By Hunt Palmer
February is for a lot of things in college baseball.
It’s for chilly opening days. It’s for northern and midwestern teams nomadically drifting between southern cities and towns. It’s for lopsided SEC and ACC non-conference games.
And for evaluation.
Once conference play starts, evaluation continues, but the importance of the wins and losses ramps up a notch.
Through eight games Jay Johnson has evaluated plenty. He’s shuffled the leadoff spot, tried different outfield combinations and used three different catchers.
He’s also gotten multiple looks at all four of his freshmen pitchers, and those returns have been sparkling. Johnson has direct access to more pitching talent at LSU than his previous stops at Nevada and Arizona. Before he ever coached a game at Alex Box Stadium, he knew that would be the case.
“In studying some of the better programs in the SEC before I came here, there’s a couple that have done a really good job of bringing freshmen along and then turning them loose at the right time,” Johnson said. “I paid attention to that before I came here. I’d like to think we did a good job with Kade (Anderson) last year. These four guys, they’re ready to help us now.”
Those four are William Schmidt, Casan Evans, Mavrick Rizy and Cooper Williams. And they are ready.
Evans was the first high school signee Johnson visited leading up to the 2024 MLB Draft. He went to Houston to make his final pitch for the collegiate route as opposed to the professional dollars. Schmidt was the last player he talked to before the draft, and that discussion resulted in the hometown kid opting out of the draft entirely.
Rizy was the best player in Massachusetts and has an uncle, Alex Cobb, who has pitched 13 years at the MLB level. He prioritized college.
Williams was a Texas A&M signee who reopened his recruitment when Jim Schlossnagle left College Station for Austin. LSU landed him at the 11th hour.
Two weeks into their college careers, the quartet of freshmen arms have dominated.
Their combined linescore: 17IP, 2R, 1ER, 7H, 24K, 1BB, 0.53 ERA.
Johnson got all four into low leverage spots on the opening weekend. All four shined. He promised the next spot wouldn’t be as forgiving.
He didn’t lie.
Rizy and Evans were handed the ball on Friday in a 4-2 game. They worked the seventh, eighth and ninth and allowed just one hit with six strikeouts.
Williams was tasked with keeping LSU in striking distance over the final two innings on Saturday in Game 1. He fired two perfect innings. He hasn’t allowed a baserunner in three total innings.
LSU nearly tied that game in the ninth. Derek Curiel stood 90 feet from home plate representing the tying run. Had LSU knotted the score, Schmidt was going to get the call. He was ready to go in the bullpen.
In the two closest contests of the young season, all four freshmen figured into the mix at the back of the bullpen.
Instead of entering an extra inning game on Saturday, Schmidt got to live the childhood dream of starting a game at The Box on Monday night. His coach approved of the outing. The fireballer tossed 4.2 innings and allowed a single earned run. He didn’t walk anyone and punched out three.
“Sixty pitches on the button. That was beautiful,” Johnson said. “That was the most I was going to let him go. I know he went 32 last Sunday. He’s conditioned himself well. This dude is going to be a dude, as we all saw. So, we’ve got to get him out there. So, that first home game. Passed the test, so we’ve got to get him ready to roll end of this week or beginning of next.”
LSU stretched the lead behind Schmidt. It grew to 10-2 in the fifth, but Johnson saw another opportunity to develop Rizy in the seventh when Jaden Noot walked a couple of hitters and left Rizy a second and third with one out situation.
“Guys on base, I was kind of hunting that opportunity because (Rizy)’s got some of the best stuff on our team,” Johnson said. “He’s going to be a premier reliever on this team and premier pitcher in the program. I’m trying to segment them properly and bring them on.”
After hitting the first batter he faced with a slider, Rizy got a ground out and a strikeout to escape major trouble.
“Needed to get Mavrick in there,” Johnson said. “He might lead our team in appearances. I wanted to get another one. He’s going to get out there a couple of times over the four games (this week).”
The radar gun readings are gaudy. Evans has been north of 98 mph. Schmidt and Rizy get close. Williams has elite spin rate on his breaking ball.
Now they all have some positive early experience to draw from. No, it’s not against Arkansas or Tennessee, but those chances are coming.
Johnson has full confidence in all four as that time approaches.
“The talent is easy to see,” he said. “Anybody could walk in and look at the radar gun and look at the secondary stuff and say, ‘wow, this guy is special.’ But, I know them as people. I’ve known them for a long time. They’re ready for those spots.”
