Jay Johnson Shares Encouraging Update on LSU Pitcher Chase Shores Injury

LSU pitcher Pursuit Coasts missed the entire 2024 baseball season after undergoing Tommy John surgery on his throwing arm midway through his freshman year.

Shores was considered one of the nation’s top freshmen and was rated as the top prospect from Texas in the class of 2022. He made four starts for the Tigers during the 2023 season, posting a 1.96 ERA in 18.1 innings pitched.

Then he tore his UCL against Tennessee end of March and he hasn’t been on the hill since.

“Something unknown — it’s hard to talk about now because it brings back some of the pain of Regional,” Johnson said during a performance on Mik’d Up w/ Mikie Mahtook. “But when we North Carolina and had held that lead into the ninth inning, he would have been on the roster for the Super.

“It’s one of those things where everything happens for a reason. You know, you hear that all the time. Maybe it wasn’t intentional or meant to be, but he’s crushed it with his rehab, his throwing. He looks like a physical specimen now. He’s already 6’2″ or something, but I mean, big arms, big body, in the weight room every day. He’s on track.”

It’s unclear how big a role Shores would have played on a Super Regionals team after not pitching in a live game for more than a year. But the Tigers’ pitching staff could have used the extra arm late in the season.

After all, Johnson believes Shores is one of the best game-changing talents on his roster, and he commands respect on the mound.

“If you were to ask me what the biggest setback we had in our national championship season was, it was probably the night he went down,” Johnson said. “I mean, there’s 13,000 people in there against Tennessee. He’s a true freshman, he throws his last pitch 97 miles per hour for strike three. And then he comes (into the dugout) and says, ‘Hey, my arm doesn’t feel so good.’ And then you find out the next day he needs Tommy John surgery.”

The Tigers’ pitcher’s unfortunate ending to a promising true freshman season kept Shores sidelined for 2024. Now that he’s healthy and ready to start for LSU next season, Shores can put that behind him and focus on being his best on the mound. He’s a top 100 prospect in the 2025 MLB Draft, according to D1 Baseball, meaning there’s going to be plenty of attention on him in Baton Rouge next season.