It was April 28, and LSU coach Jay Johnson was already talking about his high school recruiting class.
The NCAA Tournament, at least for now, has fallen out of reach for LSU. Barring an SEC Tournament title or a remarkable turnaround over the final three weekends of its Southeastern Conference schedule, Johnson’s program will miss the big dance for the first time since 2011.
That’s why he was asked about his freshmen for next season on Tuesday, with 10 games still left in the regular season.
“There’s some seniors, obviously, moving along,” Johnson said. “So it’s kind of a turnover year for us.”
LSU knows the value of a strong freshman class. Jake Brown, Steven Milam, Kade Anderson, Jared Jones, Derek Curiel and Casan Evans were all signees and became star players on a national championship-winning team.
Finding that next generation of young players is critical, especially after the Tigers lost eight freshmen to the MLB Draft last summer. Losing so many promising pieces to professional baseball definitely affected the Tigers — who are 3-10 in their last 13 contests — this year.
“We can’t fight guys getting $3 million in the fourth round,” Johnson said. “And so it’s a good class. There’s a lot of guys that can make some impact.”
According to Perfect Game, LSU has 24 players committed to its 2026 class. Three of those commits are ranked inside the top-85 of ESPN’s latest MLB Draft rankings, including left-hander Logan Schmidt, right-hander Jensen Hirschkorn and outfielder Malachi Washington.
ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel, who put together the rankings, noted that outside of his top-85, five of the next 11 high schoolers in his rankings were LSU commits. The Tigers also have eight signees in MLB.com’s top-100 draft rankings: Schmidt, Hirschkorn, Washington, right-hander Cooper Sides, right-hander Dylan Blomker, outfielder Anthony Murphy, left-hander Lucas Nawrocki and first baseman Dominic Santarelli.
Johnson believes that six of the Tigers’ signees will get drafted and sign in July. He isn’t done building out the class, either. LSU added a commitment from Mississippi right-hander Kolby Stringer on Monday.
“We’re going to have six or seven guys drafted off this team, I think,” Johnson said. “Maybe eight, but I would probably say six would be my guess right now.”
The incoming freshmen have become a priority for Johnson, enough so that first base coach Josh Simpson was away from the team on Tuesday and Wednesday to check in with the Tigers’ commits.
Among the reasons for Simpson’s trip, Johnson said, was so he could watch the signees play in person and “find out how good they are, too. It’s been a while since they’ve signed and been committed.”
The early signing period for this year’s class opened on Nov. 12. LSU has the No. 2 recruiting class in the nation, according to Perfect Game.
“I was considering doing it with him and (third base coach Josh Jordan) last week and decided not to do that, which was the right decision,” Johnson said. “But today we needed to go cover some ground.”
Freshmen have begun to step up to the plate, literally and figuratively, for LSU in recent games. Second baseman Jack Ruckert and outfielder William Patrick have earned everyday roles. First baseman/outfielder Mason Braun and catcher Omar Serna have become staples at the top of the lineup.
LSU doesn’t want to find itself in this position again, where it’s heavily relying on freshmen to start and produce in the SEC. That’s why the ascension of Braun and Serna has become so crucial for next season, when the likes of Curiel and Brown leave for MLB.
But as the Tigers rebuild their roster for next season, there will be freshmen who will have to contribute right away in 2027. There’s too much talent and too many roster holes to fill for that not to be the case.
