2020 LSU Baseball Walkup Songs, Ranked

David Chivatero

LSU released the 2020 Opening Day walk-up songs list Tuesday, and wall to wall it might be the best crop of tunes LSU players have put together.

The following is a breakdown over every single player’s song selection and a grade based on song quality, fit, and novelty factor. The ratings and verdicts are subjective. On a scale of one to ten, the team averaged a 7.26 with three perfect scores among the team.

Zach Arnold: California Love | 2Pac

This is pretty much a standard for any player from California playing outside of their home state. Not very imaginative, but the song itself is pretty good and the intro lends itself well to being a walkup song. 7/10.

Hal Hughes: Halle Berry | Hurricane Chris

Hughes isn’t from Louisiana or the Shreveport area, so reaching Hurricane Chris is an impressive pull. And for whatever reason, mid-2000s rap always works well for walkup songs. There are several portions of the song that would work for the walkup. 9/10.

Cade Doughty:4 Minutes | Madonna

I’ll be honest, I’ve never heard this song before. It’s probably the most off-the wall song on the list. But I dig the beat and the intro can work really well in the Box. I dig it. 7/10.

Drew Bianco: I Got 5 On It | Luniz

After Us came out last spring, I was expecting to hear this song EVERYWHERE. But that never happened, and Bianco is capitalizing on that. I love this selection and can’t wait to hear it 3-4 times a game. Just hope your kids don’t ask what the song is about. 9/10.

Gavin Dugas: Let Me Clear My Throat | DJ Kool

Simply put, a classic hook and a classic stadium song. Honestly surprised we don’t see this more in college baseball. 9/10.

Daniel Cabrera: Hips Don’t Lie | Shakira

Cabrera came on campus and made a great first impression with Shakira’s biggest American hit. It’s a song with great novelty value, but what really makes this great is that he’s kept it for all three years. Now when LSU fans think of Hips Don’t Lie, they’ll think of Cabrera. It’s the same thing we’ve seen from former #8 Antoine Duplantis and My Type. That’s what puts Cabrera’s pick over the top. 10/10.

Wes Toups: Kings of Summer | Ayokay

There’s always a freshman with an EDM pick. That’s not to disparage EDM, but this song is just kind of unremarkable. 5/10.

Eric Walker: Slow Loud & Bangin | Chamillionaire

I can’t really finger why, but this is the perfect pick for Eric Walker given his personality and demeanor. He’s not a bombastic personality in any stretch and he’s a player completely dependent on getting into a groove. Sometimes you can’t explain why it fits so well, but it does. 7/10.

Landon Marceaux: Same Ol’ Situation | Motley Crue

I don’t know if this is tongue in cheek given how much Marceaux has changed over the season, but Motley Crue (or any hair metal) is a welcome addition to the Alex Box Playlist, especially if it’s a less-worn record like this one. 7/10.

Saul Garza: Chambea | Bad Bunny

Garza brings the Latin Flair a Bad Bunny that admittedly might be annoying to some, especially if he uses the intro of the song. 5/10.

Maurice Hampton: Russian Cream | Key Glock

Not a huge fan of the song, but I can’t hate on the Memphis native using one of his hometown rappers for his walk-up songs. 4/10.

Collier Cranford: Still Fly | Big Tymers

As overplayed as this song probably is, it’s still undeniably great. It’s near impossible not to sing along to the hook, which is included in the intro to the song. 8/10.

Zack Mathis: Welcome To Jamrock | Damien Marley

We’ve only gotten access to him for about two weeks now, but Zack Mathis continues to be one of the more outlandish players on the LSU roster. Huge fan of him coming into the program and pulling reggae off the shelf. 8/10.

Cole Henry: Voodoo Child (Slight Return) | Jimi Hendrix

I was raised on Stevie Ray Vaughan so his version of Voodoo Child will always be better to me and it has been done before, but this is an incredibly strong pull, especially for a pitcher. While this is a common pull, it surprisingly hasn’t been featured at LSU much, if at all. All things considered, 9/10.

Alex Milazzo: Hollaback Girl | Gwen Stefani

There are levels to this one. For one, this song has an INCREDIBLE novelty factor to it. There is no possible way anybody can listen to this song and take it seriously. Secondly, this song is so at odds with Milazzo’s on-field personality and stature as a hard-nose catcher that it comes around to being perfect. 10/10.

Nick Storz: Do I Wanna Know? | Arctic Monkeys

This is a great pick for many reasons, mainly because it’s the best overall song on the list. Storz is a starting pitcher so this song will player for longer than 10 seconds, meaning we get to hear the amazing opening guitar riff in full. Plus, the lyrics in the context of a pitcher warming up are really kind of intimidating and foreboding for hitters: Have you got color in your cheeks?
Do you ever get that fear that you can’t shift the tide that sticks around like something in your teeth? Are there some aces up your sleeve? Have you no idea that you’re in deep?
10/10.

