Mainieri’s patience proves right for Tigers

LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri sat in his team’s dugout in Knoxville following a win last weekend with a giant smile cemented to his face.

The laid back Tigers’ skipper is not afraid to share a grin if the situation warrants. He is not one of those hard neck coaches who are never satisfied, no matter the score of the game.

He is actually quite the opposite and has a lot of banter with his players during both the best and the worst of times.

But this smile was different. It appeared more meaningful. It was from the heart.

Anthony Ranaudo had just returned to the mound for the LSU baseball team and had reported no pain or discomfort, while firing two perfect innings.

The pressure is off and the wait is over. The beast is back.

“He felt great and pitched without pain, and he hit 93 (mph) with his fastball,” Mainieri said following the game. “We’ll continue to monitor his progress, but I was very pleased with his outing today.”

The return ended an uneasy month for Mainieri, Ranaudo and all of Tiger nation.

The 6-foot-7-inch All American discovered he had a stress reaction in his throwing elbow following his five-inning outing on opening night.

Ranaudo felt no discomfort when he threw the baseball, but felt pain in his windup.

As days became weeks, the LSU nation became worried. Elbows are tricky, sensitive business and people whispered if Ranaudo would return this season.

But Mainieri always held firm to his values and would not allow Ranaudo to pitch until the pain was fully gone.

And you know what? He made the right decision.

“I care too much about this kid to do anything to put him in danger of compounding his injury,” Mainieri said earlier in the year. “Anthony has too much at stake. This had nothing to do with LSU.”

What a breath of fresh air.

In a time where coaches are fired virtually every day and job security is null and void, a coach putting a player’s best interests first – that’s almost hard to believe.

But that’s what LSU and Mainieri did for Ranaudo, and patience proved to be a virtue.

The return was truly a feel good story for everyone involved in the LSU fan base and for baseball purists in general, because there is so much money riding on Ranaudo’s right elbow. No one wanted to see the kid suffer an injury that could have potentially jeopardized his season, draft status or possibly his career.

Recent projections have the 6-foot-7-inch righty pecked to be a sure first-round pick with some estimates have him being picked in the Top 10, if not the No. 1 pick in this summer’s MLB Draft.

Last year’s No. 1 pick, Steven Strasburg received a 4-year deal worth an estimated $15 million dollars. That’s a lot of cheese.

Now that we know what this season means for Ranaudo, what about LSU? What does their ace’s return mean to them?

Everything.

The Tigers were formidable without Ranaudo and started the season winning 20 of their first 23 games. (Isn’t it funny how LSU is the only place in the college baseball world where a 20-3 record is just formidable?)

But the ace’s return makes them three steps closer to a return trip to Omaha and one step closer to unstoppable. Imagine adding Randy Johnson in his prime to the New York Yankees. That’s the impact Ranaudo has on the team when healthy.

Everyone previously in the rotation will move down a spot to make room for Ranaudo as the Friday starter.

Having an innings eater on Friday who is almost sure to win you the ballgame means you have your full disposal of bullpen pitchers available on Saturday and Sunday when the games tend to be more tightly contested.

Ranaudo having the early season months off also clears his arm for more strenuous work in the summer. A lot of college baseball pitchers break down in postseason play because their teams overuse them in the regular season.

That will not be the case in Baton Rouge, because the ace is rested and ready to rock ‘n’ roll all throughout May and June if needed.

I’m not big into making predictions, because I’ve seen the unthinkable and the unimaginable happen far too many times.

But I can promise you this: the rest of the SEC coaches are waking up in cold sweats at night when they dream about playing this LSU team – because these guys are good.

And the LSU nation might be all sharing in Mainieri’s smile later this season in Omaha.