The last time we saw the LSU baseball team was on June 22nd, 2025. The Tigers were celebrating the program’s eighth national championship after beating Coastal Carolina in the College World Series finals.
It was a team with dominating starting pitching, an excellent bullpen, and an offense that can hit home runs, but also get clutch hits. Don’t forget about that defense; it was elite.
The long grind to get back to the CWS begins Friday afternoon. Here are five big storylines to follow as the season develops.
How strong is the starting pitching?
Coach Jay Johnson has named his three starters for the Milwaukee series. No big surprises. Sophomore right-hander Casan Evans starts the season opener; Kansas transfer Cooper Moore makes his LSU debut on Saturday, and sophomore right-hander William Schmidt makes his first weekend start on Sunday.
It’s unlikely these three will be the weekend starters for the entire season. If you go back to 2023, Ty Floyd did not start the first couple of weekends. He eventually became an outstanding Saturday starter.
In 2024, Thatcher Hurd was supposed to be the Friday night starter. Hurd struggled badly, and it took until the end of the season before he found his stuff again as a reliever.
In 2025, Chase Shores was LSU’s Sunday starter for several weeks, but ended up as a dominating arm out of the bullpen in the NCAA Tournament.
The 2025 Tigers also had two of the best starters in the country in Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson. Anderson led the country in strikeouts, and Eyanson was third and they had a combined win-loss record of 24-3 and an ERA around 3.05. It will be hard to duplicate that type of production again.
Relievers are just as important as the starters
Fans and media focus on who will be the weekend starters, but the bullpen is just as important if not more. In fact Coach Jay Johnson said Thursday that bullpens are the key to a national championship.
Last season, Johnson and pitching coach Nate Yeskie had two excellent relievers in Casan Evans and Zac Cowan. Their ability to pitch multiple innings was a huge factor in LSU’s success.
Cowan could have that same role this season, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if he gets some starts on the weekend.
Left-hander Cooper Williams, who had a 1.80 ERA as a freshman in 20 games, could be a guy who serves multiple roles, including starting.
But the list of major contributors does not stop there. Six-foot-nine sophomore right-hander Mavrick Rizy will be a very important piece in the bullpen. Johnson believes Rizy could develop into one of the best pitchers in the country. There’s also Jaden Noot, Gavin Guidry and fifth year senior Grant Fontenot who is expected to be called upon a bunch this season.
Fontenot is an interesting story. The Lafayette native started at LSU in 2022, transferred to McLennan Community College for the 2023 season. Was with Texas in 2024, returned to LSU in 2025 and is now throwing in the upper 90s.
Six-foot-five Deven Sheerin is healthy this season after missing all of last season recovering from torn ACL. He’s expected to be featured a bunch in the late innings.
There is also a good group of left-handers besides Williams, in Danny Lachenmayer from North Dakota State, Santiago Garcia, and Ethan Plog.
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There are also promising freshmen pitchers looking to contribute on the weekends in Marcos Paz, Zion Theophilus, and Regan Ricken.
This LSU baseball coaching staff does its homework. They go into each game with detailed plans on how they are going to get 27 outs that day. Don’t be surprised if LSU uses five, six, maybe seven different pitchers to win an SEC game. And it will not be the same guy recording the final out either.
How good will LSU be defensively?
LSU had an elite defense last year. Daniel Dickinson was one of the best defensive second basemen in LSU history. Steven Milam committed just five errors at shortstop and might be the best defensive shortstop in the country.
Michael Braswell struggled with the bat, but was great with the glove at third base, and Jared Jones made himself into a very good defensive first baseman.
Derek Curiel was really good in left field, Chris Stanfield was solid in center, and Jake Brown is a very good right fielder. Luis Hernandez was better defensively behind the plate than even the coaches expected.
This year, Curiel moves to center field, and Stanfield will play left field. Center is Curiel’s natural position, so there’s a chance the Tigers can be better in the outfield defensively.
Milam returns at shortstop. Trent Caraway will be one of the main starters at third base, but he committed 12 errors last year. There will be a drop off defensively at second base, regardless of who is playing there.
Zach Yorke is listed at 295 pounds, but Johnson has raved about his defense at first. Quick on his feet for a big guy.
Cade Arrambide has the tools to be a Major League catcher. We’ll see how he handles playing 50 games behind the plate this season.
No clear starter at 2B
As it stands now, there is no clear starter at second base. Johnson loves what Tanner Reaves brings to the team, especially his ability to get on base and hit from the left side. He’s been one of LSU’s better hitters in the preseason.
But Brayden Simpson is a big-time hitter from High Point College and is someone who should be in the lineup. Reaves and Simpson could also play third base.
There’s also Seth Dardar, the former Holy Cross star, who transferred in from Kansas State. Dardar hit 13 home runs last season at KSU and could see a lot of at-bats at designated hitter.
Expect freshman Jack Ruckert from Catholic High School to play late in games because of his defense.
Pushing for playing time
For baseball nerds like me, it’s fascinating to see how a baseball team evolves over aseason. Certain guys don’t perform, while others come out of nowhere to be one of your leaders. No one could have predicted Ethan Frey would turn into one of the Tigers’ best players last season.
There will be players pushing for playing time that might become important pieces in May and June. Everyone keeps raving about Mason Braun.
But I’m also wondering how guys like John Pearson, Daniel Harden, and Omar Serna play a role on this team as well.
LSU using seven pitchers to win a game is possible, and the Tigers might have games where they use 12 to 14 position players to win.
The road to Omaha is not always smooth, but with the amount of talent on this Tigers team, they should reach their destination.