Baseball America selects four LSU players to 2023 preseason All-America team

Crews, Skenes, Morgan, White lead way for Tigers

PHOTO BY: LSU athletics

Four LSU players were selected Monday to the 2023 Preseason All-America team from Baseball America magazine.

Junior centerfielder Dylan Crews and junior right-handed pitcher/utility player Paul Skenes were voted to the First-Team All-America squad, and junior first baseman Tre’ Morgan and sophomore third baseman Tommy White were granted Second-Team All-America honors.

LSU leads the nation with four All-America selections on the 2023 Baseball America squads. The Tigers open the 2023 season on Feb. 17 against Western Michigan at 6:30 p.m. at Alex Box Stadium/Skip Bertman Field

Baseball America annually polls Major League teams to vote for its Preseason All-America team, asking that they make their selections based on performance, talent and professional potential. In the past, the Baseball America Preseason All-America team has been a predictor both of the first round of the draft and of team success. 

Crews, also named Collegiate Baseball’s 2023 Preseason Player of the Year, was voted a 2022 consensus First-Team All-American and the SEC Co-Player of the Year, batting .349 with 11 doubles, four triples, 22 homers, 72 RBI and 73 runs. The Tigers’ centerfielder was named a semifinalist last season for the Golden Spikes Award and for the Dick Howser National Player of the Year Award.

He finished the season as the SEC leader in runs scored (73), and he was No. 2 in the league in triples (4), No. 3 in RBI (72), No. 3 in total bases (172), No. 4 in home runs (22), No. 4 in slugging percentage (.691), No. 5 in hits (87), No. 5 in on-base percentage (.463) and No. 8 in walks (42).

Skenes, who transferred to LSU this season after two years at Air Force, enjoyed an exceptional 2022 season both on the mound and at the plate, earning first-team All-America recognition.

Skenes, a product of Lake Forest, Calif., recorded a 2.96 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 85.2 innings (15 starts) for Air Force, limiting opponents to a .224 batting average. He also hit .314 with 10 doubles, 13 homers and 38 RBI. In 2021, Skenes posted a 2.70 ERA while batting .410 with 11 homers and 43 RBI.

Morgan, a 2022 SEC All-Defensive Team selection, hit .324 in 2022 with 18 doubles, one triple, five homers, 54 RBI and 50 runs. The New Orleans, La., native joined Crews this summer as a member of the U.S. Collegiate National Team that claimed the bronze medal at Honkbalweek Haarlem in the Netherlands.

Morgan batted .500 (6-for-12) in the Tigers’ three-game sweep at Vanderbilt (May 19-21) with four doubles, three RBI and five runs, and he delivered the game-winning two-out, two-run single in the top of the ninth inning at Mississippi State (April 8), erasing a 2-1 deficit and sparking LSU to a 5-2 victory.

White, a product of St. Pete Beach, Fla., transferred to LSU after an incredible 2022 freshman season at North Carolina State, where he was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman of the Year.

White hit .362 last season with 85 hits, 12 doubles, 27 home runs, 74 RBIs and a .757 slugging percentage, setting the NCAA freshman record for homers in a season. He had 26 multi-hit games and 19 multi-RBI outings, and he finished the year on 26-game reached base streak.

2023 Baseball America All-America Teams

First Team

C: Kyle Teel, Virginia

1B: Nolan Schaunel, Florida Atlantic

2B: Tommy Troy, Stanford

3B: Brayden Taylor, TCU

SS: Jacob Gonzalez, Ole Miss

OF: Enrique Bradfield Jr., Vanderbilt

OF: Dylan Crews, LSU

OF: Wyatt Langford, Florida

SP: Chase Burns, Tennessee

SP: Chase Dollander, Tennessee

SP: Rhett Lowder, Wake Forest

SP: Hurston Waldrep, Florida

RP: Andrew Walters, Miami

UTL: Paul Skenes, LSU

Second Team

C: Michael Carico, Davidson

1B: Tre’ Morgan, LSU

2B: Peyton Stovall, Arkansas

3B: Tommy White, LSU

SS: Jacob Wilson, Grand Canyon

OF: Vance Honeycutt, North Carolina

OF: Vance Honeyman, Boston College

OF: Jack Hurley, Virginia Tech

SP: Cade Kuehler, Campbell

SP: Will Sanders, South Carolina

SP: Juaron Watts-Brown, Oklahoma State

SP: Tanner Witt, Texas

RP: Ryan Bruno, Stanford

UTL: Braden Montgomery, Stanford

Third Team

C: Jack Payton, Louisville

1B: Nick Kurtz, Wake Forest

2B: Roc Riggio, Oklahoma State

3B: Brock Wilken, Wake Forest

SS: Matt Shaw, Maryland

OF: Chase Davis, Arizona

OF: Jared Dickey, Tennessee

OF: Ryan Lasko, Rutgers

SP: Tanner Hall, Southern Miss

SP: Grayson Hitt, Alabama

SP: Carter Holton, Vanderbilt

SP: Brandon Sproat, Florida

RP: Brody Brecht, Iowa

UTL: Nolan McLean, Oklahoma State

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