Where are the LSU Baseball 2023 draftees now?

After winning the 2023 National Championship, LSU Baseball lost a lot of talent to the majors, and rightfully so. Guys like Paul Skenes, Dylan Crews, Trey Morgan and plenty others put in a ton of work in Baton Rouge, and finally had their dreams of getting drafted come true last July.

The Tigers had the most draft picks in 2023 with 13 players, which broke their program record of 10 set in 2013.

With the Tigers 2024 season over and the MLB Draft coming up soon, I thought we could take a look at how each of the Tigers 2023 draftees are doing.

We all knew Paul Skenes was a superstar in the making. He dominated the SEC last season and was drafted first overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He spent a little too much time in the minors, but was elevated to the majors earlier this season.

Skenes has made five starts for the Pirates and has a 3-0 record behind a 3.00 ERA. In 27.0 innings, Skenes has allowed nine earned runs on 21 hits while striking out 38 batters. His best performance came in his second start against the Cubs where he threw six hitless innings.

He's already one of the better pitches in the majors, and he's only going to get better as time goes on.

Dylan Crews had one of the best offensive seasons we've ever seen in 2023 where he batted .426 with 16 doubles, 18 home runs and 70 RBI's and had an on base percentage of .567. However, his offense hasn't quite translated to the pros quite yet.

For those of you unfamiliar with MLB's minor league system, Triple-A is the highest you can go before the majors, followed by Double-A, then High-A, Single-A and finally rookie league. Right now, Crews is in Double A, meaning he's still got one more level to go before he reaches the majors.

In 2024, Crews is batting .273 with 41 hits, nine doubles, four homers and 33 RBI's in 41 games. It takes some time getting used to pitching in the league, so I'm not too worried about him, but I was expecting him to pick it up a bit quicker than he has.

Ty Floyd had a tremendous end to his LSU career. In 2023, Floyd posted a 7-0 record behind a 4.35 ERA and gave up just 44 runs in 91.0 innings where he struck out 120 batters. Obviously, his best game came against Florida in the CWS where he surrendered three runs in eight innings and fanned 17 batters as the Tigers went on to take game on of the series.

Partially thanks to that performance, Floyd was selected by the Cincinnati Reds with the 38th overall pick. Unfortunately, due to some injuries, he hasn't played at all and is still in rookie league. On May 31st, he was placed on the full-season injury list.

Taylor was a very highly touted recruit, and he immediately earned serious playing time as a true freshman. He made 17 appearances with a 5.81 ERA in 2022, but suffered a season-ending injury before the 2023 season.

Despite that, Taylor was selected by the Chicago White Sox with the 51st overall pick. Since being selected, Taylor has moved up to Single-A where he's started four games. In 15.1 innings, Taylor has surrendered just five runs on 10 hits while striking out 26 batters. He was just recently assigned to Single-A, but if he keeps performing like this, he'll be moving up again in no time.

Trey Morgan might've been the best first baseman LSU has ever seen (I'm young, so I apologize if I'm missing any older guys). His defense was off the charts, and in 2023, he batted .316 with 15 doubles, nine homers and 53 RBI's.

Morgan's career has been off to a great start. In 2023, after he was drafted, he batted .396 in 48 at bats. In 2024, Morgan has once again gotten off to a great start, batting .359 with 13 doubles, four homers and 23 RBI's. He's made his way up to High-A, and should continue rising if he keeps those numbers up.

A few rounds after selecting Dylan Crews second overall, the Nationals double dipped into the LSU pot and selected Gavin Dugas with their 165th pick.

His career did not start well. He batted .185 with just 10 hits in 18 games in 2023, but has turned things around and is batting .315 with 12 doubles and three homers in 2024. He was elevated to High-A on May 28th, and since then has only gone 4-for-21. It'll take a bit to get used to the step up, but he's done very well for himself so far.

Like the Nationals, the Rays double dipped in the LSU pot by selecting Garrett Edwards with the 333rd pick, nearly 250 picks after selecting Trey Morgan.

Nearly a year after being selected, Edwards hasn't made any appearances at any minor league level and is currently on the 60-day injury list for the Rays' rookie team.

Blake Money had a very interesting LSU career. It felt like every time he came in the game he gave up a home run, but he usually settled in a it and was pretty good the longer he threw. After posting a 5.97 ERA in 20 appearances in 2023, Money was selected by the Oriels with the 361st pick.

Money made six appearances in 2023, posting a 3.72 ERA in 9.2 innings pitched. He was moved up to Single-A and has since made 10 appearances, including six starts, and has allowed 18 runs in 37 innings (4.38 ERA). Haven't heard a ton about him, but he's been quietly pretty good.

Brayden Jobert was really good for the Tigers in 2023, and I was surprised he was drafted so late in the 2023 draft. He batted .301 with 14 home runs and 49 RBI's and had a four-hit, three-RBI game in game three of the CWS. Nonetheless, he was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals with the 365th pick.

Jobert has struggled so far in his professional career. In 2024, he's batting just .179 with a pair of homers in Single-A. In 69 career games, his average is just .184 and his on base percentage is .315.

The Baltimore Oriels got themselves a second LSU pitcher in the form of Riley Cooper with their 391st pick in the draft. Cooper was a massive piece of LSU's CWS winning team, making 32 appearances with a 4.38 ERA in 2023.

Cooper's success translated to the minors pretty quickly. He didn't play in 2023, but in 2024, he has a 2.68 ERA in 37.0 IP. He's allowed just 11 runs and 33 hits while striking out 42 batters over that span. He's still in Single-A ball, but he shouldn't be for much longer with those numbers.

Jordan Thompson was never a massive offensive threat, but boy could he make some plays on defense, even if he had his fare share of errors. Because of the lack of offense he possesses, he fell to the 460th pick in the draft.

Through 67 career games in the minors, Thompson's stats look pretty similar to his stats at LSU. He's batting .264 with 15 doubles and seven homers compared to a .246 average with 12 doubles and 11 homers in 71 games at LSU in 2023. He's currently on the LA Dodgers Single-A affiliate.

Coleman and Little were also selected with the 490th and 576th picks respectively, but they obviously returned to LSU for another year.

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