Jay Johnson talks development, trusting process amidst SEC struggles

On Wednesday afternoon, Jay Johnson met with the media to talk about his team. It was a 30-minute break from far more difficult and comprehensive conversations Johnson was having with his players throughout the day.

After Tuesday’s 6-3 win over New Orleans, Johnson scheduled individual player meetings for both Wednesday and Thursday before and after practices. The continued message has been about development. The big picture outlook for this team is in question, certainly, as the Tigers sit at 3-12 in SEC play, but what Johnson can control is trying to get the most out of each individual player.

“What do these players need right now? It’s not about what Jay Johnson thinks we should do, it’s about figuring out how to help these players and that’s my only focus,” Johnson said. “I’m having a lot of one-on-one meetings today to try to help those guys out.”

Individual improvements are happening in spots on this roster. Johnson mentioned Aidan Moffett and Cam Johnson as two young players who will see more playing time the rest of the season.

From there, the evaluations start at the top for Johnson, but he’s remained consistent. He compared this year at LSU to a season at Arizona where his team won 13 of its last 14 after a rigorous schedule to start, but this is even more daunting of a hill to climb. Coming off of the national championship, Johnson continued to pour his heart into building another quality team, but the struggles and the mistakes have compounded with just a month left in the regular season.

“It’s an interesting dynamic evaluating this thing right now,” Johnson said. “We’re the reigning national champions, so there’s a high standard and I do believe we have good players. The schedule has been tough. We expect to win every game we play, but it’s been tough, especially the teams we played on the road.”

LSU knew the front half of the schedule was going to be rigorous no matter how good the team was. With a road trip to Mississippi State as the opener, followed by four straight series against top ten teams, the Tigers needed to be sharp to navigate the rocky terrain, but they haven’t.

The pitching has been mediocre, albeit seemingly improved against Tennessee, allowing just 17 runs in three games. Still, it’s the timely mistakes that have cost this team on defense and on the mound.

“Looking back at last weekend, we were much better from a starting pitching perspective,” Johnson said,. ” Gage did a good job and Luke was exceptional, then Nate did a nice job on Sunday. Then out of the bullpen, some of our more talented guys are starting to see what it takes in a game and we’re going to keep going to those guys. Last night’s game the pitchers did a really good job and they needed a good outing.”

Johnson talked at length about being able to close out innings with two outs, which comes down to execution from his arms and his defense.

When you flip sides to LSU’s offense, it’s a much more dire situation. LSU has scored just 17 runs in its last five SEC games and scored more than six runs just twice in SEC play. Even mid-week games against Southern, Southeastern, and now New Orleans have all been uncomfortable (or a loss) because the bats have managed 6, 7, and 8 runs in those games.

Still, Johnson continues to preach consistency and puts his nose to the grind to find answers. After a weekend where the Tigers were swept in Tennessee, Johnson points out positives from the weekend that could help them move forward.

As LSU passes the midpoint of the season, there’s still time to turn things around, but Johnson refuses to change his approach and his work ethic. 

“If you preach following the process, you can’t change whether you win or lose because then you’re a hypocrite,” Johnson said. “You get more tired when you lose, though, I’ll tell you that. We’ll stick with it. We’re not where we want to be, but we are where we are. What we can control is what we have in front of us and that’s what I need them to do.

“We’re not that far away, yet we’re far away. How do you get over the hump? It comes back to baseball. It comes back to those inflection points and it comes back to helping guys get back in tune to execute. Right now they need my support and that’s what they’re going to get.”