LSU baseball: Tommy 'Tanks' White out "for a while," other injury updates from Jay Johnson
BATON ROUGE – LSU baseball All-American third baseman Tommy White will be "out for a while" this fall due to a shoulder injury, coach Jay Johnson said to The Advertiser on Friday.
According to Johnson, White dealt with the ailment for the entirety of last season and had re-aggravated the injury during the SEC Tournament which is why he sat out LSU's third game of the tournament against Texas A&M.
"We have a good plan of being able to continue to improve the defensive part (of his game). Keep him engaged with what he can do in terms of his vision stuff and maybe some one-handed stuff and take care of the rest of his body while his arm gets back to strength," Johnson said. "And super credit to him, he was playing at about 50% from the arm standpoint, basically from Game 1 of the season."
White's injury isn't the only ailment LSU will be dealing with heading into the fall. Here is a list of injury updates Johnson provided to The Advertiser on Friday.
LSU baseball injury updates
Chase Shores and Jaden Noot, who are both recovering from Tommy John surgery, have not been ruled out to pitch at some point this upcoming season, Johnson said. Noot would be more likely to pitch this year between the two since his surgery was in early February and Shores' was in mid-April. A decision won't be made on their potential availability this season "until right before the season starts," Johnson said.
Freshman left-handed pitcher Kade Anderson should be fully ready to pitch by the time spring rolls around, according to Johnson. Anderson underwent Tommy John surgery during his junior year of high school and may see some time on the mound this fall. "I don't believe he would have shown up in school had he not gotten hurt in his junior year," Johnson said.
UCLA transfer left-handed pitcher Gage Jump, who is also recovering from Tommy John surgery, is also projected to be ready to pitch for the Tigers this spring. Jump suffered his elbow injury during his freshman campaign in 2022 and sat out all of 2023 with the injury. "Gage Jump will probably be the most impactful pitcher that nobody is maybe talking about or paying attention to because he missed last year," Johnson said.
Brady Neal re-aggravated his back injury playing in the Cape Cod Baseball League this summer which cut his stint there short, Johnson said. LSU will need to "repattern some things" with Neal's movement and swing path in order to prevent him from re-aggravating the injury again, but Johnson said that he's confident Neal will be ready to play this fall.
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LSU freshman left-handed pitcher Jake Brown will be deployed as a two-way player to begin his collegiate career and play first base, Johnson said. Johnson also confirmed that part of the appeal of letting Brown play first base is because of the Tigers' lighter depth at the position. "I think he can hit. I think he can run. He's a player I like to have and one I would say we maybe haven't even had yet in terms of the dynamic I think he can grow into as a positional player," Johnson said.
Johnson confirmed on Friday that San Joaquin Delta Community College transfer and right-handed pitcher Fidel Ulloa would be LSU's lone junior college transfer this season. "(He's) got a great arm, is a good athlete, has really improved in his two years at junior college. He has the stuff to be able to contribute," Johnson said.
Koki Riley covers LSU sports for The Daily Advertiser. Email him at kriley@theadvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter at @KokiRiley
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU baseball injury update on Tommy 'Tanks' White and others
