It’s clear that Jay Johnson is betting on development.
LSU has brought in three right-handers from the portal and will get an infusion of young talent from the signing class. The left-handed options are going to come from the returners– Danny Lachenmayer, Ethan Plog and Cooper Williams. Santago Garcia is a likely draft pick. And the weekend rotation may be full of returners, too.
Kaden Smith was the latest addition to the staff. He jumped in the boat on Wednesday to add another depth piece. There’s plenty of reason to like Smith, and it’s likely he fights for significant time out of the bullpen.
WHAT WE KNOW
Smith has played two college seasons. As a freshman, he made 14 appearances for TCU and pitched to a 5.25 ERA in 11 innings. From there, he transferred to South Florida where he developed into a starter.
He posted a 4-3 record with an ERA of 4.24 over 46.2 innings.
His best outing of the season came against UAB when he fired seven shutout innings. He only completed the fifth on one other occasion. In those 46.2 innings, he walked 25 and struck out 52.
Smith is 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds. His fastball has been clocked at 97 mph and usually sits in the mid 90s.
THE FIT
This profile screams righty reliever.
Aaron Fitt from D1Baseball wrote about Smith’s upside last summer when he had some success pitching on Cape Cod. The video of his breaking ball suggests some real swing an miss potential. He’s created a ton of depth with a really high spin rate. When you pair that with a riding mid-90s fastball, you can get high leverage outs.
"If Kaden Smith can harness his fastball command, his ceiling is very high, because his feel to spin is special and his frame and arm action suggest there could be more velocity in the tank."@aaronfitt has more on @USFBaseball RHP @kadenrs4 and other @ChathamAnglers pitchers ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/GA92jGySla
— D1Baseball (@d1baseball) August 19, 2025
The numbers at USF weren’t jaw dropping. He was a serviceable starter. Does that translate to be high end reliever when the outings are shortened? That’s up to Nate Yeskie and Jamie Tutko.
HUNT’S PROJECTION
If Yeskie can tighten up the fastball command, Smith could be a really good bullpen bullet. I see some Grant Fontenot in his game.
That bender can miss bats and get ground balls. Those are the two ways to escape late-game trouble out of the bullpen.
It obvious why Smith was a take for LSU. He’ll just need to take that natural progression of improving year-to-year. I expect that he’ll begin the season as a top-level bullpen arm, and he’ll have to perform in big moments to hold that role.
