LSU’s Jay Johnson Says Kade Anderson Should Next Pitch for the Washington Nationals

LSU won a nail-biter in Omaha. A first inning RBI single by Steven Milam was all the scoring in the game.

After the game, Tigers’ head coach Jay Johnson talked about his team’s effort in winning the opener. “Great performance tonight by our team, especially Kade. Special performance. Not taking it for granted; that's what we've seen all year. He's the best pitcher in the country. And did it again tonight.

That's been on the regular, every Game 1 of the entire season. So I'm glad he did that tonight, so everybody got to see what we've seen and known for an entire season. Other things I thought were great, in the first inning, Derek Curiel, 0-2, draws the walk. Ethan Frey moves the ball against a tough pitcher. Steven gets down to two strikes and hits a ball hard and low through the middle of the field, that he's better at that than everybody else in the country. That's all he needed.

Couple other things I'd like to point out is Luis Hernandez behind the plate tonight was spectacular. I mean, this guy was striking out a lot of guys, and some of them were on chase pitches -- the block, the recovery, the tag or the throw down to first base to not let any weird plays kind of happen. And then Michael Braswell's defense at third base was a difference maker in the game,” said Johnson.

Johnson also talked about starting pitcher Kade Anderson’s ability to pitch out of some early jams and turn it into a complete game shutout. Johnson said, “I think as far as the pitching with traffic, I think I heard Coach Savage say it earlier this week, it's the College World Series. You're going to pitch with runners on base. It's the best teams in the country, and that's one of the best teams in the country. They do a great job of finding their way on base. And they did a few times tonight. He told me in the third inning, I just went down to say a little something to him, and he's, like, I'll settle in. And I was, like, nobody knows that better than me…I felt like they weren't seeing him, they weren't picking him up. I know the human being. That's who you want on the mound in the ninth.”

Johnson also made his feelings clear on the upcoming MLB draft. The Washington Nationals have the first overall pick. “He's the best pitcher in college baseball. I mean, we had the best pitcher on the planet two years ago in a similar situation. I felt like Kade's had a very similar season to that. And that's how you get here. I'm really proud of him. And I think the commonality between the two is the person, the character, the toughness, the team-first attitude…I mean, his next pitch should be for someplace in the Washington Nationals organization. It's not close. And they usually draft really well. And he's the best player in the country. There's nobody closer to the Major Leagues than that right now. But I don't think you can quantify it -- Paul Skenes, Joe Burrow, that type of deal,” said Johnson.