LSU baseball left-handed pitcher signee Logan Schmidt has decided to join the Tigers for the 2027 season, he announced on social media Saturday.

Schmidt chose the Tigers over professional baseball and junior college, with the former option being his presumed destination after the Cleveland Guardians selected him with the No. 59 overall pick in the second round of last month’s MLB draft.

Schmidt, however, announced a day before the signing deadline that the two sides had not come to an agreement and he would not join the organization. The decision whittled his future down to LSU and junior college, with the second path allowing him to re-enter the draft in 2027. At LSU, he won’t be eligible to be drafted again until 2029.

“We looked at it actually this morning, and the number of top five round draft picks that haven’t signed over the past decade is very small,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said in an interview with The Advocate on Saturday. “And so (I’m) surprised, pleasantly surprised, and excited about Logan.”

Schmidt never was expected to make it to Baton Rouge.

He was one of the top left-handed pitchers in the 2026 high school class, entering the draft as the No. 45 player in MLB.com’s draft rankings, the No. 56 prospect in ESPN’s rankings and the No. 53 player in The Athletic’s rankings.

At 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, Schmidt is known for his ability to consistently throw strikes. He also features a fastball that sits in the mid-90s and can reach 98 mph, all while throwing a slider and a changeup.

“The standout quality is strike throwing,” Johnson said. “That’s what separates him. It’s a good arsenal of pitches.”

Schmidt is also young for his class. He reclassified from the 2027 class up to the 2026 class to be eligible for this year’s draft. He didn’t turn 18 until July 23.

His size, age and ability made him an attractive option for MLB teams heading into the draft.

“Logan’s probably one of the better pitchers in that second tier of high school arms,” one scout told The Advocate on the condition of anonymity before the draft. “So, probably not a guy who’s a lock to be a true first-rounder, but easily a guy who could be a comp pick or maybe in the second round for an over-slot pay later.”

Schmidt’s decision to join the Tigers balloons their roster to 40 players. NCAA roster rules allow LSU to have 34 players, but the program was set to have five players labeled as designated student-athletes heading into next year, meaning they can be on the roster without counting against the 34-man limit.

It is unclear whether LSU will need to drop a player after adding Schmidt, and it’s not known which players count as designated student-athletes.

What Schmidt’s inclusion does mean is that the left-handed pitching corps just got a lot stronger.

The Tigers brought back four lefties — Danny Lachenmayer, Cooper Williams, Jonah Aase and Ethan Plog — and added freshmen Braxton Beaty, Bradyn Cupit and Lucas Nawrocki this offseason. Cupit throws strikes; Beaty is known for his breaking ball; and Nawrocki is a two-way player who was the No. 91 player in ESPN’s draft rankings.

Bringing Schmidt into that equation provides Johnson with another potential starting pitcher for both the present and future.

“It’s a wide-open competition (this year), and he has the ability to contend for it, as I think a number of guys do,” Johnson said. “Like, we have to perform better there.”