didn’t mess around.
With about a month before the , the LSU baseball coach already has filled out most of his starting lineup for next season, adding four bats out of the and persuading star shortstop Steven Milam to return to school for his senior year.
Here’s an early projection of what the order will look like, how all of the new pieces fit together and a deeper look at the one hole remaining in the lineup for 2027.
Lineup projection
Mason Braun, 1B
Cade Arrambide, C
Steven Milam, SS
Omar Serna, DH
Bino Watters, LF
Dawson Park, 3B
Cade Kurland, 2B
Jason Wachs, RF
TBD, CF
Top of order
Piecing together the top of the lineup became much simpler once Milam decided to return. With him in the picture, LSU has four of its top five hitters back from the end of this season.
The offense was one of the Tigers' few strengths, and Milam, Serna, Arrambide and Braun were their top four hitters in terms of on-base plus slugging percentage against Southeastern Conference competition (Milam’s .949 mark being the lowest).
Braun leads off after settling into the role by the end of May. Arrambide is the catcher in part because he is draft-eligible next season. Serna and Arrambide are both right-handed, so sliding Milam (a switch-hitter) in between them makes the top of the lineup tougher to plan for.
Transfers take over
Insufficient lineup depth separated LSU from the top offenses in the conference this season. Johnson made sure to fix that issue by aggressively adding Watters from Notre Dame, Park from Texas State, Kurland from Florida and Wachs from Tulane out of the portal.
Watters was the top hitter on the market, according to Baseball America, after he hit .362 with a 1.057 OPS. He’s a corner outfielder defensively, but his left-handed bat makes him a contender to hit even higher in the order. Among the portal additions, Watters has the best chance to become a star.
Park never played third base at Texas State, but he’s a good candidate to slide to the position because of his arm strength and athleticism. As a right-handed hitter, he has power (13 home runs) and a strong glove, but he needs to cut down on the whiffs. His strikeout rate ballooned to 24.4% despite a big sophomore year.
Kurland is a four-year starter in the SEC who was one of Florida’s top hitters as a freshman, the year when the Gators faced LSU in the College World Series final back in 2023. Injuries have hampered his progress since then, but he’s coming off a solid year in which he hit .273 with an .809 OPS in SEC play.
Wachs is the latest portal addition. He’s a right fielder who has some experience playing in center, and he has everything Johnson wants in a hitter. He hit .327 and managed to raise his OPS and hit more home runs while lowering his strikeout rate this spring. He also fills a need as a left-handed bat.
Returning second baseman Jack Ruckert played like a future starter at the end of last season. He’s a strong backup option on the infield if something were to happen to Kurland. John Pearson, who started most of this year at third base, could be a useful right-handed hitter off the bench.
Remaining spot
If LSU were to play tomorrow, center field likely goes to William Patrick. As a true freshman, he earned more playing time after Jake Brown’s injury and used his athleticism to his advantage in the field. But he’s still a raw player who needs more at-bats to firmly earn an everyday role.
Besides Patrick, LSU has commitments from four high school signees who have enough speed to play center field. Malachi Washington, Anthony Murphy, Nathaneal Davis and Wessley Roberson are all strong athletes with the potential to be top of the order hitters someday. The issue is that there’s a strong chance three of them get scooped up by Major League Baseball next month in the draft.
Washington, Murphy and Davis all cracked the top 140 of ’s draft rankings. That trio and Roberson also plan to attend the MLB draft combine next week in Arizona.
Johnson would be happy to add those freshmen, but there’s also a chance he wouldn’t want to start any of them at a premium defensive position right out of the gate. If he decided to do that, he could fill the hole in center with Patrick, another transfer or by convincing Brown or Derek Curiel to return to school for another year.
That third scenario is unlikely. Curiel is only a draft-eligible sophomore, but he’s expected to be picked in the first round. Brown could be picked in the second round after hitting 16 home runs in just 42 games.
Neither player is flawless heading into the draft. Brown is coming off an injury, and he struggled in SEC play this year. Curiel’s power and overall ceiling have come into question by some talent evaluators. But both players will land seven-figure signing bonuses if they choose to sign, regardless of where they get picked.