BATON ROUGE – They say time flies by when you’re having fun. For LSU junior Antoine Duplantis, it hasn’t stopped since he stepped on campus. The Lafayette native has led the Tigers in hits every season, but in 2018 he’s pacing the team with a career high .337 batting average.
"That’s more of what I expected. I always thought he had the ability to be that guy. He’s been an extremely clutch hitter his whole career. He’s been as valuable of a player as we have here."
Duplantis has also seen a spike in triples and slugging percentage, while leading the team in stolen bases. But coming into the year, the Lions product let his expectations be a blank canvas.
"Going into this year, we just wanted to keep a positive mind. The whole year, competing even if I didn’t feel my best at the plate or in the field. I think I did a much better job of that than I have in the past."
As LSU enters the Corvallis regional, Duplantis is expected to take the lead on and off the field as one of the upperclassmen. But he says that’s nothing new.
"Even if people didn’t look at me as the guy. I always felt like one of the guys. I always counted on myself to do my job."
No matter the result this week, Duplantis has big decisions ahead. As he is projected to be selected in the upcoming MLB Draft.
"Me and my parents have talked about it a little bit. I think we’re going to get into more of the detail of what I really want out of the draft. Obviously I’m not thinking about that too much. I can control what I do this weekend. I can’t control when people draft me."