Chris Stanfield, the former centerfielder for Auburn, declared on Tuesday that he would be attending LSU, as per a tweet on his X, the former Twitter account.
Throughout his two seasons at Plainsman Park, Stanfield was a crucial and dependable member of Auburn’s lineup, and his stats were strikingly identical.
Season Average, GS, HR, RBI, BB, SO, OBP 2023.280 40 46 3 22 18 45.364 2024.276 51 51 4 25 25 48.365
Samuel Dutton, a reliever, was a transfer from LSU to Auburn. Star freshman outfielder Bristol Carter from East Carolina was also added, and he will probably replace Stanfield.
Based on D1 Basbeall’s transfer tracker, Stanfield jumped into the transfer portal as soon as it opened earlier in June. He is currently Auburn’s most notable departure from their underwhelming 2024 squad.
However, Stanfield is continuing to participate in the MLB Draft. There are 319 people on the roster for the MLB Draft Combine in 2024, including him. Like the NBA Draft process, participating in the Combine does not prevent a player from going back to school.
The dates of the Combine are June 18–23. The dates of the MLB Draft are July 14–16.
There are three pitchers from Auburn listed as participants as well.
The only pitcher from Auburn scheduled to attend the Combine is Chase Allsup. With his mid-to-upper 90s fastball and SEC experience, head coach Butch Thompson hinted during the 2024 season that Allsup, although being mainly unreliable, was likely to go after the MLB Draft following this season.
This season, the Dothan native went 4-3 with 74 strikeouts in 62.1 innings pitched. Allsup struck out 31 batters in 21.1 innings during his final four outings of 2024, giving up a total of five earned runs.
However, the addition of Auburn’s two highest-rated incoming freshmen signees—both pitchers—would undoubtedly raise further anxiety there.
On the list are Christian Chatterton from Killen and Connor Gatwood from Mobile. Both are among the top 50 players in the 2024 high school class, and Gatwood is ranked 101st overall in this year’s MLB Draft by MLB.com.
Thompson has underlined how crucial Auburn’s top-five signing class is to the team’s pitching staff makeover. Pitchers make up the majority of the new class, led by Gatwood and Chatterton.
Their entry for the MLB Draft does not ensure that they will be chosen. Because it includes high school players and places a lot of weight on slot value signing incentives, the MLB Draft is one of the more chaotic professional league selection procedures.
Three pitchers, Dutton, Mason Koch (transfer from Creighton), and Ryan Hetzler (transfer from Cal Baptist), are presently part of Auburn’s new transfer class. All three of them are regularly employed out of the bullpen.
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