A trio of LSU baseball players were honored today by one of college baseball’s top publications.
Collegiate Baseball named pitcher Paul Skenes as their 2023 National Player of the Year while naming Skenes, outfielder Dylan Crews, and third baseman Tommy White as First-Team All-Americans.
Crews, a junior from Longwood, Fla, leads the SEC and is seventh nationally with a .420 batting average while also leading the league in on-base percentage (.567), runs scored (82), and walks (58). He has 15 homers, 13 doubles, and 59 RBI on the season.
The SEC Player of the Year is second nationally in OBP and runs scored while ranking 10th in walks. He has reached base safely in every game this season and the final four games of 2022, extending his streak to 62 games. Crews is also a two-time member of the SEC Community Service Team for his work in the Baton Rouge area for families affected by autism.
Skenes, a junior from Lake Forest, CA, leads the conference in ERA (1.89), wins (10), strikeouts (167), innings (90.1) batting average against (.166). He is second on LSU’s single-season strikeout list behind Ben McDonald, who had 202 in 1989.
Skenes, the 2023 SEC Pitcher of the Year in addition to the National Player of the Year honor, leads the country in strikeouts, strikeouts per nine (16.64), and WHIP (0.79). He also ranks in the top ten in ERA (1.89) and hits per nine innings (5.38). He is pledging $10 for every strikeout to Folds of Honor, a nonprofit organization that provides educational scholarships to the spouses and children of military and first responders who have died or been disabled.
White, a sophomore from St. Pete Beach, FL, has 91 RBI in 2023, which is already the fifth-highest total in a single season for LSU. He is second nationally in RBI and slugging percentage (.774), fifth in hits (82), and eighth in homers (20).
White is donating a portion of his NIL earnings to Empower 225, an organization in the Baton Rouge area aimed to empower youth to space violence and poverty by providing them with resources such as educational support, life skills training, career preparedness housing, and mentorship.