​LSU baseball signee Logan Schmidt was selected by the Cleveland Guardians with the No. 45 overall pick in the second round of the 2026 MLB Draft on Saturday, July 11. Schmidt, a left-handed pitcher from Ganesha, California, becomes the first high school signee for LSU head coach Jay Johnson and the Tigers in this season’s draft. Given his draft position, expectations are high that Schmidt will opt to sign a professional contract and begin his pro baseball career rather than enroll at LSU. MLB.com projects Schmidt’s slot value at No. 45 to be $1.60 million.
Standing 6-foot-4 and weighing 210 pounds, Schmidt showed notable velocity gains over the summer, elevating his fastball from 94 mph to 97 mph. That improvement further enhanced his appeal as a professional prospect compared with his profile during his high school senior year. In the broader context of LSU’s MLB Draft projections, Schmidt was viewed as the 45th best prospect and ranked among the top 10 recruits in the 2026 class, marking him as the highest-ranked signee Johnson and his staff landed in this cycle.
Entering the draft, Johnson acknowledged the likelihood of losing around six to eight members of LSU’s 24-signee class to professional contracts, with Schmidt positioned among the group anticipated to sign rather than attend college. The anticipation surrounding Schmidt’s decision was part of LSU’s overall draft narrative as the Tigers prepared for the 2026 season.
LSU’s current left-handed pitching depth includes five active arms on the roster: Santiago Garcia, Danny Lachenmayer, Cooper Williams, Ethan Plog, and Jonah Aase, who missed last season due to injury. Garcia, Lachenmayer, and Williams logged the most innings among the lefties last year, but with only three left-handed pitchers providing meaningful innings, LSU could benefit from adding another reliable left-handed option to the bullpen and rotation as the season progresses.
This report is compiled by Cory Diaz, who covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. You can follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter at @ByCoryDiaz. For questions about LSU athletics, you can reach Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com. This article originally appeared in the Lafayette Daily Advertiser under the SEO optimization title LSU baseball signee Logan Schmidt drafted by Guardians in 2026 MLB Draft.