The Best One is the Next One

Jay Johnson’s probably looking ahead to next year already, too

Back during a 2005 interview with 60 Minutes, Tom Brady was asked by Steve Kroft which of his, at the time, three Super Bowl rings was his favorite. Brady paused, somewhat repeated the question and said “the next one. The next one’s the best.”

That mindset allowed Brady to win four more Super Bowls, play for another three, and I’m positive it’s the same type of mindset that LSU head baseball coach Jay Johnson is in currently.

It hasn’t even been 24 hours since Daniel Dickinson, Steven Milam, and Jared Jones turned the 6-4-3 double play that capped off LSU’s eighth national championship, but my mind’s already looking ahead to 2026, wondering if the Tigers can go grab #9, and who might lead LSU to glory in Omaha next summer.

Much like I did last year after LSU got eliminated by North Carolina, let’s look at who’s leaving, who’s staying, and who will have decisions to make.

• Seniors Out of Eligibility: Michael Braswell, Josh Pearson, Luis Hernandez, Dalton Beck
• Underclassmen that Will Be Drafted and Likely Sign: Daniel Dickinson (No. 72 overall prospect), Jared Jones (No. 99 overall prospect), Anthony Eyanson (No. 66 overall prospect), Kade Anderson (No. 3 overall prospect), Chase Shores (No. 85 overall prospect)
• Entered Transfer Portal: Kade Woods, Chandler Dorsey, Blaise Priester, Ryan Costello, David Hogg, Dylan Thompson, Mikey Ryan, Mic Paul

When LSU takes the field for the first time in 2026, the infield is going to look awfully different than what we were blessed to see this season. Steven Milam will be the only familiar face, while Cade Arrambide will try to take the next step in his development behind the plate going into his sophomore season.

That still leaves holes at first, second, and third base however, but Jay Johnson seems to have found Daniel Dickinson’s replacement: former Kansas State infielder and New Orleans native Seth Dardar announced on June 8 he would be coming home to Louisiana and play for the Tigers next season. Dardar started at DH in LSU’s game against Kansas State at the Frisco College Classic and went 2-5 and homered. Dardar was an All-Big 12 honorable mention after hitting .326 with 13 home runs, 45 RBIs and 39 runs scored this season in Manhattan. Dardar told me (that’s right folks, we’re interviewing people like real journalists!) he can play either first, second, or third but that he feels most comfortable at second base.

LSU’s only other transfer, for now at least, is High Point infielder Brayden Simpson and he’s got a lot of experience starting all over the infield, especially on the corners. Simpson played 58 games at third base this season, and the year before he played 62 games at first.

That leads us to our first big wild card for this offseason: Ethan Frey and the decision that he will have to make. At the time of this writing, Frey is ranked as the No. 130 overall prospect for the 2025 MLB Draft, putting him somewhere in the third or fourth round of the draft. Frey was a catcher coming out of high school, has dabbled a little in the outfield, but has primarily been a DH in his time in Baton Rouge. Scouts, clearly, think highly of him if he’s viewed as a first five round talent, but could he bump his stock with another season in Baton Rouge? Especially if he spends 2026 playing in the field at either first base or as a corner outfielder? Frey’s first two years with the Tigers have been plagued by injuries, and this season we saw what a healthy Frey could be: a .331 hitter with 13 home runs. But consider this: Derek Curiel had one more at bat this season (258) than Frey has had in three (257). I think I speak for all of us here when I say: Frey coming back would be massive and I hope he does.

LSU’s outfield ought to be more of the same in 2026 as it was in 2025, in fact there’s a chance all three starters from this championship series against Coastal Carolina are back. Derek Curiel will be back for his sophomore season (just remember he’ll be a draft-eligible sophomore next season) and Jake Brown ought to be done with the whole platoon thing and be an every day starter.

