Jaden Hill to Miss Remainder of 2021 Season

Jaden Hill’s 2021 season has been cut unceremoniously short.

The LSU baseball program announced Monday that Hill will miss the remainder of the 2021 season due a torn UCL in his right elbow.

“It’s heartbreaking for all of us to receive this news,” Paul Mainieri said, “but it’s especially disappointing for Jaden as a young man who has such a bright future in baseball. We will do everything we can to support Jaden in his return to full health. He has a tremendous work ethic, and I’m very confident he will overcome this setback.”

The injury happened Friday in LSU’s 11-2 loss to Vanderbilt. Hill was pulled in the top of the second after showing signs of some kind of discomfort in his throwing arm.

The junior righty came into the season as one of the most coveted prospects in the looming 2021 draft with some outlets having him in the top-five despite the less than stellar numbers.

Instead Hill will have yet another season in Baton Rouge cut short. Injuries derailed Hill’s freshman season in 2019 and of course the 2020 season was cancelled barely a month into the year. If Hill does enter the 2021 draft—and it sounds like Mainieri expects him to—he’ll leave LSU with only 51 innings pitched in three seasons.

“I don’t have any doubt someone will still draft him this summer and they’ll rehab him and h’ell come back from it and he’ll have an outstanding professional career.” Mainieri said. “But certainly this is a disappointing end to his LSU career.”

While the news is disappointing for Hill, it’s another blow to an LSU team that’s reeling. The Tigers are 17-10 overall but 1-8 in conference play and have been swept in its last two SEC series. Now Mainieri and pitching coach Alan Dunn will have to reconfigure their weekend rotation on the fly.

Get well soon Jaden Hill. And if this is indeed goodbye it was a joy watching you.