LSU baseball is looking to make another historic postseason run, and like every college baseball team in the nation, it’s looking to win a national championship.
This season’s team has 14 returners from last year’s championship run, but they are outmatched by 25 newcomers to the program. Several players are expected to step up and contribute to the potential next run, but the returning players and the coaching staff have done all they can to calm the tensions in the locker room.
“[Head coach Jay Johnson] does a really good job of separating the two seasons,” senior infielder Zach Yorke said. “Last year is last year, and this year is this year. I think we’re ‘all in on now,’ and focusing on today and focusing on the task at hand this year.”
Johnson said during preseason media day that the returning players were assigned specific tasks to help the team return stronger. The whole Tiger outfield from last year is back this season, and with starting spots nearly solidified out there, the goal was to improve as much as possible during the offseason.
He said that center fielder Derek Curiel’s main goal was to hit the weight room between seasons, and he put in the hard work to better himself for his career and his future. He came in with high praise last year, and the hardest part about that is living up to it.
He easily dominated with what he was given, but now that a new season is on the horizon, Curiel has easily stepped into a leadership role.
“I think for the longevity of my career [playing left field is] going to be very beneficial for me,” Curiel said. “Last year was beneficial for that team, and any role [Johnson] wanted me in is what I was going to do. Since it was left field last year, I took ownership of that role, and I hit the ground running with that. But now I’m back in center field, I think it’s gonna be great.”
Johnson said during preseason media that not burning his players out is one of the keys to coaching at this level, and he’s done that with some of his star players to allow them to keep growing. He likes to give his highly-praised freshmen room to grow in one area of the game, and he made an example of Curiel and Steven Milam.
Curiel played left field last year and moved to center field this year, and Johnson compared this movement to Milam playing second base his freshman year and moving to shortstop last year. Johnson said that he wants his guys to live up to their potential, and for players like Milam and Curiel, this means giving them one thing to focus on at a time.
Making decisions like this early for his incoming freshman class allows them to grow throughout their time at LSU, giving them greater access to the resources a top program can provide.
Junior newcomer Trent Caraway said on Friday that these coaching decisions and the resources that come with them are what drove him to LSU. He said he wants to be the best, so coming to play for Johnson was an easy decision.
Even entering as a junior, Caraway said he’s making changes to give him a career with longevity while tracking down the path to Omaha in June. He said the resources at LSU are like no other he has experienced, and it was the path he needed to take.
“I want to win a national championship and play at the highest level,” Caraway said. “It’s different, and I’m excited for this season.”
Caraway has completely changed his swing entering this season, and he said it was a decision that was well made. He said he started off fall ball on a low note, struggling there a decent amount, but due to the resources LSU has given him, he’s been able to completely evolve as an athlete.
He also said that working with Johnson has helped him far beyond his college baseball career. Together, they’re working on slowing everything down mentally and physically in the box, taking a clearer approach at the plate and that has all helped him see pitches better.
He’s hungry to make one last trip to Omaha before he heads off to The Show, and he’s utilizing everything Johnson and the staff have to offer him on his climb up the ladder. For many LSU baseball players, the stop in Alex Box is just a means to an end, and hunger will be the thing that brings them to the Bayou and allows them to grow.
Johnson allows players like Caraway to transfer in and demand attention with the environment he creates, and it allows them to seamlessly play with the home-grown talent that scrapes its way into the starting lineup.
“My dream is to be a major league baseball player,” Caraway said. “It’s something I had to do: come out to Louisiana and prove it to myself and win a national championship.”
