Four LSU players were selected Monday to the 2023 Preseason All-America team from Baseball America magazine.
Junior centerfielder Dylan Crews and junior right-handed pitcher/utility player Paul Skenes were voted to the First-Team All-America squad, and junior first baseman Tre’ Morgan and sophomore third baseman Tommy White were granted Second-Team All-America honors.
LSU leads the nation with four All-America selections on the 2023 Baseball America squads. The Tigers open the 2023 season on Feb. 17 against Western Michigan at 6:30 p.m. at Alex Box Stadium/Skip Bertman Field
Baseball America annually polls Major League teams to vote for its Preseason All-America team, asking that they make their selections based on performance, talent and professional potential. In the past, the Baseball America Preseason All-America team has been a predictor both of the first round of the draft and of team success.
Crews, also named Collegiate Baseball’s 2023 Preseason Player of the Year, was voted a 2022 consensus First-Team All-American and the SEC Co-Player of the Year, batting .349 with 11 doubles, four triples, 22 homers, 72 RBI and 73 runs. The Tigers’ centerfielder was named a semifinalist last season for the Golden Spikes Award and for the Dick Howser National Player of the Year Award.
He finished the season as the SEC leader in runs scored (73), and he was No. 2 in the league in triples (4), No. 3 in RBI (72), No. 3 in total bases (172), No. 4 in home runs (22), No. 4 in slugging percentage (.691), No. 5 in hits (87), No. 5 in on-base percentage (.463) and No. 8 in walks (42).
Skenes, who transferred to LSU this season after two years at Air Force, enjoyed an exceptional 2022 season both on the mound and at the plate, earning first-team All-America recognition.
Skenes, a product of Lake Forest, Calif., recorded a 2.96 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 85.2 innings (15 starts) for Air Force, limiting opponents to a .224 batting average. He also hit .314 with 10 doubles, 13 homers and 38 RBI. In 2021, Skenes posted a 2.70 ERA while batting .410 with 11 homers and 43 RBI.
Morgan, a 2022 SEC All-Defensive Team selection, hit .324 in 2022 with 18 doubles, one triple, five homers, 54 RBI and 50 runs. The New Orleans, La., native joined Crews this summer as a member of the U.S. Collegiate National Team that claimed the bronze medal at Honkbalweek Haarlem in the Netherlands.
Morgan batted .500 (6-for-12) in the Tigers’ three-game sweep at Vanderbilt (May 19-21) with four doubles, three RBI and five runs, and he delivered the game-winning two-out, two-run single in the top of the ninth inning at Mississippi State (April 8), erasing a 2-1 deficit and sparking LSU to a 5-2 victory.
White, a product of St. Pete Beach, Fla., transferred to LSU after an incredible 2022 freshman season at North Carolina State, where he was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman of the Year.
White hit .362 last season with 85 hits, 12 doubles, 27 home runs, 74 RBIs and a .757 slugging percentage, setting the NCAA freshman record for homers in a season. He had 26 multi-hit games and 19 multi-RBI outings, and he finished the year on 26-game reached base streak.
2023 Baseball America All-America Teams
First Team
C: Kyle Teel, Virginia
1B: Nolan Schaunel, Florida Atlantic
2B: Tommy Troy, Stanford
3B: Brayden Taylor, TCU
SS: Jacob Gonzalez, Ole Miss
OF: Enrique Bradfield Jr., Vanderbilt
OF: Dylan Crews, LSU
OF: Wyatt Langford, Florida
SP: Chase Burns, Tennessee
SP: Chase Dollander, Tennessee
SP: Rhett Lowder, Wake Forest
SP: Hurston Waldrep, Florida
RP: Andrew Walters, Miami
UTL: Paul Skenes, LSU
Second Team
C: Michael Carico, Davidson
1B: Tre’ Morgan, LSU
2B: Peyton Stovall, Arkansas
3B: Tommy White, LSU
SS: Jacob Wilson, Grand Canyon
OF: Vance Honeycutt, North Carolina
OF: Vance Honeyman, Boston College
OF: Jack Hurley, Virginia Tech
SP: Cade Kuehler, Campbell
SP: Will Sanders, South Carolina
SP: Juaron Watts-Brown, Oklahoma State
SP: Tanner Witt, Texas
RP: Ryan Bruno, Stanford
UTL: Braden Montgomery, Stanford
Third Team
C: Jack Payton, Louisville
1B: Nick Kurtz, Wake Forest
2B: Roc Riggio, Oklahoma State
3B: Brock Wilken, Wake Forest
SS: Matt Shaw, Maryland
OF: Chase Davis, Arizona
OF: Jared Dickey, Tennessee
OF: Ryan Lasko, Rutgers
SP: Tanner Hall, Southern Miss
SP: Grayson Hitt, Alabama
SP: Carter Holton, Vanderbilt
SP: Brandon Sproat, Florida
RP: Brody Brecht, Iowa
UTL: Nolan McLean, Oklahoma State
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