One of the hardest parts about committing to a Division I university is not knowing how skill sets will translate at the highest collegiate level.
For athletes wanting to play baseball at LSU, it’s a worry most athletes have even after their freshman year.
Edward “Eddie” Yamin IV transferred to LSU for the 2025 baseball season, but after a conversation with head coach Jay Johnson, Yamin redshirted for the 2025 baseball season.
Johnson said during a midweek press conference that the decision was made because of the talent and depth at Yamin’s positions, and it has created a morale-boosting teammate who competes in big moments.
“There just wasn’t a lot of room,” Johnson said. “That wasn’t his fault, and it didn’t mean he wasn’t a good player. I just went into the year looking at where that team was and where we were headed, and I came up with the idea.”
While there is significant depth at the catcher position in 2026, Yamin has taken his few opportunities and ran with them. In his 16 at-bats during his redshirt junior campaign, he has six hits, putting him squarely above a .350 batting average.
Statistically, the more at-bats a player has, the harder it is to keep the average higher, but Johnson said it’s how Yamin handles the big situations at the plate that puts him above the other players on the bench.
On Tuesday night, LSU faced Bethune-Cookman. While the Tigers lost that matchup, Yamin had five plate appearances, including one to lead off the top of the ninth inning while they trailed by four runs.
Yamin capped his 1-for-2 night at the plate and had a loud, leadoff walk to get LSU started off, all while pumping up the team in the process. A big part of the team’s reaction to his leadoff walk comes from how he’s waited his turn to make this moment happen.
“Give me a guy that’s going to pound his chest when he gets a lead-off walk,” Johnson said after the game. “He knows when he’s supposed to take and when he’s supposed to swing in those situations. He couldn’t care less about his stats. He’s just competing in the moment.”
Yamin had the choice to bail to the transfer portal when Johnson asked him to redshirt, but he stayed and put in the work while watching the rest of the team play for a national title in 2025.
Johnson revealed in the midweek press conference that after the 2025 season was over, he let Yamin know what the plan was. The Dayton transfer immediately told his coach that he would be returning for the next two years.
Yamin might not have been on the field for the title game, but he has cracked the 2026 lineup. It’s thanks to the work he’s put in while the rest of his teammates got the glory of a national championship, and it’s why his teammates always have his back.
“[He’s] a positive example to players in the program of what I would call ‘work while you’re waiting,’ but having the right attitude while you’re waiting,” Johnson said. “Because he did those things, everybody gets behind him.”
