BATON ROUGE, La. — Former LSU infielder Alex Bregman will make his Major League Baseball debut tonight with the Houston Astros when they play host to the New York Yankees in Minute Maid Park.
Bregman, a native of Albuquerque, N.M., played at LSU from 2013 through 2015 and helped lead the Tigers to two College World Series appearances. Bregman, the No. 2 overall selection in the 2015 MLB Draft, was a two-time first-team all-American at LSU, and he was named the recipient of the 2013 Brooks Wallace Award as the nation’s best shortstop.
Bregman is considered the 18th overall prospect in the big leagues by MLBPipeline.com and is the Astros’ No. 1-ranked prospect. He hit .306 with a .406 on-base percentage, 20 homers and 61 RBI this year combined at Triple-A Fresno and Double-A Corpus Christi. Bregman was hitting .333 with a .373 on-base percentage, six homers and 15 RBI in 18 games since joining Fresno.
Bregman was the 29th-round selection of the Boston Red Sox as a high school senior in 2012, but he elected to enroll at LSU, where in three seasons he developed into one of the nation’s best prospects.
He started all 196 games of his LSU career at shortstop, batting .337 (265-for-786) with 56 doubles, 10 triples, 21 homers, 148 RBI, 153 runs and 66 stolen bases. He also played magnificent defense, committing just nine errors in 359 chances.
Bregman’s 56 career doubles rank No. 8 in LSU all-time annals, and his 38 steals in 2015 rank as the second-highest single-season total in school history. He was finalist for the 2015 Golden Spikes Award, and he was named the 2013 National Freshman of the Year.
Bregman is the 13th former LSU player coached by Paul Mainieri to reach the major leagues. The others are infielder Ryan Schimpf, pitcher Nick Goody, outfielder Mikie Mahtook, pitcher Nick Rumbelow, pitcher Aaron Nola, pitcher Louis Coleman, pitcher Charlie Furbush, pitcher Ryan Verdugo, infielder DJ LeMahieu, pitcher Kevin Gausman, pitcher Anthony Ranaudo and infielder Matt Clark.
LSU has had at least one former player make his MLB debut in 24 of the past 26 seasons. The Tigers have produced a total of 71 Major Leaguers during their illustrious baseball history.
There are 12 former LSU players currently in the big leagues, including Bregman, Schimpf (Padres), Coleman (Dodgers), Goody (Yankees), Nola (Phillies), Mahtook (Rays), Gausman (Orioles), Furbush (Mariners), LeMahieu (Rockies), Ranaudo (White Sox), infielder Aaron Hill (Brewers) and pitcher Will Harris (Astros).