By Hunt Palmer
Stars depart LSU’s baseball roster annually.
The next wave assumes those roles, whether that comes from the transfer portal or in-program development. Jay Johnson and Nate Yeskie deployed three pitchers in the College World Series finals. Kade Anderson, Anthony Eyanson and Chase Shores are gone.
LSU’s 2026 staff is rich in talent, but roles aren’t defined. Aside from Casan Evans, who will likely be LSU’s Opening Day starter, it’s an anyone’s guess.
In college baseball, sophomores are veterans.
Players the caliber of Kade Anderson, Griffin Herring and Grant Taylor are snatched up by the MLB Draft after two years in Baton Rouge. William Schmidt and Mavrick Rizy possess that type of talent. Now, they’re sophomores.
Both powerful right-handers enjoyed high highs and endured bumps in the road as true freshmen.
Rizy led the team in appearances. He pitched three times without allowing a run in the NCAA Tournament and did not allow a home run in 24.2 innings.
Schmidt posted a 7-0 record. He struck out seven in four innings against North Dakota State, a regional team. He struck out eight without allowing a hit in four innings at Nicholls. He got on the mound in the Super Regional.
On the flip side, Rizy’s SEC ERA was 7.00, and he gave up nine walks and 12 hits in nine innings. Schmidt walked 11 in two innings of SEC work. You read that right.
After a summer of work and a fall to take strides, both are fighting for important innings on the 2026 team.
Schmidt’s high school pedigree and physical ability have created an expectation from someone the outside that he’s destined to be an ace at LSU. That maturation takes different players different amounts of time.
“I think sometimes, and this is why being a college baseball player is so important, that getting challenged and getting outside your comfort zone and coming to a place where the talent measures up to you, you learn the important things,” said LSU head coach Jay Johnson. “I think you take a guy like William who probably overwhelmed everybody for two years at Catholic High, you might not understand why the midweek bullpen is important or the lift after the outing is important or going back and reviewing the game and taking the next step forward and improving as the season goes on.”
Schmidt touched 99 mph in the fall and features a slider with as high a spin rate as you’ll find in the SEC. Few pitchers in college baseball features a more coveted arsenal of offerings.
Turning that into dominant outings can be another story. As year older and having seen what Anderson did to go from seldom-used freshman to College World Series Most Outstanding Player, Schmidt is moving forward.
“I think he did a really good job of absorbing that, and I think he’s very well positioned to take a step in his growth and his maturity,” Johnson said. “I really like how he threw the ball (Thursday). I really like how he threw the ball last week. Just like Mavrick, he’s going to be a huge part of the success of this team. His role, he’s capable of whatever he wants it to be. And he’s gonna have the opportunity to go get that.”
Rizy’s role is likely in the bullpen.
Because of his size, many will compare the Massachusetts native to Shores. Both fireballers are 6-foot-9 or 6-foot-10 with fastball approaching and exceeding 100 mph. Shores overcame massive adversity both from his 2023 torn UCL and from his demotion out of the starting rotation in 2025 to becomes LSU’s best weapon out of the bullpen in the postseason last summer.
Rizy’s ascension to that role wouldn’t surprise anyone.
“He should be the most confident player on the roster with the physical ability that he has,” Johnson said. “I think he’s done a terrific job in the weight room. coach Martin has really emphasized how much better he is moving down the mound…You’re seeing efficiency. Misses are small. Command is good. And the secondary stuff is better as well.”
D1Baseball’s Joe Healy saw Rizy in Cape Cod last summer and said he fired perhaps the most impressive inning of any he saw all summer.
Neither Schmidt nor Rizy will be forced into a role he’s not ready for. Evans will be asked to pitch on Fridays early on. Kansas transfer Cooper Moore is a proven power conference starter who is likely to take a weekend spot in February. Zac Cowan has proven he can handle the end of games.
Where the two precocious sophomores end up slotting in will depend on how they throw the ball when given the opportunity.
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