LSU's new starting shortstop, Michael Braswell is ready to attack

LSU head coach Jay Johnson is known for his relentless pursuit at crafting a national championship winning team every single year. It’s become an obsession that has driven him every day of his coaching career. In 2023, he finally climbed the mountain, reaching the pinnacle to win his first title as a head coach and LSU’s seventh in its program history.

After LSU beat Kentucky in the Super Regional, but before his team headed to Omaha, Johnson was constantly monitoring the transfer portal entrants. One after another, players whose seasons ended entered the database, until Johnson locked in on his first target for 2024.

Michael Braswell, a 6-foot-2 sophomore shortstop who started 105 games in his first two years at South Carolina.

“I remember we had just beaten Kentucky in the Super Regional and it was game two where Jordan [Thompson] made three ridiculous plays,” Johnson remembered. “I was happy we were going to Omaha, but the way my brain works I was thinking ‘man it’s going to be hard to replace that caliber of defense.

“I yelled at Josh Jordan, ‘Get me [Braswell’s] number yesterday’, and he did, so we called him, and he was like ‘Yea I’ll come down when y’all get back from Omaha’, but I said, ‘No, I want you to come tomorrow.’ So he flew in the next day and then the day before our first game in Omaha, he said he’s coming to LSU.” 

Braswell was elated. Since he was a kid growing up in Mabelton, Georgia, Braswell has always had an affinity for LSU and a respect for how dominant the baseball program is. Now, he gets to join the reigning champs and live out his dream.

“From the outside booking in, when I was at South Carolina last year, LSU has a fantastic program, the best fanbase in the country, and it was always my dream school growing up,” Braswell said. “I didn’t really expect the call, honestly. They’re getting guys like Tommy White, Thatcher Hurd, and Gage Jump and then they get me out the portal and if you look at my stats you might look at that sideways, but when I got the call I was happy as I don’t know what. I got the call and I cried because I didn’t think I’d ever play at a program like this.”

Since then, the past six months have been about work. Braswell ended last season with a .255 batting percentage and just a .353 slugging percentage with eight doubles and one home run in 153 at bats.

Johnson knew he had the patience and savvy at the plate, but it became more about the mechanics and tapping into his base at 6-foot-2 to further unlock his potential.

“It was really about hitting development,” Braswell said. “Coach Johnson told me ‘we think you have the base pieces to be a really good hitter and with our development we can take you to the next level.’ I put my trust in him to get me better and it’s worked so far.

“It’s all mechanical. Using my lower body in my swing and trying to get more balls in the air and in the gaps because in the last two years I’ve been a ground ball hitter, but now I’m using more of my body to unlock more power and drive the ball into the gaps.”

Johnson watched Braswell thrive in the fall ball period, being one of the best hitters on the team in a short span and now with the season here, there’s a confidence that his offense can come close to matching his elite defense.

“It’s hard to imagine our team this year without him,” Johnson said. “He’s done a great job defensively – he’s even better than I thought. Thankfully he chose to come here and it’s mutually beneficial. He’s put in a lot of work with coach Wanaka and he has a really good idea of what he’s doing right now [at the plate].”

That confidence has been step one in Braswell’s development at LSU. Johnson and the entire coaching staff have instilled a belief in the new starting shortstop that he’s more than just a good glove. With the work he’s put in, he now knows he can be the starting shortstop on a College World Series team.

“It means the world to me to have the best coach in the country have that much trust and that much confidence in you,” Braswell said. “I’ve worked tirelessly with the coaching staff to make sure the improvements are where they need to be and it started to come to fruition during the fall. Obviously I still have a ways to go, but I’d say it’s been a great process.”

When Braswell first arrived over the summer for workouts, he admits he was caught off guard at the level of discipline and attention to detail in the LSU program. Coming off of a championship, there was no let down. No time to breath it in. No time to wait for the fall or spring to lock in.

It starts at the top, but coming off of a national title, Braswell sees the hunger to get back to the summit in 2024.

“The standard is extremely high,” Braswell said. “Coach Johnson, Hayden Travinski, and Alex Milazzo all set the standard and that is to attack. We’re not last year’s team and we’re not trying to be them. We’re trying to attack the regular season like it’s 55 playoff games. If we can do that, the goals we set for ourselves, we think we’ll meet them.”