Mitchell Sanford: Let’s Get Loud | Jennifer Lopez

I don’t want to like this pick as much as I do, but the intro translates perfectly as a walk-up song. This is an underrated great selection. 8/10.

CJ Willis: Good Life | Kanye West

Not really an inspired pick, but you could do a lot worse than the intro to Good Life. As overplayed as it was (is), it’s still infectious. 7/10.

Cade Beloso: Buy U A Drank | T-Pain

As previously stated, for whatever reason, mid-200s rap songs just hit different as walkup songs. This isn’t an exception to that rule. Also the visual of the most yoked player on the LSU roster walking to the plate to a T-Pain song is hilarious. Big fan of this selection. 9/10.

Hayden Travinski: Shook Ones, Pt. II | Mobb Deep

And on the flip side of the coin, freshman catcher Hayden Travinski brings one of the most intense song in the playlist. In some ways it’s harder to pick a serious song but this is a great selection. I can’t decide what would work better, the intro or the hook. 9/10.

AJ Labas: Highway To Hell | AC/DC

Like most AC/DC songs, it’s big, loud, dumb, in your face, and despite your best efforts you just can’t hate it. It doesn’t quite scratch the itch that hair metal does but it’s still a great fit for baseball. 7/10.

Matthew Beck: Lovin’ Every Minute Of It | Loverboy

Man, Beck went deep into his dad’s record collection for this one…and I’m glad he did. This is exactly the type of cheesy 80’s track that plays well in a baseball setting. And what a perfect sentiment for the only four-year senior on the team to have. 9/10.

Devin Fontenot: All Of The Lights | Kanye West

It’s far from the best song on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy but it’s an okay song. It has been overused though, so it won’t ever feel like Fontenot’s song in the same vein as Hips Don’t Lie and Cabrera. It would have been a great changeup (pun unintended) if he use the interlude. 6/10.

Chase Costello: POWER | Kanye West

Like Fontenot, Costello chose a song that’s really been done to death over the past decade, of the same album no less. But even still, POWER is a better song than All Of The Lights, so Costello wins the pitcher battle of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy songs. 7/10.

Trent Vietmeier: Dr. Feelgood | Motley Crue

Vietmeier joins Marceaux in the Dr. Feelgood fan club, picking the titular track. Pretty much everything previously stated applies here sans the potential tongue in cheek selection. Plus Dr. Feelgood is a better song. 8/10.

Aaron George: Walk In The Wild | RIVVRS

I’ve never heard of this song before, and I’m not really blown away by it. Nothing really stands out, it’s fine but not great. 5/10.

Brandon Kaminer: Trophies | Drake

This is probably THE most overused song on the list. I think Drake made this song expressly for athletes. 4/10.

Tom Biggs: Ice Cream Paint Job | Dorrough Music & Antisocial | Ed Sheeran & Travis Scott

Ice Cream Paint Job gets full marks for novelty. That alone is an outstanding selection and one I cannot commend enough. However, Biggs has a pitching walkup song and for that he chose Antisocial which is considerably not as great of a pull. Combined they average out to a 7/10.

Jaden Hill: Run It Up | NBA Youngboy

Baton Rouge’s own NBA Youngboy gets some representation from Hill, but it’s not really a great song or fit for a baseball setting. 5/10.

Braden Doughty: Look Alive | Rae Sremmund

I imagine the hook of the song will be used here, which is fine. Nothing really special or perfect fitting. 5/10.

Rye Gunter: Bleed It Out | Linkin Park

Talk about a throwback, I personally had this song locked in the deep storage of my brain. I could see this working well for a pitcher given the intro to the song. Gunter goes off the beaten path and pulls a song that might work really well and should be commended for it. 7/10.

Jacob Hasty: Sad But True | Metallica

I’m partial to this one because it’s my personal favorite Metallica song, and he also gets bonus points for digging past some of their most popular tracks. Since he’s a pitcher we get an extended cut of this song, which is a bonus. Really solid pick from the lefty. 9/10.

Michael Lagarrigue: Let Me Hear You Scream | Ozzy Osbourne

I’ve never heard this song before because it’s an Ozzy Osbourne song released in 2010, and I feel justified in that decision after hearing it. 3/10.

1 Comment

  1. Landon Marceaux & AJ Labas have two of my favorite songs ever (Yeah I’m from the 80’s)….It is so cool to see the younger generation listen to music from the last decade of Rock N Roll. #GeauxTigers

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*


+ eighty nine = 95