After a fall and preseason practice schedule to evaluate his infield, Jay Johnson has made his decision.
Johnson joined Mike Scarborough and Kendall Rogers on the TigerBait.com “Batter Up” show and announced Steven Milam will man shortstop and Michael Braswell will play third base.
“I think we’ve pretty much settled on it from the starting point,” Johnson said. “We’re going to move Steven Milam over to shortstop, and then Michael Braswell will play third base. 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, and he’s got an accurate arm. Because he does a really good job of coming to get the ball, he’s got a really good internal baseball clock. We’re going to be able to take advantage of that range.”
Milam made 60 starts last year. Just one came at shortstop. The other 59 came at second base. Braswell made 64 starts at shortstop after two seasons at South Carolina where he spent most of his time at second base.
“Michael has been a good very player at doing whatever you ask him to do whether it was two years at South Carolina or last year here,” Johnson said. “He seems comfortable at third base.”
Utah Valley transfer Daniel Dickinson will be the second baseman, but another name has surfaced as a possible infield option at both second and third base.
“Another player that people aren’t talking about enough maybe because he’s knew is Tanner Reaves,” Johnson said. “He’s transfer from Blinn Junior College. He’s had a really good early spring taking good at bats. He’s going to mix in a little bit at second base and third base and be a productive player for us.”
Reaves hit .398 in two years at Blinn with 28 homers, 142 RBI and 28 doubles.
LSU opens its season with Purdue-Fort Wayne Friday at 2:00.
