscope, two veterans carrying a contender, and a handful of Tigers quietly chipping away across the league.