What’s funny is that everyone, myself included, have just assumed either Curiel or Brown will be the starting centerfielder in 2026 but y’all Chris Stanfield has another year of eligibility. Much like Michael Braswell a year ago, Stanfield’s a fringe MLB Draft prospect and while he’d lose all his leverage if he returned in 2026, I’m not sure Major League Baseball is in his future. May as well make comparable money in college and play in a way better environment.

They say all good things must come to an end, and I think whoever said that was speaking specifically about the starting combination of Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson. LSU’s generational 1-2 punch are both off for professional ball, and the Tigers will likely be looking inward to fill those shoes. I feel confident in saying that Casan Evans will be LSU’s Friday starter for the next two years, but who will be the Eyanson to his Anderson? The hope is that prized freshman William Schmidt develops just like Anderson did and turns into a star, and if he can live up to what he was advertised as coming out of Catholic High, then good luck to everyone else trying to beat Evans-Schmidt the next two seasons.

Of course this is Jay Johnson we’re talking about so he’s almost definitely going to bring in a proven starter out of the portal. This is the man who went out and got Paul Skenes and Thatcher Hurd in 2023, Luke Holman and Gage Jump in 2024, and of course Eyanson this year. God only knows who Jay is recruiting right now out of the portal, but coach was doing his ABCs (Always Be Crootin’) in the postgame presser after winning his second national championship.

The pen is where things could get interesting, especially if younger guys like Mavrick Rizy and Cooper Williams continue to develop. Who knows, maybe one of those two guys ends up being LSU’s Sunday starter next season. Older players could leave Baton Rouge and turn pro like Jacob Mayers, Jaden Noot, and DJ Primeaux. Conner Ware was the talk of fall practice, but the junior lefty only made 16 appearances this season and the last time we saw him he walked four South Carolina Gamecocks in LSU’s ugly game one loss. Let’s also not forget about Devin Sheerin who will have a lot to prove heading into his draft year. Sheerin tore his ACL in October but was a highly coveted transfer coming out of Mount St. Mary’s. Sheerin’s back throwing and is pitching in the Cape Cod League.

To me though, the two biggest pitching question marks lie in Zac Cowan and Gavin Guidry. Cowan was LSU’s Griffin Herring for the bulk of the 2025 season. He of course ran into some trouble toward the end of SEC play, had a terrible outing against Little Rock, but was a hero against Arkansas in the NCAA semifinals, going 5.1 innings and only allowing one run. Unlike Griffin Herring* however, Cowan’s got two years worth of starting experience at Wofford. Has he shown enough to scouts to go pro? Or will he stay and compete for a spot in the weekend rotation?

*As an aside, Herring’s been awesome for the Yankees High-A affiliate. Herring has a 5-1 record with a 1.05 ERA, and a 0.92 WHIP in 68 innings and 12 starts. Yankees Twitter thinks he’s due for a promotion to Double-A ball sometime this summer.

There’s also the curious case of Gavin Guidry to contend with. Guidry missed all of 2025 with a back injury, and while he is eligible for the draft I’m not sure he’s logged enough innings for a team to take a chance on him. So the question is what kind of role can LSU offer Gavin Guidry leading into 2026 and is that job acceptable for him? Keep in mind these are all just my thoughts and opinions, I have no actual information from people who would know, but I don’t see a world where Guidry’s in the rotation in ‘26. Could working out of the pen boost his stock enough to get him drafted as highly as he would like? Matt Moscona said on Locked on LSU that some teams still view Guidry as a shortstop at the next level, and if that’s the case he’s definitely not taking Steven Milam’s job. I’m sure Gavin Guidry loves LSU; I’m also sure he has dreams of playing professional baseball and as it stands right now I’m not confident him being at LSU in 2026 will allow him to reach that goal.

There’s obviously a long ways to go before this 2026 roster takes form. The transfer portal window is open through July 1 and the MLB Draft will be two weeks after that (July 13 and 14). There’s no telling between now and then who leaves via the portal, who Jay Johnson and his staff add out of the portal, who signs and turns pro, and who from the recruiting class spurns the draft and makes it to campus. We’ll do our best to update you every step of the way.