LSU baseball head coach Jay Johnson has taken social media by storm with a comment after the Tigers’ Friday night loss to Texas A&M.
After the game, Johnson said he made a mistake in the transfer portal with the guys he’s chosen.
“I made some mistakes in constructing the team and trying to replace two guys that were irreplaceable,” Johnson said. “We should have looked for replacing them through guys that were already in the program.”
While he has admitted this, it can’t be the sole reason this team isn’t coming together. The Tigers are loaded with talent, but there’s a disconnect somewhere. This is why the best-playing members of the team have grown into the program.
LSU is known for its championships and talent production, and when the team brings a national championship back to Baton Rouge, there’s a high chance the transfer portal becomes a hot commodity. Everyone has seen the argument saying that it eliminates a rebuilding year and that there will be no more growth on each team.
The Tigers are proving why this is wrong in the 2026 season.
Team culture is unlike any other at LSU, and that is a big part of the character and championship development. Junior infielder Trent Caraway explained this in one of his first preseason interviews as a Tiger.
“I want to win a national championship and play at the highest level,” Caraway said in January. “It’s different, and I’m excited for this season. I’m kind of used to [the change] now, but it’s definitely something new. New things are hard.”
But if you transfer to LSU, a player has to be able to prove they can hack it in the toughest conference in the country.
Outside of the Tigers’ home-grown guys, senior outfielder Chris Stanfield is one of the only players cutting it. Part of this is his experience in the SEC.
Stanfield is a transfer from Auburn, so unlike most of the 2026 transfers from midmajors or teams outside of the SEC, he has experience in the slaughterhouse. It is known that LSU has more resources than other schools, so it did nothing but improve his prior success at Auburn.
The guys who came from the midmajors didn’t necessarily know what it took to make it out of conference play at LSU. They can have it simulated and expected, but it’s hard to know for sure until they prove their place.
Toughening a young team is hard to do, especially when you have to do it before the brunt of the season arrives, and that’s where the transfer portal is meant to help. Bridging gaps or bringing in multi-versed talent is what makes it effective.
And that’s exactly what Johnson said he’s going to do in the future.
“We won’t make that mistake again,” Johnson said. “The power moving forward will come from players that start their career here and develop into it.”
