By Bill Martin
LSU Sports Information
Four years ago, Ryan Patterson never saw his baseball career taking him to a major Division I school, let alone a program with five national championships and a prestigious history more than a century old. Now, after two College World Series appearances and one SEC Championship, Patterson has seen his role develop from a key reserve into one of a team leader. His aspirations, like every other LSU baseball player, are nothing less than another trip to Omaha and the Tigers’ claim to a sixth national title.
Making A Name For Himself
Patterson grew up in Rowlett, Texas, a town with a population of 50,000, nearly 20 miles northeast of Dallas. As a high school junior, he batted a team-high .450 with 11 home runs and 49 RBI. A three-year football standout as well, Patterson focused his career on baseball as a senior and produced the highest batting average in Rowlett High School history, hitting .553 and leading his squad to an area championship.
But after two brilliant seasons, there was no phone call from a head coach, no visit from a major college program.
“I had no clue what I was going to do,” said the 21-year old. “I thought I was going to be heading to some smaller Division I school, especially not being recruited out of high school.”
Patterson ended up at Texarkana Junior College, on the border of the Texas-Arkansas state line. After earning second-team JUCO All-America honors in 2002, the Atlanta Braves made the call in the 34th round of the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft. The opportunity he had been waiting for finally presented itself, but a college experience is something he decided he could not turn down.
At the time, Matt Deggs, the head coach at Texarkana, accepted a job as an assistant under Dave Van Horn at Arkansas. Deggs heavily recruited Patterson and other schools finally took notice.
“He tried to get me to go over there, and LSU was my last visit,” said Patterson. “When I got here on my visit, I was like what can you say about a place like this. It was a no-brainer and my mind was made up right then and there.”
Dreams of Omaha
“When I committed to LSU, I envisioned myself going to the College World Series. That is all I thought about when I signed here.”
It didn’t take long for the dream to become a reality as Patterson and the Tigers, led by head coach Smoke Laval, won the 2003 Southeastern Conference championship and reached their first College World Series in three years. Patterson exploded onto the scene as a designated hitter, finishing among the SEC leaders in seven different offensive categories.
His power display took center stage in the LSU’s first game in Omaha when the once small-town high school prospect blasted a second-inning solo homer over the left field wall off of Cal State Fullerton ace Jason Windsor. Windsor, now one of the top prospects in the Oakland Athletics farm system, was a consensus All-American.
Despite LSU being eliminated in two games, Patterson had set the foundation for a junior season full of promise and one that the Tigers were destined for another Omaha run.
“Anytime you get to play on that big stage and play for a national championship, it is going to help you mature as a player. Everything is on the line. You have been dreaming about playing in this situation your whole life.”
Junior Disappointment
LSU picked up where it left off in 2004, making their second consecutive trek to the Mecca of college baseball — Rosenblatt Stadium — after wrapping up an NCAA Regional and Super Regional championship at Alex Box.
Patterson was one of six Tiger players with the potential of being drafted, but the call that had once been made two years ago never came. LSU made another quick exit from the College World Series, and Patterson had time to reflect on a junior season that did not live up to his expectations.
Most players would be thrilled to bat .341 on the season and lead their team in homers, doubles and RBI, but the outfielder believed there was always room for improvement.
“I’d be lying if I wasn’t upset over it,” said Patterson. “I think it is driving force knowing that people don’t think you are a top prospect. You come to LSU to get drafted, play pro ball and ultimately win national championships.”
Faced with only one option, Patterson decided to return to LSU to improve — as a hitter, as an outfielder and most importantly as a person.
“I came back at another shot for a championship, so I got over it really quick when I realized I was coming back to all of this.”
Help From Turtle
His first step in the process was advancing his swing and becoming a more disciplined and selective hitter at the plate. Turtle Thomas, LSU’s hitting coach, saw the potential in Patterson and knew that with a few adjustments, he could become the hitter he envisioned.
