Just curious for outside opinions on the 2016 LSU team.

After the best season in team history to not end in a national championship, the 2015 MLB draft absolutely devastated us, as we expected it would. The only starting position player to return to the team is junior Jake Fraley, who has been awarded the # 8 captain jersey, after Alex Bregman's departure. Danny Zardon left the team for some inexplicable reason, leaving us with no third baseman.

One huge positive is that all 3 starting pitchers return from last year, so we should have one of the best starting rotations in the conference, if not the best. Our closer will also now have a year of experience, he just needs to learn how to throw something other than a 97-mph fastball right down the middle, which good hitters will eventually crush.

Here is the makeup by class:

Freshmen: 11 (one redshirted from last season)
Sophomores: 11
Returning Juniors: 8 (6 of these are pitchers)
Junior Transfers: 5 (4 of these are infielders, 1 pitcher)
Returning Seniors: 1 (Hunter Devall- situational pitcher)
Senior Transfers: 1 (he played for Akron, but their program got cut)

Your eyes do not deceive you. LSU only has 9 guys on the entire roster who have multiple years of SEC experience, and a few of those guys didn't even make the travel roster. In short, we will be inexperienced as hell next year. Probably the youngest team since 2007, when Mainieri took over the program.

On the positive side, LSU is lucky that two of the best JUCO baseball programs, LSU-Eunice and Delgado, are in Louisiana, and those kids can get TOPS scholarships. Louisiana also has three of the best high school programs in the country in Barbe, St. Thomas More, and Catholic produces SEC players year after year. Much of the incoming players are from those schools.

Here is my projection of LSU starting lineup for 2016

P: Alex Lange, Doug Norman, Austin Bain (all sophomores)
C: Mike Papierski, Soph.
1B: Bryce Jordan, Soph.
2B: Kramer Robertson, Jr.
SS: O'Neal Lochridge, Fr.
3B: Bryce Adams, Jr, Transfer
LF: Jake Fraley, Jr.
CF: Antoine Duplantis, Fr.
RF: Beau Jordan, So.
DH: Cody Ducote, Jr. Transfer

I think we'll have a poor year by LSU standards in 2016, similar to 2010, where we made the postseason, but didn't hose a regional. 2017 we should be amazing, though, maybe even better than 2015 was. Even for LSU, you can't lose 9 starters and not suffer a drop-off. The odds are against us to get back to Omaha.

Florida should win the East, A&M has a great shot in the West, but I won't count us out just yet. The only LSU teams under Mainieri that didn't either win or seriously challenge for the division title were 2007 and 2011. Neither team made the postseason.

How do y'all think LSU and the rest of the SEC will shape out in 2016?

That does look like a young team, but having a starting rotation with some experience that you already trust is fairly significant. By itself, that probably means you win a lot of games. It also look like your returning juniors are also pitchers, so that side of the game would likely be ok.

Other than that, I'd base my assumption off history...LSU is pretty good at baseball on an annual basis. I think there's one year in recent memory where you could 'count them out', and that was before A&M was in the SEC.

Aggies picked up some Juco guys to shore up infield defense, and I feel good about saying Stubblefield and Hendrix will be starting Friday and Saturday for us. A&M struck out a lot, but there are enough pieces returning from a team that hit last season to feel ok about that side of the ball as well. My biggest question is what we end up getting out of the Sunday starter role and who make the 'jump' in performance in pitching, and who will be playing short for A&M. I think there are 3 incoming freshmen who were high school SS.

Too many newcomers for me to have any feel for that. You guys lost a lot, but you always find talented guys to take their place. I guess projecting an NCAA at large bid, but nothing special, would be reasonable, but you never know.

Top 16 for sure. Top 8 within reach. Pitching, pitching, pitching. The hitting will come.

That pitching will buy time for that young team time to figure out who they are. They will be good but A&M needs to capitalize on this "rebuilding" year for LSU.

Great program, I'm sure they'll have yet another great team next year.