2017 LSU Baseball Walkout Songs, Ranked

LSU released the list of walkup songs for the 2017 season, and since we’re on the internet, let’s RANK EM. The songs will be judged on the following metric:

• Song quality
• Song novelty
• Song association/fit. Think Chipper Jones with Crazy Train or Mariano Rivera with Enter Sandman. Or Mark Laird with God’s Gonna Cut You Down or Micah Gibbs with Pflugerville. Sometimes they’re just a perfect fit.

1-Nick Bush (Passion Pit | Take A Walk)

Even if synthpop isn’t your gig, I dare you to not bop your head to this Passion Pit breakout hook. Also, Nick Bush is not a very established pitcher so this gets full marks for quality and novelty in the form of potential irony.

2-John Smith (Ginuwine | Pony)

I’d get my internet license revoked if I didn’t put this in the top three. Well played, freshman, although I don’t think LSU will let you get away with playing the hook to this song.

3-Antoine Duplantis (Saint Motel | My Type)

Clap.

Clap.

Clap.

CLAP CLAP.

If Twonnie would have changed his walkout song and robbed right field of that tradition, I would have rioted.

I’m a man with very specific tastes, after all.

4-Hunter Kiel (Styx | Renegade)

This ONLY works because Kiel is a pitcher and gets the 40 odd seconds it takes to complete the quiet intro before breaking into the full song while he takes his 90 second pitching change timeout.

5-Alex Lange (Eric Prydz | Call On Me)

Looking for a win? Call on Alex Lange. This gets full marks for association given that this is the third year Lange uses the song and much like Twonnie, the students in right can continue their tradition associated with the song.

6-Kramer Robertson (Pretty Ricky | Grind With Me)

Not only is this a perfect song for Kramer, but it’s a deep enough cut that college kids will remember the hook while having no clue how the actual verses went besides the “ooooooh”.

7-Doug Norman (The Rolling Stones | Gimme Shelter)

This is probably the objective best song on the list. Not only is it good, it’s iconic. It will forever be associated with Henry Hill running from helicopter surveillance and the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship. But I question it’s merits as a walkup song. Doug Norman is a pitcher, and gets 90 seconds to warm up. The issue is the chorus doesn’t come on until the minute 45 mark. Unless he plays it starting with the chorus, which then robs us of the intro. Excellent idea, but reality hinders it’s awesomeness.

8-Rankin Woley (The Outfield | Your Love)

Classic. This may be the most baseball song that is not expressly about baseball, which is a good thing considering how most songs about baseball are not great.

9-Cole Freeman (J. Cole | G.O.M.D)

AYE HOLLYWOOD COLE.

Cole Drank gets marks for continuity, but his choice to play the clip from the intro that says “HOLLYWOOD COLE”, while exemplary, could be made better by instead playing the bass breakdown at the four minute mark. That’s the best part of the song by a mile, but the song itself is good so it’s a solid choice to continue with, Drank.

10-Chris Reid (Baby Bash | Cyclone)

Reid did the same thing that Kramer did, only Kramer has a slightly better and more memorable song.

11-Jordan Romero (Dire Straits | Money For Nothing)

Another OUTSTANDING song, but an issue with it being a walkup song: it’s better served for a pitcher, but Romero is a batter. I imagine he wants the song to play at the guitar break, and that is awesome, but it’s lacking without the intro and drum fill building up to it. Listen to it with the intro and then listen to it starting at 1:36. It’s not the same.

12-Russell Reynolds (Ennio Morricone | The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Theme)

In theory this is the best walkout song for a physically imposing pitcher to have, but in reality it’s a little too quiet for stadium speakers. At any rate, respect.

13-Bryce Jordan (Jay-Z | Public Service Announcement)

Five words that rap has never forgotten: ALLOW ME TO RE-INTRODUCE MYSELF

14-Austin Bain (Redbone | Come And Get Your Love)

Somebody finally watched Guardians of the Galaxy

15-Jake Slaughter (Big Tymers | Still Fly)

Torn between saying this song is not as good as we remember and knowing that every time I hear “What’s up Fresh? It’s our turn baby” I yell out “GATA BOOOOOOOOOOOTS WITH THE PIMPED GUCCI SUUUUUUUUUIIIIIIIIT”

16-Will Reese (Led Zeppelin | Black Dog)

Solid choice, but we can get a little more creative, now can’t we?

17-Greg Deichmann (Lil Uzi Vert | Do What I Want)

Big fan of LUV, but as far as this being a walkout song...eh.

18-Michael Papierski (The Buzz | Hermitude)

You’ve likely heard the “hook” of this song, even if the name of it doesn’t ring a bell. It’s alright.

19-Mason Templet (Nelly | Country Grammar)

Good song, but the edited version of this is gonna suck.

But still, daps and hugs, mean mugs and shoulder shrugs.

20-Eric Walker (Chamillionaire | Slow Loud & Bangin)

Awfully bold of an Arlington kid to rep H TINE like that, but if he was he could have picked a better song.

21-Hunter Newman (KONGOS | Come With Me Now)

This song has a much longer life than I anticipated given how forgettable it is outside of the fact that it wins Best Use of Accordion In A Rock Song for 2012.

22-Beau Jordan (Chief Keef | Hate Being Sober [Dotcom’s Festival Trap Remix])

Meh.

23-Caleb Gilbert (The Dropkick Murphys | I’m Shipping Up To Boston)

Caleb you’re from Hoover dude.

24-Zack Hess (Motorhead | Line In The Sand)

Meh.

PodKATT: My apologies, it appears I still have much to teach young Adam about wrasslin’. A Freshman pitcher with the guts to use the walk-out music for the Evolution stable is one who is making a statement about how he sees himself as the future of this industry.

Ric Flair walked out to this song for the better part of two years. I don’t believe I need to say anything more.

25-Blair Frederick (Drake | Grammys) [Not on YouTube]

Drake is bad. Future is good.

The Rest:

Brennan Breaux (Marc Broussard | Home)

Zach Walker (Eminem | Lose Yourself)

Nick Coomes (Twenty One Pilots | Ride)

Jared Poche (Mase | Welcome Back)

Cole McKay (The City Harmonic | Manifesto)

Todd Peterson (Kid Cudi | Dat New “New”)

Bryce Adams (Post Malone | Congratulations)

The Worst

Matthew Beck (Five Finger Death Punch | Bad Company)

Collin Strall (Nonpoint | In The Air Tonight)

PodKATT: If the original, iconic versions of these songs had been chosen, maybe they’d get a pass. But terrible decision making like this must be pointed out for shame and public ridicule. These covers are awful. Hell, there’s even a better modern cover of In The Air Tonight that anyone who’s arrived early to an LSU football game knows well and loves.

But that’s OK. College is where people go to make mistakes and learn from them.

And these two have made a huge mistake.

Here’s a Spotify playlist of the list (minus the unavailable Kid Cudi track)