College Baseball Nation Way Too Early 2023 Baseball Rankings- LSU at #1

Ole miss at 6? I dont buy that

LSU was a preseason top 10 team last year

That, and LSU underachieved last year because Johnson did not care about defense

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That, and LSU underachieved last year because Johnson did not care about defense

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That’s a little extreme. What were his options? His best defensive catcher got hurt. His “defensive specialist” on the infield (Cranford) didn’t exactly perform when given the opportunity. It’s not like he had gold glovers riding the pine.

I don't think they underachieved the services way overrated LSU and didn't do their homework. You're not going anywhere with 0 starting pitchers and injury issues. LSU had some bad luck no way around it. I think he actually did a good job all things considered. Defense is definitely a concern but it seems he's trying to address it now. I don't think he ignored it they just weren't good as you saw when he'd use depth. He didn't really have any options there.

Not to mention he stated after multiple series that they will focus extra practice time trying to solve their defensive issues. He clearly recognized the issue and tried to address it. I will be the first to say the defense was historically bad. But CJJ did the best he could with the hand he was dealt.

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That, and LSU underachieved last year because Johnson did not care about defense

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Stupid.

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It’s not extreme at all, LSU was an average defense away from being a National seed

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I 1000% agree, defense was dreadful. But to say that Johnson just didn’t care about it is pretty ridiculous. What should he have done?

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But to say that Johnson just didn’t care about it is pretty ridiculous.

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We learned early on that there was a lack of defensive focus in just about every facet.


Biggest things were Thompson & Doughty regressed from last year. That was the largest red flag & your infield pillars.

He toyed with Berry all year in the field & settled on 3B where he was average to below most days.


Pitching fielding was bad. Just receiving the ball from the catcher position was awful. Corner OF defense was not good. Things that you should not even worry about at all. You should have 10 guys able to play a corner OF spot

These are just basics and all tie into a bigger theme, which people seem to be in denial about. I’m not into sugar coating it. There was a lack of emphasis on defense, which was very apparent if you just watched games