Two Former LSU Tigers Star Sluggers Red-Hot For Professional Clubs

It has been a great couple of weeks for Jay Johnson, proving that the LSU Tigers can reliably develop MLB talent with the signing of No. 5 overall pick Derek Curiel and with a number of their recently drafted players excelling.

Most of the conversation about Tigers in the pros this season has been around Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson, for good reason. Both pitchers were named to the All-Star futures game and have sub 1.30 ERAs as starting pitchers in the minors this season.

It isn't just the two pitchers, though, as there are two prolific college sluggers who have been red hot for their clubs as well:

White recently had his MLB dream come true as the A's called him up to the Majors in the middle of July. It's been 11 games, and the Athletics have to be happy about his performance so far.

Though 46 plate appearances, White has slashed .318/.348/.364. The slugging numbers aren't great right now, but there is no reason to worry about that with "Tommy Tanks." He hit a double in his first game, which Johnson was in attendance for.

White really went off on Wednesday night, as he went 4-for-4 with four singles against the Boston Red Sox. The fact that he is having such great bat-to-ball success in the Majors already is a great sign.

With a larger 76-game sample size in the minor leagues from this season, White slashed .303/.353/465 with 10 home runs and 64 RBI. He's been a professional-level hitter since his freshman year of college, so it's no surprise that he has had great results so far.

Jones was also a power-slugger in college, but it was much less certain that his game would translate, which is why the Pirates drafted him in the ninth round. How quickly he has found his swing at this level is a great sign that that was a smart investment for Pittsburgh. 

The first baseman, like White, put up a show on Wednesday night that saw him crank two home runs.

Jones’ minor league numbers are even better than White’s, with a .338/.439/.545 slash line to go with 13 home runs and 50 RBI. It’ll still be a while before he’s in the Majors, but he has at least shown that he belongs in professional baseball.

At some point in the future, the Pirates could have Jones, Derek Curiel and Paul Skenes all on the field together.