Three LSU Players Named to Preseason Golden Spikes Award Watch List
It's already a known fact LSU baseball walks in to 2022 with some of the best college baseball talent in the entire country. After numerous watch lists, preseason teams and other offseason accolades, the Tigers finally get to suit up for the season in a few days.
But not before a few players get one last preseason recognition in as first baseman Tre Morgan, infielder Jacob Berry and outfielder Dylan Crews were named to the preseason Golden Spikes Award watch list. The most prestigious national award given to a college baseball player at the end of every season, the Golden Spikes Award has been dolled out to some of the best college baseball players in recent memory.
Past winners include Kris Bryant, Trevor Bauer, Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg, Buster Posey and Tim Lincecum. Berry, who spent his freshman season with LSU coach Jay Johnson at Arizona, was a 2021 nominee as well, with the award eventually going to Arkansas pitcher Kevin Kopps.
Crews, who was the 2021 Perfect Game Freshman of the Year, heads into a sophomore campaign as easily one of the best returning hitters in the country. He batted .362 (89-for-246) in 2021 with 18 homers, 42 RBI, 64 runs scored and 12 stolen bases while his freshman counterpart Morgan batted .357 (89-for-249) in 2021 with six homers, 42 RBI, 64 runs scored and was No. 4 in the SEC in batting average.
The three Golden Spikes award preseason nods were a nation wide best, with all three players also being named preseason All-Americans by multiple publications ahead of the season. Berry batted .352 with team highs of 17 homers and 70 RBI for Arizona last season, earning Co-Freshman of the Year honors for his performance.
Berry also comes with the unique experience as being the only offensive player who was familiar with Johnson as a coach and has helped bridge the gap with the current players and the new coaching style. With LSU set to being its season in just two days, Johnson and the coaching staff can rely on these three as well as Cade Doughty to be every day kind of players for the Tigers in 2022.
"Be ready to work. Coach Johnson's one of the hardest working coaches in the country and he's gonna push us along the way and get everything he can out of us this year," Berry said. "He inherited a really great offense with a lot of offensive tools and I think it's gonna be really interesting. That lineup might flip forward and backward, it doesn't matter because we're gonna put runs on the board."