LSU sophomore outfielder Josh Pearson hasn’t been starting much this season.
As a true freshman last year, Pearson started 35 of the 51 games he played in, batting .299 with a .432 on-base percentage and .524 slugging percentage.
“He’s either hidden right in front or right behind Dylan Crews or Jacob Berry in the box scores from last year,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said.
But Pearson had been largely absent from the starting lineup for much of non-conference play, coming in to pinch hit in later innings. He made three starts going into Friday.
Some of that wasn’t his fault — just a product of injuries to Tommy White and even Tre’ Morgan, which put White at the designated hitter position and moved Jared Jones to first base. That kept Morgan in left field, meaning Pearson, who plays left and right field, competing for one spot with Brayden Jobert and true freshman Paxton Kling.
“We have good pitching on our staff, so he scuffled a little bit in the fall,” Johnson said on Monday. “I paid no mind because of what I saw last year, then he scuffled a little bit in early spring and the early season and then Brayden Jobert hits the ball over the fence and Paxton Kling is running like a deer and playing good defense while taking quality at-bats.”
“To Josh’s credit — he was ready for every opportunity.”
That opportunity came this weekend when LSU opened Southeastern Conference play against Texas A&M.
“I actually talked to him last night, he came by my room and I just said, ‘Hey man, I think you’re probably going to be in there tomorrow. I trust the hitter that you are: Go be yourself,'” Johnson said on Friday.
That was because Pearson was starting to show who he was at the plate again, but it just wasn’t as flashy. Johnson used the example of Pearson grounding into a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the eighth inning against Western Michigan on Feb. 18, which scored Josh Stevenson from third base.
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