LSU baseball has played six scrimmages this fall and will play another weekend of intra-squad games this week before heading to Biloxi, Mississippi, for two games against Samford over Halloween weekend.

Here are five takeaways from Thursday, Friday and Sunday’s scrimmages at Alex Box Stadium.

Bino Watters and Casan Evans haven’t suited up

Watters — a Notre Dame transfer — hasn’t played at all this fall because of a minor upper-body injury, coach Jay Johnson told the Advocate on Sunday. Johnson believes he could return to action for the last few weeks of the fall.

After arriving in Baton Rouge as coach Jay Johnson’s top portal bat, Watters hit .362 with a 1.057 on-base plus slugging percentage last season.

With Watters sitting out, Oregon transfer Angel Laya didn’t play Friday or Sunday, and Tulane transfer Jason Wachs took at-bats but didn’t see the field Friday. Freshman Malachi Washington also didn’t play on Sunday after working at second and third base on Thursday and Friday.

On the mound, Evans hasn’t thrown a pitch through the first two weeks of fall. Johnson said on Sunday that he’ll make his first appearance this fall on Nov. 1, when LSU is in Biloxi.

During his September press conference, Johnson ruled out Cooper Moore for the fall, and said that freshman left-hander Logan Schmidt won’t throw until November.

A pair of freshmen flash immense potential

It was a big weekend for outfielder Dominic Santarelli and left-handed pitcher/outfielder Lucas Nawrocki.

Santarelli blasted an opposite-field home run into left field on Sunday at 110 mph. Off the bat, it looked like he had roped a double into the left-center gap, but he hit it so hard the ball kept rising instead.

Santarelli’s power is his calling card, but he’s not a heavy-footed power hitter despite being 237 pounds. He showcased his surprising speed on Thursday by turning a routine single into a double. He could probably play in center field if LSU needed him there in a pinch.

Nawrocki, meanwhile, was quite literally all over the field throughout the weekend. At the plate, he smashed fellow freshman right-hander Cooper Sides’ hanging slider 113 mph into the right-field bleachers on Thursday before toeing the mound Friday and showcasing a mid-90s fastball and a knockout slider. He also played right field during Sunday’s scrimmage.

At 5-foot-11 and 201 pounds, Nawrocki’s tantalizing two-way potential makes him one of the most interesting players in recent program history. Paul Skenes, Casan Evans and Jake Brown arrived with two-way potential but stuck to one side of the ball. Let’s see if/how Nawrocki can buck that trend as potentially an immediate impact player.

Landon Hood impresses

Hood, a right-handed transfer from Gonzaga, is expected to contend for a starting rotation spot this fall after striking out 78 batters in 54⅓ innings and holding hitters to a .162 batting average last season. During Friday’s scrimmage, he showed why he was so dominant as a freshman a year ago.

Hood threw three hitless innings, keeping hitters off balance with a fastball up to 95 mph, a curveball, a changeup and a slider. He wasn’t afraid to throw his changeup against hitters on both sides of the plate, and his slider was particularly devastating against righties.

His fastball velocity had waned by the third inning, but Hood’s success isn’t predicated on how hard he throws. Hood punishes the strike zone, has excellent command and his wide arsenal lets him get hitters out on both sides of the plate. But it certainly wouldn’t hurt if he could maintain his first-inning velocity further into outings.

Thoughts on new pitchers

Freshman right-hander Coleton Brady dominated hitters on Sunday, tossing three hitless innings and recording six strikeouts. He pounded the strike zone with a low-90s fastball, and he got hitters to chase his slider out of the bottom of the zone.

Another freshman, left-hander Braxton Beaty, also threw on Sunday and hit 95 mph with his fastball, at least three to four mph harder than what he threw in high school. But, uncharacteristically, his command was off. Expect that to improve by the start of the season.

South Florida right-handed transfer Kaden Smith showed quality stuff on Friday — fastball up to 95 mph and two breaking balls that are good enough to get hitters to swing through — but his control was poor, and it looks like his delivery is going to be difficult for him to repeat, likely making these control problems hard to fix.

Position player notes

Johnson hasn’t been afraid to move Jack Ruckert around this fall, as the sophomore second baseman played third base, left field and catcher this weekend. Fall is the perfect time to test whether guys can play certain spots, and Johnson has always prioritized positional versatility. That’s what he seems to be doing with Ruckert.

Besides Ruckert, Eddie Yamin has mostly played outfield, and John Pearson has gotten plenty of reps at first base. LSU also continues to shift Texas State transfer Dawson Park between shortstop and third base. Park had a big day at the plate Friday, going 3 for 3 with a home run and driving in two runs.