By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Sometimes the best recruiting is akin to the best parenting – let the youngster make his or her own decision.
And that is one reason why LSU coach Jay Johnson is returning one of the best sophomore pitchers in the country for the 2026 season in right-hander Casan Evans, who was a consensus first team freshman All-American last season and a vital cog in the Tigers winning the 2025 national championship.
But Evans wanted to be a two-way player in college as he came out of St. Pius X High in Houston as the No. 19 shortstop in the country and No. 9 player in Texas by Perfect Game, which also had him as the No. 26 overall player as a two-way prospect.
He also threw three no-hitters in high school. LSU, Tennessee, TCU, Texas and Texas A&M recruited him mainly as a pitcher, but he told them he wanted to play shortstop and hit as well. But Evans got the feeling Johnson was the only coach not giving him lip service about it.
“Look, this is all you,” Johnson told Evans. “I’m going to let you do this. This is what you want. I want you to be happy with your decision. You’re doing this as much as you want until you tell me that you’re not going to do it anymore.”
And that did it.
“That’s exactly what I wanted,” Evans told Tiger Rag in a recent interview. “And that was a big deciding factor of why I came to LSU. The biggest part was being able to have the chance to become a shortstop and a pitcher.”
So when Evans signed with LSU as TCU and Tennessee finished second and third, he was ready to be a college baseball outlier – pitcher and position player.
“The others said they would give me a look, but I just felt most comfortable with LSU,” Evans said. “LSU gave me the chance to do that. And they were full on it.”
Soon, though, Evans noticed just how good then-sophomore Steven Milam was at shortstop after moving over from second base, where he started 59 games in 2024.
“After a couple weeks in the fall (of 2024), I knew that shortstop wasn’t for me,” Evans said. “I had gone through the start of fall and was hitting in a couple games, and I was doing the workouts with the position players – ground balls, team defense, all that stuff. And in the scrimmages, I just wasn’t performing how I thought it was going to be in the field and at the plate.”
He started off 1-for-12 at the plate for a .083 batting average.
“So, I started pitching only,” Evans said. “And I decided to put the bat down. Now, that I’m just a pitcher, looking back on it, it was kind of a crazy thought that could’ve worked out, but it didn’t. And I’m totally fine with it.”
Johnson and LSU pitching coach Nate Yeskie were more than OK with it as well.
“There was some increase in his pitching for sure,” Yeskie remembered. A lesser workload allowed his body to not be as taxed.”
Evans noticed that right off.
“I knew if I focused more on pitching that it would excel that much more,” he said. “And my pitching started to take off more and more. It was a good decision, I think, on my part.”
You think?
Evans earned his first save in the first week of the season, retiring five of seven batters in two innings all on strikeouts with one walk and no hits for a save against Omaha. He won his first college start over No. 5 Tennessee, allowing two runs on six hits in six innings with six strikeouts and no walks.
He did it all, finishing 5-1 with seven saves and a 2.05 ERA in 52 and two-thirds innings through 19 appearances, including three starts. He struck out 71 with 19 walks and allowed a .227 batting average. In the College World Series opener against Arkansas, he got the save with a shutout over an inning of work. Then he beat UCLA two days later with four and a third innings of relief with five strikeouts, four hits allowed and no walks.
Evans struck out nine straight and had a career-high 12 in beating Arkansas-Little Rock in the NCAA Regional in relief, allowing four hits over six innings.
“Other than Paul Skenes, I’ve never recruited a player harder than I recruited Casan,” Johnson said. “Phone calls, personal notes, home visit, A-plus official visit.”
Johnson also missed a close friend’s wedding back home in California because Evans decided to take a second visit to LSU on short notice.
“You could see the talent,” Johnson said. “Like you have all the talent that you need, but you have this special makeup of competitiveness. And you could see it and feel it.”
Johnson’s first text that he could make under recruiting window rules on Sept. 1, 2022, when Evans was a junior went to Evans.
“First text, first phone call, as may phone calls as needed,” Johnson said. “There was just this really good gut feeling like, ‘This is the guy. I know there’s these guys, but this is the guy.'”
And Evans could well be The Guy in 2026 as the ace of the weekend starting rotation. LSU opens the season on Friday, Feb. 13, against Milwaukee.
“The biggest part is going to be will I be able to stretch out to longer outings, going deep into the game,” Evans said. “Because I want to be in the starter role. But we’re not sure. So, I’m trying to keep my stamina up. Whatever way coach needs me to help the team, I’m happy to do it.”
And, by the way, he is also available for any pinch-hitting.
“Oh, I’d love to, if he lets me,” Evans said. “But I doubt that will happen. I think we’ve got plenty of players to pinch-hit. But if he let me, I’d grab a bat and a helmet, and I’d go step in the box.”
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