LSU's Berry rips off homers in back-to-back ABs

Jacob Berry, MLB Pipeline's No. 4 overall preseason Draft prospect in 2022, launched solo home runs in back-to-back at-bats Thursday night as his LSU Tigers took on Missouri in Baton Rouge, La.

Berry belted a solo shot to right with two outs in the first inning against Missouri right-hander Spencer Miles. The switch-hitting Berry, batting left-handed, then went deep again over the right-field wall off Miles with two outs and nobody on in the third.

The homers were Berry's 11th and 12th of the collegiate season, and came in his 37th game of 2022 for LSU. In '21, with the University of Arizona, he slugged 17 homers in 63 games. Berry has been remarkably consistent, slashing .352/.439/.676 last year, before entering Thursday night's game slashing .354/.441/.611 this year.

Berry is a candidate to be the No. 1 overall selection in this year's MLB Draft after setting freshman records at Arizona for extra-base hits (41), total bases (167) and RBIs (70) in 2021. The 20-year-old then followed his head coach at Arizona, Jay Johnson, to Louisiana State.

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It will be interesting to see where Berry fits in terms of defensive position in the professional ranks -- he was primarily a designated hitter with Arizona last year, and this season, LSU has been trying him at third base. Per MLB Pipeline's scouting report, he may end up at first base or in the outfield.