BATON ROUGE, La. — Six LSU players have been named to the D1Baseball.com Top 100 College Prospects List for the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft.
LSU junior centerfielder Dylan Crews is No. 1 on the list; junior right-handed pitcher/utility player Paul Skenes is No. 10; sophomore right-handed pitcher Grant Taylor is No. 15; junior right-handed pitcher Ty Floyd is No. 44; junior first baseman Tre’ Morgan is No. 47; and junior right-handed pitcher Christian Little is No. 67.
LSU and Tennessee each have three potential Day One draft picks, according to the D1 Baseball list. The Tigers’ Crews, Skenes, and Taylor all rank within the top 15, while the Vols have three players in the top 23.
Crews 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 voted a semifinalist 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).
Crews, a Longwood, Fla., native, also received 2022 SEC Community Service Team and SEC All-Defensive Team recognition. He played this summer with the U.S. Collegiate National Team, helping lead Team USA to a bronze medal at Honkbalweek Haarlem in the Netherlands.
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.
Taylor, a member of the 2022 SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll as a finance major, pitched in 17 games (two starts) last season as a true freshman, recording a 4-1 mark and a 5.81 ERA in 31.0 innings with 21 walks and 39 strikeouts. The Florence, Ala., native, earned a relief win on April 10 in Game 3 of LSU’s three-game sweep at Mississippi State, working four innings and allowing two runs on five hits with no walks and six strikeouts.
Taylor pitched LSU to a series-clinching win on March 27 over seventh-ranked Florida with the longest outing of his collegiate career. He entered the game in the fourth inning and pitched the remainder of the contest, limiting the Gators to two runs on four hits in 5.1 innings with two walks and six strikeouts. Beginning with the final out of the seventh inning, Taylor retired seven of the eight Florida hitters he faced to end the game.
Taylor enjoyed an impressive SEC debut with four innings of relief work versus Texas A&M on March 18, as he allowed no runs on two hits with one walk and one strikeout.
Floyd, a native of Rockmart, Ga., made 16 appearances (10 starts) in 2022, recording a 5-4 mark and a 3.77 ERA in 59.2 innings with 23 walks and 70 strikeouts while limiting opponents to a .199 cumulative batting average
He started LSU’s second game of the NCAA Hattiesburg Regional on June 4 and worked 6.0 innings versus Southern Miss, allowing four runs on six hits with no walks and seven strikeouts in the Tigers’ win. The two-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll made his second career league start on May 20 at Vanderbilt, and he defeated the Commodores by working 5.1 innings and allowing just one run on four hits with no walks and seven strikeouts.
In Floyd’s three relief appearances prior to the May 20 start at Vanderbilt, he worked 12.1 innings and allowed just two runs on five hits with three walks and 12 strikeouts
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.
As a true freshman in 2021, Morgan earned Freshman All-America, Second-Team All-SEC and SEC All-Defensive Team recognition.
Little, a native of St. Louis, Mo., has pitched the past two seasons at Vanderbilt, where he made 32 appearances (14 starts) and posted a 4.65 ERA with 95 strikeouts in 81.1 innings.
Little was rated in high school as the nation’s No. 5 right-handed pitcher by Perfect Game.
The MLB’s inaugural Draft Lottery will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 6, from the Winter Meetings in San Diego, while the 2023 Major League Baseball draft will take place in July in Seattle.
(LSU Athletics Press Release)
