The Louisiana Ragin Cajuns welcomed home one of its own as All-American pitcher Gunner Leger was officially announced as the Coordinator of Pitching and Analytics on Friday.
Leger, a two-time All-American and 2017 semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, won 24 games at Louisiana under Tony Robichaux and ranks among the school’s leaders in starts (53), innings (328.2), wins (24), and strikeouts (288).
“It’s a huge addition to our program, it’s a guy that I recruited when I was first here at Louisiana and was really looking forward to coaching him before going to Sam Houston,” head coach Matt Deggs said. We obviously built a great relationship with him and watched him kick our butt a couple of times, and I know how important he was to Coach Robe.”
“He’s very sharp and very intuitive. He’s a bright mind that will help make us better. He’s going to be a difference maker for us.”
The Barbe High product started 18 games as a freshman in 2015 where he led Louisiana to both the regular season and tournament Sun Belt Championship, finishing the year off with a trip to the Super Regionals. He was named the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year and was a Freshman All-American by three publications.
The left-hander was a member of the All-Sun Belt First Team as a sophomore when he had the best ERA in the league (2.26) and games started (16) and was third in strikeouts (81).
As a junior, Leger was named the Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year, leading the league in wins (10) and ERA (1.97). He was also named a third-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA.
“I’m excited to be back. Obviously, this program is personal to me with Coach Robe and how my career went here. This was the first college baseball I ever watched really with my grandfather in the old ‘Section A.’ It was where I kind of grew up watching Hunter Moody and those guys and trying to emulate them and be that type of player,” Leger said.
“I couldn’t be a better spot to get my foot in the door and start my career in coaching. We’ve got a good group coming back and we’ll look to build on what they’ve already built here. We have a long history of success here and I’m looking forward to being a small part of something big.”