BATON ROUGE – LSU junior first baseman Jared Jones has picked up another preseason honor.
USA Baseball has selected The Tigers slugging star to the 2025 Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List. The Golden Spikes Award is presented to the best amateur baseball player in the nation, and the preseason list includes 55 players across high school and college baseball.
The Marietta, Georgia native is coming off a season in which he hit .301 with 14 doubles, two triples, 28 home runs, 59 RBI, and 56 runs. Jones’ 28 homers marked the fourth-most in LSU single-season history and the most by a Tiger since first baseman Matt Clark also hit 28 in 2008.
Jones, a 2023 Freshman All-American, finished last season second in the Southeastern Conference in walks (59), fifth in home runs, fifth in slugging percentage (.747), and ninth in total bases (171).
He was named to the 2024 NCAA Chapel Hill Regional All-Tournament team after hitting a team-best .538 with two homers, four RBI, five runs, nine walks, and a .739 on-base percentage.
Jones has already earned the top spot on D1Baseball.com’s list of the Top 50 First Basemen in the nation. He also earned Preseason First-Team All-American honors from D1Baseball.com and is rated by them as the No. 39 Top College Prospect for the 2025 MLB Draft.
Jay Johnson’s squad, which is ranked No. 2 by Baseball America and No. 3 by D1 Baseball in preseason polls, opens the season this Friday inside Alex Box Stadium against Purdue Fort Wayne. The first pitch is set for 2 p.m. and can be heard live on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles — Southwest Louisiana’s Sports Station.