By Jake Mastroianni
Any short lists for the top overall MLB Draft pick in 2026 has to include Alabama shortstop Justin Lebron. After bursting onto the scene as a freshman in 2024, he’s looking to take a step forward in 2025.
He got off to a great start in Alabama’s sweep over Bradley on Opening Weekend picking up 5 hits, including a home run and 3 doubles, while reaching base a total of 12 times in the three-game series.
After falling behind early in game one, Lebron came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs in the second where he stroked a ball to the right-center gap to bring everyone home and give Alabama a lead they would never relinquish.
Looking at Lebron and his 6-foot-2, 180 pound frame you might think he lacks in the power department. But he hit 12 home runs as a freshman and got one on the board in the finale on Sunday with a beautiful swing that saw him pull his hands in quickly and put one over the wall in left-center.
And defense has never been a question with Lebron, but he showed that as well on Sunday charging a slow roller up the middle he was able to get in perfect position and deliver a quick strike to first for the out.
It feels like the Alabama offense will go as Lebron goes this year, but a couple of new faces showed they can step up and deliver as well.
New Faces Provide Immediate Impact
The Alabama offense will be hoping that some of the new faces will help support Lebron in the lineup. Miami transfer Jason Torres and JUCO recruit Bryce Fowler got off to nice starts.
Leading off, Fowler reached base eight times over the weekend, scored 5 times, and stole three bases.
Torres had 6 hits and 4 walks, including a home run and triple in the finale, to go along with 8 RBI on the weekend.
“We just have competitive kids, really talented players,” said Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn. “And I’ve said it from the jump, there’s a lot of moving parts in this and really us getting guys in the right spot and learning where they fit in and learning how they play together. And Bryce and J (Jason Torres) at the top was pretty electric all weekend. I don’t even know what they’re numbers look like, but I keep track of quality at-bats.”
He mentioned that Bryce and J each had four quality at-bats on Sunday.
“When you got two of your top guys in the order going eight-of-10 in quality at-bats, you’re going to have a good day. And JT (Jason Torres) continuing to get comfortable in the box. Two-out hits ain’t easy and they had probably seven or eight 2-out RBI this weekend it felt like. And that’s why they’re here. We knew – this is not a surprise to us, this is what we expect them to do. And we’re just really fortunate to have – not only these two guys – but up-and-down the lineup just so many good humans, good people.”
Riley Quick’s Strong Return
Perhaps the biggest x-factor for Alabama this year is the return of starting pitcher Riley Quick. The 6-foot-6 righty had his 2024 season cut short due to season-ending elbow surgery.
Vaughn will be looking for Riley to quickly get built up to full strength and be a staple in the weekend rotation.
In game two against Bradley he tossed 3 shutout innings allowing just 2 hits with no walks and 4 strikeouts. The command coming back from injury was really impressive, along with the fact he was consistently sitting in the upper 90s with his fastball.
Alabama will want to be cautious bringing him back, but the potential he showed on Saturday is good enough to matchup with any SEC starter.
Vaughn’s Comments on the Pitching Against Bradley
“Yea, I think we saw 20ish guys on the weekend … that’s kind of what we wanted to do. I think one of the strengths of this team, and especially the pitching staff, is the depth of the pitching staff. There’s not too many guys coming out of that pen throwing 100 MPH, but there’s different looks, there’s different pitches, there’s different stuff coming out. I think when you can keep guys involved, and we try to do the same thing offensively, when you can keep guys involved and carve out a role for them it allows a lot of guys to stay hooked in. And I thought guys did a good job of coming in and doing their job. .. There are guys who take pride in that – just give me the baseball and get themselves ready to go. When you throw that many guys there’s always room to have five of them implode, and we just didn’t have that. We had one, maybe two guys that would probably love to have their outing back but outside of that, most of those guys came out and did a great job for us.”
Weekend Results
10-6, W. Zane Adams: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 ER, 0 Ks; Lebron: 2-3, 2 2Bs, 5 RBI.
19-3, W. Quick: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 4 Ks; Garrett Staton: 2-3, 1 HR, 6 RBI.
11-4 (8), W. Bobby Alcock: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 3 Ks; Torres: 3-4, 1 HR, 1 3B, 5 RBI.
Up Next
Alabama will face Middle Tennesseee State and Alabama State at home during the week before heading to Jacksonville for the Jacksonville Classic where they’ll get an early season test against Coastal Carolina, NC State, and Ohio State.
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