2026 LSU Tigers Team Profile – Leading Off… Derek Curiel
LSU Tigers celebrate winning the 2025 CWS (Tyler McFarland/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
The LSU Tigers are an elite franchise that draws you in due to their ability to perennially win. With ease, they’ve mastered the art of reload over rebuild. Head coach Jay Johnson already has two College World Series titles entering his 5th full season in Baton Rouge. The NCAA even gave the returning champs an added edge, ranking them second in the nation for 2026. Stocked with returning stars, headed by a winning skipper, and enjoying the spoils of the transfer portal, the Tigers now have a ranking chip on their shoulder as armor for another big run.
Part of the 2026 ammunition in this reload-and-repeat culture is indeed the transfer portal. Joining the returning studs like Steven Milam and Jake Brown, the Tigers scooped up Trent Caraway from Oregon State and Cooper Moore from Kansas. Moore is the new Saturday starter and featured 11 Ks in his first outing. Some new youth to keep an eye on is true freshman Mason Braun out of South Bend, Indiana. Perfect Game ranked him number 1 out of all High School first basemen for 2025. Braun’s already crushed a 3-run home batting 9th tonight against Kent State at Skip Bertman Field (second leadoff before Curiel).
The LSU program quality is a filter for elite play that creates excitement. It’s the anticipation that pulls my car across the Atchafalaya basin, racing from Lafayette across the swamps on a weekday to see great ball – being up close to the MLB’s stars of tomorrow – or at least potentially the 2026 draft’s first overall pick.
For the Tigers, that player may be Derek Curiel. A true sophomore and returning asset from last season, he’s the player to watch. Curiel’s calling card is an elite hit tool to all fields. Baseball America projects him as the #6 overall ranked prospect in the 2026 MLB draft as a “plus hitter”. That likely grades out around 60 for his scout report, but the numbers have yet to come out. He knocked a 43 game on-base streak as a freshman and delivered in the clutch in last year’s CWS, earning this remark from manager Jay Johnson:
“He was born to hit. His disposition, his demeanor is made for hitting with runners on base, made for playing in games like the College World Series. He’ll probably play in the major league World Series someday because he’s got that ‘it factor’ character.”
Derek Curiel at the CWS, Omaha, Nebraska - https://710keel.com/ncaa-bans-curiel-song/
Curiel’s critics limit his offensive ceiling to Steven Kwan – a wiry, smooth-swinging, base-hitting outfielder. This is due to his smaller frame and lack of the long ball. Baseball America profiled Curiel as a 6’2” 175lb freshman. BA rates him with a “fringy”, “below-average” power grade – scoring likely around 40 – which translates roughly to scouts thinking he’ll hit 10-15 home runs a season in the MLB. Not bad, but not quite the Kyle Tucker leap of a slender lefty with smooth, hit ability.
I had the privilege of sitting in the press box for their Monday night game hosting Kent State. I got talking with the regulars and learned how Curiel put on another 15 lbs this offseason. This could be a key thread to watch for with Curiel. Coupling a larger stature with his move from left to centerfield this season, Curiel has a shot to take his stock to superstar status and a 1-1 draft pick – if he can add some power. Three games and 12 at-bats into the season, he has 0 extra base hits to his 4 RBIs and .417/.845/.417 slash line.
So, aside from numbers, the thing to monitor with Curiel is his exit velocity and batspeed. His flatter, line-drive-prone swing – though pretty and delivered clutch homeruns last year – needs in-zone contact improvement. In his second at-bat tonight against Kent State, Curiel hit a 336 footer that sliced to left field off the end of his bat with a 97 MPH exit velocity. The pitch was a 93 MPH fastball from Kent State’s Gavin Jones. That’s promising.
Dylan Crew Scouting Profile, Prep Baseball, 2019 - https://www.prepbaseballreport.com/news/FL/Top-10-Profiles-of-2019-5-Dylan-Crews-6489371502
A potential in-house comp is Dylan Crews, the slight build centerfielder that “filled out” by the end of his Tiger tenure. Starting at 185lbs, he boosted his weight and OPS by 20lbs and 170 points, respectively, by the MLB draft. The idea is if Curiel can “fill out” as well, he can carry his elite bat-to-ball scout grade into more of a powerstroke. Crews did it, but Crews also had lift, elite bat speed, and exit velocity. That’s why we’ll monitor Curiel’s raw Trackman metrics in the box. Yet, another angle is that a gap is a gap – majors or college – so if he keeps leading the Tigers in doubles as he did last year and being the man of the moment with runners on, Curiel could be a special star in his own way, leaving the Kwan comp in the dust. We’ll see if he can continue to drive value in his defensive shift to centerfield; his defense doesn’t compare to Kwan’s elite glove the way his bat does.
Luis Arráez comes to mind as an MLB comp for the bat-to-ball skills, but Arráez’s weak defensive metrics drop his value, whereas Curiel can play a good center field. BA’s latest profile on Curiel rates him an “extremely instinctual outfield defender” with a “solid, accurate throwing arm.” We saw Arráez miss out on the long-term deal he sought this year, settling for a 1-year stint in the Bay, whereas Curiel is talked of as a true sophomore top-5 draft pick. The natural bat-to-ball skills with continued growth in center, coupled with his youth and bigger build this season make for a bright upside for Derek Curiel.
As far as the Tigers pitching staff, Mavrick Rizy, the 6’9”, flamethrowing closer, Casan Evans, the reliever-turned-Friday-night-starter, and Cooper Moore could be the arms that carry LSU to a repeat in Omaha this year. Of note, as of this typing, I’m watching Ethan Plog, LHP reliever throw 2800 RPM sliders on Trackman and mow down Kent State in the 4th, efficiently. Painting Corners will be following the Tigers’ arms next time we stop through Baton Rouge.
