Homer capped a long recovery for Frey

By Hunt Palmer

As Ethan Frey’s laser of a home run sailed over the wall in left field on Tuesday, the LSU dugout erupted.

Frey jubilantly circled the bases and was mobbed at home plate by his teammates. Head coach Jay Johnson, meanwhile, was puzzled. He hadn’t realized the blast was Frey’s first as a Tiger.

“I had no idea because I’ve seen him hit so many home runs in intrasquads,” Johnson said after the game. “They were getting all crazy about it, and I was like, what’s the big deal? This guy’s got more power than anyone on the team. I didn’t get it.”

While Frey relished the first home run of his career, it also represented a full recovery from a shoulder injury that stole much of last season from him. Frey tore his labrum early in the 2024 season but elected to play through the injury as opposed to having surgery and missing the remainer of the year.

“Team is an important thing to me,” Frey said. “There’s been a lot of points in my life where I could have skipped a game or two with injury or pain, tightness, whatever, but I feel like if I were to give up on my team and there would have been a point where they could have used me then I would have never lived it down. That’s something that wasn’t worth going the rest of my life with, ending the season early.”

Frey didn’t hurt every second of every day. His shoulder only flared up every so often when he swung the bat. That meant a swing change had to be implemented to avoid the issue.

“It’s something I wasn’t used to,” Frey said. “I had had the same swing since I was five or six, and then all of a sudden, I had to completely change it with an injury. So, it was a little bit of a weird feeling.”

Frey was a rotational player. He started roughly once a week much of the season, posting just a .228 batting average on the year as he fought with his new swing. Pain just became part of his time on the field.

In one of the most dramatic moments of the season, Frey came through, though. He doubled to lead off the ninth and helped force extra innings in the Tigers’ epic SEC Tournament comeback win over South Carolina.

Though he’s never been a starter, Frey has always had Johnson’s trust.

“He’s had a lot of big at bats for us, big hits. Huge hit at I think it was at Southeastern,” Johnson said. “Huge hit in the SEC Tournament against South Carolina. I’ve just always viewed him as a good player.”

Entering his junior season, Frey finds himself fighting for playing time in a crowded outfield, specifically right field. There are also at bats to be had at designated hitter.

Jake Brown, Josh Pearson and Ashton Larson join him in the fight.

“Just waiting for my time and playing the role I need to play,” Frey said. “Coach Johnson always says play the role that is your role and own it. I’m not trying to make a bigger role, just taking my role for what it is and do the best I can at it.”

For now, Frey’s role is that of the only right-handed option in that crowded part of the lineup. After a week of play, Frey is 4-for-8 with three runs driven in and a stolen base.

More importantly, he’s healthy.

“The past 8 months now have been pretty hard,” Frey said. “Recovery was really tough but I’m completely healthy now. I feel like I didn’t even have surgery.