LSU Baseball's Jay Johnson Reveals Steven Milam's Role for Opening Day

Jay Johnson and the LSU Tigers will gear up for Opening Day on Friday with a showdown against Purdue-Fort Wayne inching closer.

All eyes will be on Johnson and Co. in 2025 after assembling another star-studded roster during the offseason.

For the Tigers, there will be some shake up to the infield heading into the season with sophomore Steven Milam set to begin the year in a different role.

Milam, a 2024 First-Team Freshman All-American, was LSU’s starting second baseman last season and batted .326 (72-for-221) with 12 doubles, three triples, eight homers, 40 RBI, 51 runs and seven stolen bases.

The product of Las Cruces, N.M., also earned Freshman All-SEC recognition, and he was LSU’s leading hitting in its 10 postseason games, batting .386 (17-for-44) with three doubles, four homers, 11 RBI and 11 runs. Milam was named to both the SEC All-Tournament team and to the NCAA Regional All-Tournament team.

Milam hit two walk-off home runs within one week, as his decisive dingers lifted the Tigers to wins over South Carolina in the SEC Tournament semifinal and over Wofford in the NCAA Regional opening game.

He was ranked No. 32 last month among the Perfect Game Baseball Top 100 Sophomores for the 2025 season.

Now, he's set to make the move from second base to shortstop, head coach Jay Johnson revealed in an interview with Tigerbait.com on Tuesday morning.

"We've pretty much settled on it for the starting point. We're going to move Steven Milam over to shortstop and put Michael Braswell at third base," Johnson said.

"I think my comfort is Steven has shown a really good ability to come get the ball. His quickness moving left and right has been good. He's got a good, accurate arm. Because he does a good job coming and getting the ball, he's got a really good internal baseball clock. We're going to be able to take advantage of that."

With Milam moving to shortstop, it sets the table for a move from infielder Michael Braswell III.

Braswell III, a native of Mableton, Ga., was LSU’s starting shortstop last season and is capable of playing any of the infield positions.

Braswell III started 64 games for LSU at shortstop last season, batting .311 (66-for-212) with 12 doubles, three triples, four homers, 36 RBI and 46 runs. He batted a combined .381 (16-for-42) in LSU’s SEC and NCAA postseason games with three homers, nine RBI and 13 runs.

He was voted to the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional All-Tournament Team, hitting .381 (8-for-21) with one homer, three RBI and five runs scored, and he was named to 2024 SEC All-Tournament Team after batting .381 (8-for-21) with two homers, six RBI and eight runs.

He provided the game-winning, two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth inning versus South Carolina in the SEC Tournament, propelling LSU into the semifinal round.

Braswell III finished as the Tigers’ third-leading hitter in SEC regular-season games, batting .310 (31-for-100) with nine doubles, one triple, 11 RBI and 19 runs.

Now, he'll move to third base, Johnson confirmed on Tuesday morning.

"Michael has been a very good player at doing what ever you need him to do, whether it was two years at South Carolina or last year here. He seems comfortable at third base," Johnson said.

LSU will gear up for Opening Day on Friday with a showdown against Purdue-Fort Wayne in Alex Box Stadium.

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