If LSU head baseball coach Jay Johnson was the general manager for the Pittsburgh Pirates or the Washington Nationals, the teams with the first two picks in Sunday's 59th annual Major League Baseball draft set for a 6 p.m. start CT on ESPN, he’d know he couldn’t go wrong choosing the two players who led the Tigers to their seventh national championship less than two weeks ago.
“They're special,” Johnson said of center fielder Dylan Crews and pitcher Paul Skenes. “They don't let the situation become bigger than their plan or their maturity. No disrespect to any superstar high school or college player out there, but there's no way that there's no way you pass those two. They're just they're unbelievable as players and people.”
Though they took different career paths, Crews and Skenes both came to LSU for basically two reasons.
The first was to hone their skills in arguably the college baseball program in the country that has produced seven national championships, 19 first-round major league draft choices and an average of 5.4 players chosen per year in the last 39 major league baseball drafts.
The second was to position themselves as high as possible in the draft.
Crews and Skenes, who won just about every national award this season in leading LSU to its first national title since 2019, could make history as the first players from the same school taken No. 1 and No. 2 in the draft.
Or if Crews and Skenes are both drafted in the top five picks, they will be the fifth duo from the same school drafted in the top five. The most recent was in 2011 when UCLA pitchers Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer were selected No. 1 and No. 3 respectively by the Pirates and Arizona Diamondbacks.
Other LSU players and freshmen signees who should be drafted in the first three to four rounds are pitcher Ty Floyd, first baseman/outfielder Tre’ Morgan and shortstop Jordan Thompson as well as signees catcher Blake Mitchell of Sinton, Texas, shortstop/second baseman Steven Milam of Centennial, N.M. and pitcher Cam Johnson of IMG Academy.
As many as 10 to 11 current LSU players will likely be picked in the 20-round draft.
The SEC, which has had 47 players all-time selected among the top 10 players in the draft, may have as many four in this year’s top ten. Besides Crews and Skenes, Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford and Tennessee pitcher Chase Dollander have been predicted to be chosen in the first 10 picks.
Crews was considered a first-round prospect for the 2020 draft after his senior season at Lake Mary (Fla.) High. But he announced prior to the draft he would be sticking with his commitment to attend LSU.
“I felt like I wasn’t the right player, I felt I wasn’t fully developed in high school,” said Crews, a two-time first-team All-American and winner of this season’s Golden Spikes Award as college baseball’s top player. “Every time I visited here, I always thought it was an opportunity I didn’t want to miss out on.
“I tell kids this (playing for LSU) was the best decision of my life. All the resources they’ve provided me developed me in the way I needed.”
Crews started in all 196 games of his Tigers’ career, finishing with a .380 batting average with 286 hits (109 for extra bases) including 58 home runs, 184 RBIs, 237 runs, 152 walks, 23 stolen bases, a .689 slugging percentage and a .498 on-base percentage. He committed just three errors in 470 fielding chances.
His .426 batting average this season ranked third nationally and the second-best in LSU history. Crews led the nation in runs scored (100) and walks (71).
“We always knew how great he was and I think he put a stamp on that this year,” Johnson said of Crews. “He’s the best player in the country. But it’s how he’s handled himself with everyone knowing he’s the best player in the country is what’s special.”
Skenes transferred from Air Force to LSU this past season with the purpose of developing his pitching skills instead of being a multi-position player.
It was a great career move as Skenes enjoyed one of the best seasons ever as a college pitcher.
He went 13-2 and led the NCAA in strikeouts (209), strikeouts per nine innings (15.33), WHIP (0.75) and was second in the nation in earned run average.
Skenes won the Dick Howser Trophy for best Division 1 player, the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper National Player of the Year and D1 Baseball National Player of the Year and the College World Series Most Outstanding Player.
Skenes credited being able to focus on one game a week as a pitcher as the reason for his big jump, especially developing a 100-miles-per-hour fastball he can throw just about an entire game.
“Everything just goes back to execution, working throughout the week, my bullpens, my catch play, all that, to go out there on Friday or Saturday night and execute,” Skenes said. “Obviously we know what the game plan is going to be on the opposing team, so we're working toward that. We're also working toward what I did well and what I didn't do well the last week. But if you make it simple like that, then it's easy to just go out there and have that consistent mindset.”
Johnson removing Skenes’ two-way player tag accelerated his development.
“This has been a couple of years in the making, from a different school to here,” Johnson said of Skenes. “Once we had him concentrate on just pitching, I started to see his ability to recover physically better.
“When you are talking about recovery, when you are talking about development, velocity improvement, improving his secondary pitches, he has been able to go all-in on those things.
“The Friday night, the Saturday night, the 12 to 13 strikeouts a game, the three to four hits, the 1 or 2 runs up on the board and to be able to count on that at the level we play and the schedule we play, maybe somebody has done it before, I just haven't really seen that. Stephen Strasburg is the only competitor as far as just execution and talent and domination.”
LSU’s roster breakdown heading into the MLB draft
*Denotes 2023 starters
GRADUATE STUDENTS/SENIORS (3)
Gavin Dugas, 2B*
Cade Beloso, DH*
Jack Merrifield, INF
DRAFT ELIGIBLE JUNIORS (16)
Dylan Crews, CF*
Tre’ Morgan, 1B/LF*
Jordan Thompson, SS*
Brayden Jobert, RF*
Hayden Travinski, C*
Alex Milazzo, C*
Ben Nippolt, SS
Paul Skenes, P*
Ty Floyd, P*
Riley Cooper, P
Bryce Collins, P
Garrett Edwards, P
Blake Money, P
Will Helmers, P
Christian Little, P
Nate Ackenhausen, LHP
DRAFT ELIGIBLE REDSHIRT SOPHOMORE (1)
Javen Coleman, LHP
UNDERCLASSMEN RETURNEES (20)
Josh Pearson, LF*
Tommy White, 3B*
Jared Jones, 1B/DH
Brady Neal, C
Paxton Kling, OF
Ethan Frey, OF/C
Mic Paul, OF
Zeb Ruddell, OF
Gavin Guidry, RHP
Thatcher Hurd, RHP
Grant Taylor RHP
Nic Bronzini, LHP
Sam Dutton, RHP
Jaden Noot, RHP
Micah Buckham, RHP
Aiden Moffett, RHP
Chase Shores, RHP
Griffin Herring, LHP
DJ Primeaux, LHP
Kaleb Appleby, RHP
LEAVING LSU VIA TRANSFER PORTAL (1)
Josh Stevenson, OF (transferred to Ohio State)
TRANSFERING TO LSU VIA TRANSFER PORTAL (4)
Michael Braswell, South Carolina, SS
Justin Loer, Xavier, LHP,
Kade Woods, Alabama, RHP
Gage Jump, UCLA LHP
