Five thoughts from LSU Media Day:
LSU Baseball held its annual preseason Media Day this Friday. With opening day exactly three weeks away, the team has hopes of making a return to Omaha for the first time since 2017 under the management of first year Head Coach, Jay Johnson. Here’s five things we learned from an energetic, excited team.
     1. This lineup/rotation is far from set in place.
If there was one thing Johnson harped on from the beginning of his opening press conference, it was how wide-open competition for playing time at every position was.
“The next three weeks are really important to see where we’re at,” Johnson said.
Since Johnson has just taken the helm, brought in an entirely new coaching staff, and utilized the transfer portal to bolster his roster, it is not too surprising to see the roster in flux, even as the season rapidly approaches. The team is gifted with talent from returnees, transfers, and freshmen. Therefore, sorting through all of them effectively will require trial and error. The competitive nature of Johnson’s demeanor has been adopted by his players, which was crucial for the program’s success in the head coach’s eyes.
“The best positive so far is the buying in of the players in terms of what we’re trying to accomplish in terms of their mindset, their improvement, development of the group.” Johnson said. “We’ve had zero resistance on any of that.”
By the time February 18 arrives, the lineups and rotations that fans heard about today may be vastly different. If Johnson’s open-mindedness to new permutations continues, it will not be the same come May either.
     2. Tre’ Morgan is going to be playing in multiple positions.
This was probably the biggest “Wait, what?” news of the day. The freshman first baseman was garnered with accolades after his stellar first season, including Second Team All-SEC, Freshman All-SEC and SEC All-Defensive Team due to his unreal play at the first base bag. With crazy over-the-shoulder catches and wild picks of throws from his infielders out of the dirt, Morgan dazzled the LSU faithful and followers of the game all season.
So it came as a massive surprise to everyone when Johnson mentioned that Morgan would be playing some outfield along with his work at first base. It certainly wasn’t expected that Morgan would be anywhere but 90 feet from home plate and at the top of the order. However, this unpredictability looks like it will be a common theme, at least at the beginning of the year, for this team.
“I’ve wasted a lot of legal pad paper over the last couple months,” Johnson said of manipulating lineups, particularly with Morgan. “Combinations, offense, defense, saved runs, created runs, balance in the order, left-handed and right-handed. So it’s more of a global look that, you know, I’m not doing my job if I don’t take a look at all of those possibilities.”
Reasonably, if Morgan is going to make it to the MLB, some teams will be fearful of taking a first baseman of his size and with his contact and speed. Traditionalist baseball will see those abilities and consider his ability to play in the outfield, despite his incredible glove work at first. It may not be a bad idea for his professional development to get some time in the outfield now.
     3. The roster is very healthy, especially compared to years past.
Johnson was quick to note the team’s health is in good shape for the upcoming season. He accredited this to the players’ diligence in their conditioning.
“The players did a really good job of moving towards the things they needed to do to be ready to play,” Johnson said. “They’ll be on their feet now for seven, eight, nine inning scrimmages. That’s a different type of conditioning. We tried to ramp them up slowly, specifically with pitchers. I anticipate everybody available for opening day.”
With that said, as the day went on, the news of players taking their first at-bats of the preseason was revealed and signs of ailments appeared. Hayden Travinski and Drew Bianco will be getting their first action of the preseason in LSU’s scrimmage. Garrett Edwards was spotted with a knee brace on his right leg. With a roster this big, there will be eventual nagging injuries. Hopefully the work that the training staff has done will mitigate that inevitable problem.
     4. The pitching staff will be looking to prove themselves early.
Johnson’s teams have a reputation to plate a lot of runs. His Arizona team last year led the NCAA with 537 runs. However, he was quick to point out today how thrilled he is to watch this staff work.
“I have faith in a lot of guys,” Johnson said. “I’m really excited about the pitching staff. I think our offense gets a lot of credit. There’s a lot of really talented players that have had a lot of success individually that you guys know about, but I feel like the staff has more than held their own in the fall.”
When talking to a few members of the staff itself, a similar energy was perceived.
“What’s cool is that everyone kind of contributes in their own way, especially off the field,” Eric Reyzelman said. “Everyone has something special about them, definitely when it comes to pitching and then off the field. Everyone’s vocal. I think if guys weren’t vocal to start off, whether they were freshmen and a little too shy, or a transfer like me or Bryce (Collins) or Coop (Riley Cooper), we’ve all opened up and I think it’s a really cool dynamic with JK (Pitching Coach Jason Kelly) at the helm.”
Kelly begins his first season as LSU’s pitching coach and will be following in the footsteps of Alan Dunn, both a fan and player favorite. So far, Kelly has lived up to that and more.
“Coach Kelly just wants what’s best for all of us, whatever that may be,” Devin Fontenot said. “He’ll allow you to develop your own process or plan on what gets you ready to pitch, and he’ll help you out if you have any questions, but other than that he’s there to be your friend and your coach and anything else.”
The staff returns nine pitchers and brings in 10 newcomers, and Johnson is likely to try all of them as the season start draws near.
     5. Johnson is committed to being here for a long time.
This season will be best remembered for being the beginning of the Johnson era. There has been some turnover in coaching positions throughout the state, but this is only the third head LSU baseball coach since the great Skip Bertman retired. LSU has always been an attractive destination for both coach and player, but Johnson’s desire to be here will not be questioned.
“Coach Bertman built this place,” Johnson said. “Coach (Paul) Mainieri continued it. This is college baseball. You’d be a fool not to look at it.”
When a reporter asked Johnson if he looked at this as the beginning of a long tenure and legacy at LSU, Johnson looked straight ahead and answered, as coolly as possible:
“Yes.”
And not another word.
This team is built to win right away, but in the grand scope of things, it will probably be remembered for the first taste of Jay Johnson LSU baseball.