Hogan Harris On Role With Ragin’ Cajuns In 2017 [VIDEO]

Talent like Hogan Harris has is hard to miss. It catches your eye immediately, and it defies a lot of normal conventions.

Harris pitched 27 innings in 16 games as a freshman, and he struck out 26 batters. At 6'3" and 200 lbs, he's an impressive athlete. Left-handed pitchers are a commodity, and Harris fits the bill for what it takes to be an MLB pitcher in a lot of ways.

Louisiana Head Coach Tony Robichaux said he will use Harris as a starter and in the bullpen this season, mostly because he knows Harris can help the team in tons of ways. Coach Robe wants to develop Harris as a starter for the future, while still maintaining his powerful ability in the bullpen as a power lefty.

Harris saw time as a freshman, and it taught him a very valuable lessons.

"You can't take stuff for granted because we all thought we were doing well at the very end of the year, I mean it obviously ended up how it did, and I guess it's just to play every game with more intensity," Harris explained.

He took the lessons the game taught him as a freshman and tried to build on them during the offseason. His mission since the last pitch of 2016 was to make himself more accurate.

"Basically, just being able to spot up a little better," Harris said. "I know last year I was a bit wild from time to time."

All the coaches and players agree, Harris is hitting his spots better this year. He's going to be dangerous, no matter the position he's in during the course of a game.

It was a wild offseason for Harris. He spent some time in the Cape Cod League, battling the top talent competing to make it to the MLB. On top of that, when he came back to Lafayette the stadium was under construction.

Instead of looking at the happenings as hectic, Harris embraced the entire situation, even if it lacked a little taste...

"It's actually really exciting. One, just seeing this stuff come up, it's kind of ridiculous how fast it's gone up too, and Cape Cod, that was really fun. Going up there, they don't use many spices in their food, so that wasn't very exciting, but that's OK. I got used to it," Harris said with a sly smile.

Once he received his shipment of Tony Chachere's from Mom and Dad, he was fine up in Cape Cod.

On his return to Lafayette, Harris got to witness a beautiful ball park getting built around him. Russo Park is going to be a dream come true for the players and coaches. It's a sign of respect for the teams that came before them and the program they built.

Harris can't wait to throw his first pitch in Russo Park, and he thinks the fans will love what they see when the first home game comes around.

"I honestly don't even know if words can describe how cool it's going to be, to be able to be the first team to play here once it's all built," Harris said. "I think fans are going to have their minds blown."

Russo Park isn't the only beautiful thing getting built either. This year's pitching staff is absurd, and Harris is just one piece of a deep arsenal of weapons.

Harris described this year's pitching staff in one word, and he nailed it.

"I guess in one word you could say ridiculous. I don't know how else to put it," Harris said. "We have like eight different people that could be starters, but honestly everyone could relieve too."

Harris might get the start on Sunday, but you could also see him come out of the bullpen at any point during opening weekend. All of Cajun Nation will simply have to wait and see how he is used, but most fans would agree that no matter what the role he plays, he will be out there hurling nasty pitches.