Koki Riley preseason interview with Jay Johnson

Paywall. Cliffs?

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Paywall. Cliffs?

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- "One of the most important things that this team can do is to, in a way, forget last year, you know what I mean?" Johnson, LSU's coach, said in an interview with The Advocate on Monday. "I feel like we've honored that, as we should ... but in true program form, (we need to) focus on the task at hand."

- Josh Pearson is moving to second base, Brady Neal to work in infield/outfield

- Tommy White is nearing full strength

- Gavin Guidry to focus on pitching but LSU will maintain his flexibility as two-way player

- Thatcher Hurd, Luke Holman and Gage Jump emerge as lead options for starting rotation

- Jake Brown is a favorite to start in the outfield, but nothing is set in stone

- "You're going to see flashes of Moffett and Primeaux and people are going to kind of wonder, like, 'Wait a minute. These guys were on the team last year; why didn't they pitch?’ ” Johnson said.
As the season goes along, Johnson also hopes that LSU will get some more help with redshirt freshman Jaden Noot and sophomore Chase Shores returning at some point from Tommy John surgery.
The goal, Johnson said, is to have Noot back by late March or early April and Shores back "later than that" this season.

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Paywall. Cliffs?

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Here you go:

Pitching -

- Hurd, Holman, & Jump are looking to be the weekend rotation, with Herring and Ackenhausen being mentioned as possibilities to start.
- Cam Johnson to be developed and likely a backend of games arm for now.
- Guidry will focus on pitching (end of games) again this season, but they will continue to develop him as a 2-way player, which could be used for situational purposes when rosters are reduced to 27 for SEC play.
- Loer, Woods, Herring, Ack, Little, Moffett, Primeaux, Dutton, & Bucknam look to be the primary bull pen arms in addition to the 2 listed above.
- Anderson could be a contributor in the pen as well.
- For those keeping count, that is a total of 12 bull pen arms mentioned in addition to the already strong starting rotation. That is stupid deep for college.

Lineup/Position -

- Confirmed the Pearson to 2B move and looks to be solid there.
- Neal will still be a primary catching option; but they will develop some options by having him work 4 other positions (2B, 3B, corner OF)
- Confirmed Brown is the front-runner for starting OF position, with Kling & Bingham as definite starters. H/e, he mentioned Frey, Ruddell, and Larson all will have opportunities to try and grab the position, especially if Brown struggles.
- Brown will remain a 2-way player & could still pitch some; but the focus this year will be as a position player & hitter.

Injuries/Roster (Redshirts) -

- White still on good pace for recovery and expected to be 100% by Opening Day. Currently hitting and throwing every other day. I suspect we will see him only on a limited basis for spring scrimmages.
- Hope to have Noot back by late March/early April. Pushing to have Shores back later in the season.
- Seo and Lape will receive medical RS's due to pre-existing injuries before arriving, which is an interesting statement given that Seo did begin the fall pitching in a scrimmage.
- Cooley, Dale, & Thompson will be redshirted.
- With those 5, that should get LSU to the 40 roster limit.

I can't wait for baseball season.

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"You're going to see flashes of Moffett and Primeaux and people are going to kind of wonder, like, 'Wait a minute. These guys were on the team last year; why didn't they pitch?’ ” Johnson said.

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We saw them pitch last season and didn’t wonder why they weren’t getting more shots