Following what can only be described as a masterclass in recruiting by LSU baseball head coach Jay Johnson, the Tigers are itching to put on their pinstripes and take the diamond in search of the program’s eighth national title.
This year’s LSU baseball team has already been raking in the preseason accolades. Perfect Game ranks the Tigers at No. 2, and D1 Baseball at No. 3. LSU’s Jared Jones and transfer Daniel Dickinson also received preseason All-American honors as first and second basemen.
According to Perfect Game, the Tigers also boast five top-100 sophomores, five top-100 juniors and two top-75 seniors as they charge full steam into their 18 preseason practices.
As opening day draws near, the preseason chatter surrounding LSU baseball has garnered extensive media attention.
But after three full years of Johnson at the helm for LSU, the number of eyes on the Tigers so early in the season does not seem startling. It’s become nothing short of normal for the recent title winners.
When the Tigers earned their rings after a Game 3 victory over Florida in the 2023 College World Series, it revitalized Baton Rouge as the home of the Powerhouse of College Baseball.
When a team wins a national championship, the expectations surrounding that subsequent coach and that program skyrocket.
It can change the course of a program for years to come.
Soon after the transfer portal’s creation and NIL’s subsequent introduction to college sports, coaches’ and players’ paths to a national championship changed.
While Johnson has been upfront about his distaste for the transfer portal, he quickly realized it was here to stay and began using it immediately after being hired at LSU.
Johnson recruited soon-to-be Tiger legends Paul Skenes and Tommy White to transfer to Baton Rouge and Dylan Crews to stay at LSU.
That season, the Bayou Bengals hoisted their seventh national championship trophy in Omaha.
Since winning the 2023 National Championship, the Tigers have sent 22 players to the MLB draft, with 13 in 2023, tying the NCAA single-draft record, following up with 11 in 2024. Cumulatively, those 22 players have signed contracts for over $28 million.
Additionally, following the 2024 season, LSU had 11 players enter the transfer portal, which left the Tigers with only eight returning players.
The upside? LSU’s coaching staff remained almost unchanged, and most importantly, it retained Johnson, the fourth-year Tigers head coach.
While only three players from the 2023 national championship team remain on the roster, LSU baseball is ranked the No. 3 team in the country by the NCAA.
But how is that even possible? The answer is Johnson.
Johnson doesn’t like to lose, and following the Tigers’ heartbreaking loss in the Chapel Hill Regional, he went on one of the most incredible recruiting runs in college athletics to date.
Johnson recognized where the Tigers needed some help, “and we’re gonna go get it,” Johnson said about recruiting players in need positions.
When asked what he needed to add, Johnson said, “Great pitchers, great hitters, and great defenders.”
Johnson was clear he knew what he needed, and he went and took it.
Johnson’s hyper-aggressive approach to players who entered the transfer portal and toward high school draft prospects enabled him and his staff to haul in a No. 1 ranked recruiting class.
By the end of his recruiting run, Johnson had signed 25 new LSU players, including 11 NCAA DI transfers, four junior college transfers and 10 high school players.
A crazy stat? Three of those 10 high school prospects chose to withdraw their name from the MLB draft to play for the Tigers.
Derek Curiel, an outfielder, Cade Arrambide, a catcher and William Schmidt, a right-handed pitcher and native of Baton Rouge, all chose Johnson and LSU over professional baseball. It’s a massive statement about the opportunities that LSU athletics can provide to its athletes.
These players are turning down life-changing money and notoriety to don the purple pinstripes.
While the world of NIL has monetarily bridged the gap between college and pro sports, it begs the question: Is Johnson’s “air raid” recruiting technique a blueprint for success for other programs around the NCAA?
Johnson’s approach to NIL and the transfer portal has been vastly different from that of the many coaches in college athletics. Johnson has not been coy about using the portal.
“My preference is to build our program with the players that we bring in out of high school, but the reality is that nobody can abandon the portal,” Johnson said in a February 2024 interview.
Johnson did not let his preferences interfere with his wants and needs in the portal, though. He made sure that his players were getting the teammates they needed to win another national championship.
“My goal is to keep our players at the forefront of everything we’re doing,” Johnson said.
On that same note, whether he likes it or not, Johnson didn’t try to fight the fact that no matter what, quality players will cost money.
According to an anonymous source quoted by the Athletic, it’s been estimated that both Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews signed six-figure NIL deals for approximately $250,000.
Last year, LSU struggled tremendously in the depths of its pitching staff. But when pitching wasn’t the issue, the bats were; both those problems compounded in the midst of critical at-bats and innings, leading to a worn-out pitching staff and some boom-or-bust at-bats trying to will the Tigers back to Omaha.
When LSU fell short of its ultimate goals, Johnson recognized the Tigers’ biggest weakness, depth in the pitching staff, and attacked the recruiting trail ferociously, hauling in six transfer pitchers.
Johnson laid the blueprint for LSU’s success, and as other LSU coaches adapt to this new air raid-style recruiting technique in the portal, the ultimate goal is to put rings on fingers.
The Tigers will have their chance to prove that the 2023 team wasn’t just one in a million when their season opens on Feb. 14 against Purdue Fort Wayne at Alex Box Stadium.