“Ryan is one of those guys that when you stand behind the batting cage, the ball really jumps off of his bat differently than just about any other hitter that you’ll see in college baseball today,” said the sixth-year Tiger assistant coach. “The two biggest things that he had to work on were controlling his body better and plate discipline.”
Patterson’s hard work, hustle and desire to get better motivated the Texas native to listen to Thomas’ expertise.
“When I first got here, he told me exactly what my problem was and how we were going to fix it,” said Patterson. “It was going to take time and it has, but he stuck with me when I was struggling and striking out a bunch. He didn’t give up on me, and he has always been there.”
One Last Run
Now, 25 games into his senior season, Patterson is producing one of the most prolific early season tears in LSU history. A Brooks Wallace National Player of the Year candidate, Patterson is tops in the SEC in four offensive categories, including runs scored (36), home runs (11), slugging percentage (.874) and total bases (83). No other player in the conference leads in more than two categories.
Last Friday night against Auburn, the senior belted his ninth homer in the past seven games. Of his 11 dingers, eight have been of the solo variety. On the season, he has three multi-homer games to his credit, including back-to-back two-homer games in the Tigers’ wins over Western Illinois (March 12) and Arizona State (March 13).
In SEC games, Patterson is hitting .542 (13-for-24) with six runs, four homers, six RBI, 27 total bases and an amazing slugging percentage of 1.125.
To find that kind of offensive production, one would have to go back to Eddy Furniss’ sophomore and junior seasons in 1996 and 1998 or Brandon Larson’s 40-homer campaign of 1997. Through 25 games in 1997, Larson totaled 15 homers and a slugging percentage of .800, while only maintaining a .333 average. At the time, Furniss was hitting .407 with a slugging percentage of .741.
Also factored in to those seasons was the era of the explosive aluminum bat. While Furniss and Larson were using bats with a weight-to-length ratio of five, Patterson has done it in an era with a weight-to-length ratio of three and a diameter on the barrel of 2 5/8 inches. Both are considerable differences when it comes to offensive production on a day-to-day basis.
With the early season success, Patterson has jumped into the top 10 in the LSU all-time statistical categories of homers (41) and total bases (414). His career homers rank as seventh all-time, and he recently overtook Albert Belle for ninth in career total bases. When Patterson leaves his mark on the school, he should be in the top-five in each category, if not better.
Lost in the power-hitting barrage may be the two most important numbers in displaying his maturation as a hitter along with the ability to get on base. Last season, through 25 games, Patterson tallied 19 strikeouts, five walks and an on-base percentage of .358. This season, in the same number of games, he has only fanned six times, walked nine times and maintained an on-base percentage of a stellar .491.
“Now, he is seeing the ball well and we call that gathering the information — judging whether the pitch is a ball or strike, judging what zone the pitch is in, judging what type of pitch and the speed of the pitch,” said Thomas. “He’s hot now because he has been controlling his body well for the past three weeks. He’s become more selective.”
Also part of the maturation process has been his role to go from a designated hitter to a leader in the outfield, which has included 10 starts in centerfield in place of the injured Bruce Sprowl.
“When I got here, I was just an average outfielder at best,” said Patterson. “I struggled out there and didn’t really work on it. I was always worried about hitting. I realized there have been more important parts of my game where I needed to get better.”
Patterson has shown an ability to run down balls in the gaps and get quick jumps when the ball leaves the bat. He’s made the difficult plays look easy.
“I have been working really hard at becoming a better outfielder,” said Patterson. “I have to be communicating and making sure everyone is in the right place. I think that is a good role for me. I was typically the guy that just sat back there and did my thing, but this keeps me in the game more.”
The numbers and improvement as a fielder mean very little to Patterson when compared to the thought of winning a national championship. Most importantly, Patterson has learned what it means to be a team player and embraced the thought that nothing else matters except the success of the team.
“This is my third year here and we have been to the College World Series twice,” said the preseason All-American. “This is probably the most talented team that we have had here since I have been here — hitting and pitching combined. I am a senior and this is my last go-around. I don’t expect to go back up there again and come up empty-handed. I expect us to win a national championship and leave on that note.”