Bigger, stronger, faster Derek Curiel ready to shine in 2026

DAVID FOLSE II 

BaseballatTheBox.com Publisher

BATON ROUGE–It was going to be hard for Derek Curiel to live up to expectations in 2025. 

The now sophomore outfielder didn’t only meet expectations in 2025, but exceeded them, helping LSU capture its second National Championship in three years. 

Now, heading into the 2026 season, the sky is the limit for the reigning D1 Baseball National Freshman of the Year. 

“He doesn’t need to do anything else other than be Derek Curiel,” LSU head coach Jay Johnson said. “He loves baseball and I don’t know if I have ever had another player, really he and Dylan (Crews) are the most comparable, that are as focused and as competitive in the batters box. When I can pay you that compliment, that’s all I need you to do.”

Coming into his freshman campaign in 2025 ranked as 10th best prospect in the country by Perfect Game, Curiel started in all 68 games for the Tigers. He hit a team-high .345 on the season with 20 doubles, two triples, seven homers and 55 RBI.

A natural centerfielder, Curiel is set to make the permanent move to centerfield this season for the Tigers, who will look to repeat as National Champions for the first time since winning back-to-back titles in 1996 and 1997. 

“I wanted to come to LSU and play centerfield like Dylan Crews did,” Curiel said. “It means a lot to be able to do that.”

The comparisons to Crews are quite evident for Curiel, who came to Baton Rouge as a highly-touted freshman and is always looking to improve. The main source of improvement for him in his first off-season as a collegiate player was in the weight room. 

“I’m growing into my man body,” he joked. “I think we did a great job of improving in the weight room this off-season. A lot of us are going to look a lot better in our uniforms in 2026.”

According to Strength & Conditioning Coordinator Chris Martin, Curiel has put on nearly 20 pounds. 

“Most of that is muscle mass,” Martin said. “Part of that was losing a bit of weight in-season last year. I think that was a good learning experience for him in terms of how I can maintain things now moving through the season and not go backwards.”

Curiel’s raw athletic ability and baseball talent is special and Johnson knows that. However, for him to enter the upper echelon, the Tigers head coach had a bigger-picture conversation with his star outfielder prior to the season. 

“He wants to be a long-time Major League Baseball player,” Johnson said. “So what do you need to do? You don’t have to touch a weight to be a good player for LSU. But, down the road 3-5 years from now, to have the type of career that he wants to have he has to work on his strength and conditioning.”

The results of that work are already starting to show.

“He impacts the baseball more,” Martin said. “Which is massive for him. The bat-to-ball skills have always been phenomenal and the swing decisions are great. For him now, it’s about getting easier access to power. I think the hardest ball he hit all of last year was 107 (exit velocity). He hit one 110 in a scrimmage this past fall. We are seeing those exit velocities creep up without having to add extra effort.”

In addition to the strength, speed coming out of the box and on the basepaths is something else that has caught Martin’s eye in the off-season workouts. 

“With that extra strength he can absolutely maintain his speed and has even gotten faster,” Martin said. “He can accelerate better and that will help him, especially on the basepaths in terms of stealing bases and in the outfield with his range. He’s in a great spot physically.

“You are going to notice the difference of how he looks now when we step out onto the field on Opening Day compared to last year. It’s funny because I saw a couple of clips from the College World Series of him at the plate. It really stood out to me in those clips how much smaller he looked back then versus now. He’s going to carry himself with the confidence and swagger that he always has, but he is going to look a little bigger doing it now.”