Jay Johnson says you can't win the College World Series without future major leaguers on your roster

LSU entered the 2023 Men’s College World Series with the top two major league prospects in the country in Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews. But they aren’t the only ones on the team who could end up being future MLB players.

Tigers head coach Jay Johnson said having those types of players are key to winning a Men’s College World Series.

“Looking at the past few College World Series champions, and just looking at this tournament, there’s two things — I said this the other day — you can’t be here anymore without future major league players on your roster,” Johnson said. “It’s not happening. I don’t know a ton about Oral Roberts because they were on the other side of the bracket. I’m sure there’s a couple of big leaguers on that team. Then you have to have old players that really know what they’re doing.”

Skenes is the No. 1 prospect in MLB.com’s prospect rankings and Crews is right behind him at No. 2 overall. Some places have the two players flipped but they are considered the consensus top two players in the 2023 MLB Draft. Some scouts believes Skenes could even pitch in the big leagues this season if the right situation arises.

But they are just two of five LSU players ranked in MLB.com’s top 200.

Right-hander Ty Floyd is the No. 58 overall prospect, righty Grant Taylor is No. 102 overall and first baseman/outfielder Tre’ Morgan slots in at No. 137 in MLB.com’s rankings.

But there are plenty of other players on the roster who have potential big league talent but just aren’t eligible for the draft this year like Tommy White and Thatcher Hurd.

Those young players keep Johnson excited for what’s to come in the future with this Tigers team. Plus, the second-year head coach has proven to make shrewd moves in the transfer portal.

“I think I’m excited about the young players that got exposed to this,” Johnson said. “And hey, man, Jared Jones, he’s a big reason we’re here. That’s a borderline Freshman All-American. Paxton Kling, he’s a superstar in the making. Thatcher Hurd, every guy that pitched tonight might be back next year. The Wake game, all those guys might be back next year. We’ve got some work to do. Hopefully the time lost on the road, I mean that’s about as good an endorsement as you can come up with of what took place here the last two weeks.”