By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson did a phone interview live on Tiger Rag Radio Tuesday night from his office in Alex Box Stadium while two players he and his staff were recruiting out of the NCAA Transfer Portal were in a neighboring room watching Georgia eliminate Texas from the College World Series.
One of those – freshman right-handed pitcher Diego Velazquez of USC – committed to Johnson later Tuesday night.
Breaking .,, Add USC freshman right-hander Diego Velasquez to LSU portal commitment list.https://t.co/0cQYoPqrAD
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) June 17, 2026
Johnson was asked on the show about his then-five-man portal class of right-handed pitcher Landon Hood of Gonzaga, infielder Dawson Park of Texas State, outfielder Bino Watters of Notre Dame, second baseman Cade Kurland of Florida and outfielder Jason Wachs of Tulane.
“So far, you’ve been able to bring in five players through the transfer portal,” the question began. “You know, last year you felt really good about the players you brought in through the transfer portal, and they didn’t pan out. What is it about this group, and specifically the position players, that you’ve been able to bring in that makes you feel like, ‘Okay, I really like what I’ve got here?’ And what did you do a little bit differently maybe this year when you were assessing it other than not having to worry about obviously preparing for a game in the College World Series or the NCAA tournament?”
(Listen to Johnson’s answer and his entire appearance by hitting the white arrow in the red box below.)
Johnson responded with a laugh, “Wow, that’s a lot of questions right there,” and continued.
“I think we’ve done pretty good at this,” he said. “I think for four years, we were awesome. Last year maybe struggled a little bit more. It’s definitely a little bit easier when you’re not playing for a national championship for a number of reasons. I will say what these last two weeks probably taught me more than anything is how much more of an advantage you have if you’re not playing right now. I mean, we really haven’t had that experience very much the last three years or four years. And, so we’ve been able to attack it with a good plan. We’ve been able to spend more time. And that’s important to the players you’re recruiting – that you can give them the right kind of attention and, we’ve done a good job so far.”
Johnson then answered the question about the position players added specifically.
“It’s guys who can impact on both sides of the ball,” he said as the portal players in the 2026 season tended to be one-dimensional, which was offense. And they didn’t hit well while struggling on defense and in some cases did not have much speed.
“This group has speed, power, solid hitting skills and play good defense,” Johnson continued. “They’re just a little bit more complete players that we were going after this time. And I think we’ve been been able to do a good job with that. And, you know, they fit well with the guys we have returning, because we’re excited about some of the things some of the position players did at the end of the season.”
Johnson was asked about Dawson Park, the shortstop from Texas State who left the team late last season after a shoving match with a teammate just as a game ended.
“There was an incident there. And and the reputation that’s built on it is, ‘Hey, the kid plays with an edge.’ Is that safe to say? Does he have an edge to him?”
Johnson said, “Well, if he does, we need more of an edge. And I just would say that, you know, with all this time that we’ve had, we look into everything and address things head on. And I’m very comfortable with who Dawson is as a person and excited to have him here.”
Johnson also said Park will be worked at second base, which he played as a freshman at Texas State, and at third base as Steven Milam will be returning to shortstop as a senior.
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