Jay Johnson calls Tommy White 'one of the best players in college baseball history'

The LSU Tigers have been playing excellent baseball as of late and that’s continued into the SEC Tournament, where the Tigers picked up a win in their first game. One of the key pieces to that run of success has been third baseman Tommy White.

With the Tigers leading the Kentucky Wildcats 2-0 in the third inning, the SEC Network broadcast spoke to LSU coach Jay Johnson. There, he praised Tommy White for not just his play, but his approach and leadership of the Tigers team.

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“He’s one of the best players in college baseball history in my opinion,” Jay Johnson said. “Tommy, I’m super proud of him, taking the chance coming here. He’s made himself into an excellent defensive third baseman. I think he’d be in the conversation for all those defensive awards, but winning is really important to him.”

Tommy White is expected to become a high MLB Draft pick. In the meantime, he’s looking to do everything in his power to will LSU to win in Hoover during the SEC Tournament and then hopefully in the NCAA Tournament as part of a national championship defense.

“Just as an example, he talked to the team the other day about how he has no desire to take this uniform off, and that’s really powerful coming from a player as decorated as Tommy is,” Johnson concluded.

This season, Tommy White is hitting .345 with a .414 OBP and a .689 slugging percentage. Those are all phenomenal numbers, somehow falling short of what he was doing at the plate in 2023. He also has 23 home runs, 64 RBIs, and 24 walks on the season.

On top of all of that, as his coach Jay Johnson pointed out, Tommy White is rapidly improving on the defensive side of the coin too, making him a dominant player in the SEC.

Jay Johnson believes LSU is playing ‘as good as anybody in the country’

The LSU Tigers have won 15 out of 20 games and are now looking to make a deep postseason run. All of this is happening at the right time for Jay Johnson, who believes LSU is playing as well as anyone in the country.

“Very proud of our team, we’re playing the best baseball we’ve played all year over the last 20 games. Playing as good as anybody in the country,” Johnson said. “With the stakes of today’s game, we controlled what we could control really well.”