Tag Archives: 2024 MLB draft

18 Jul

post-draft doodles

Ranked among the Top 200 MLB draft prospects by MLB Pipeline, Hunter Hines was not among the 615 players chosen during the three days of draft. That’s good news apparently for Mississippi State. The slugging first baseman will return to Starkville for his senior season, according to various reports. Hines, 6-foot-3, 210-pound lefty hitter, batted .257 with 16 homers and 56 RBIs for the Bulldogs in 2024, good numbers but a little down from his performance in 2023. He batted .297 with 22 bombs and 61 RBIs as an All-SEC pick that season, then was an All-Cape Cod League pick last summer. With 54 career homers at MSU, Hines will have a shot in 2025 at Rafael Palmeiro’s school record of 67. … Slade Wilks, one of Southern Miss’ all-time sluggers, went undrafted for the second straight year and is out of eligibility at USM. Wilks, a lefty-hitting DH, enjoyed a big senior year, batting .336 with 14 homers and 69 RBIs and finishing his career with a 36-game hitting streak. He even got a hit in his final at-bat in the black-and-gold. He was a third-team All-America selection and a first-team Academic All-American. Wilks stands fifth on USM’s career homer list with 46. … Lewisburg High product Samuel Richardson, who appeared on some draft prospect charts before the season, was not drafted and apparently will play for SEC newcomer Texas next season. … Former Lewisburg High standout Brady Tygart, a junior pitcher at Arkansas, was drafted in the 12th round by Boston and was pegged by MLB Pipeline as one of the “most interesting picks” of Day 3. He was a freshman All-America as the team’s closer in 2022 but had injury issues the last two years. All told, he had a 3.75 ERA in 48 appearances for the Razorbacks. … Alabama senior outfielder T.J. McCants, who played three years at Ole Miss, was also on the “most interesting picks” list after going in the 16th round to the Chicago White Sox. He batted .306 with 15 homers and 14 steals for Bama in 2024. P.S. Alcorn State still does not have a head coach for next season. Former major leaguer Reggie Williams was fired in mid-June after going 16-122 in three seasons in Lorman. The Braves were 6-43 (5-25 SWAC) in 2024.

15 Jul

caught in a draft

Dakota Jordan, widely expected to go in the first round of the MLB draft, slipped to the fourth, picked by San Francisco at No. 116 overall. The Mississippi State product from Canton, a draft-eligible sophomore at age 21, batted .354 with 20 homers and 72 RBIs this season and won the Ferriss Trophy as the state’s top college player. Scouting reports rave about Jordan’s bat speed but note concerns over his strikeout rate (35 percent in 2024) and defense (not his arm strength). And despite possessing good speed, he stole just three bases for the Bulldogs in 63 games. … All told, nine players from state schools have been drafted through 10 rounds, five of them MSU pitchers. Going in the second round on Sunday night was State pitcher Khal Stephen, 59th overall to Toronto. Today, in addition to Jordan, the Bulldogs’ Nate Dohm went in the third round to the New York Mets; MSU’s Brooks Auger in the sixth to the Los Angeles Dodgers; Southern Miss’ Niko Mazza in the eighth to the Giants; Ole Miss’ Jackson Ross in the ninth to Washington; and MSU’s Colby Holcombe in the ninth to Toronto. … There were 14 players picked from state colleges or high schools in 2023, led by Ole Miss’ Jacob Gonzalez at 15th overall. Gonzalez already has reached Double-A in the Chicago White Sox’s system. … Konnor Griffin of Jackson Prep, picked ninth overall Sunday by Pittsburgh, is the only high school player drafted from the state so far. Rounds 11-20 are today. The track record for high school players from Mississippi going straight to pro ball isn’t particularly good. … With switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijnjte going 15th overall on Sunday to Seattle, MSU has now had 13 players drafted in the true first round (not counting supplemental picks) since 1965, according to an mlb.com article. Will Clark went No. 2 in 1985, the highest any player from Mississippi has been drafted.

13 Jul

pre-draft doodles

Mississippi may never have been considered a motherlode of baseball talent, but pro scouts have been mining for nuggets here since the first MLB draft. Joe DeFabio of Delta State was the 20th overall pick in 1965, and players from the state have been drafted in the first round virtually every year since. Four with state ties are projected in various mock drafts to go in Sunday’s Round 1, which, counting supplemental picks, goes 39 deep. Jackson Prep’s Konnor Griffin and former Madison Central High star Braden Montgomery, who played at Texas A&M this season, are generally regarded as top 10 prospects. Mississippi State’s Dakota Jordan and Jurrangelo Cijnjte are also expected to go in Round 1. … The highest any player from the state has been chosen is No. 2, Will Clark taken out of MSU by San Francisco in 1985. The state also has produced two No. 3’s (Ted Nicholson of Oak Park in Laurel by the Chicago White Sox in 1969 and B.J. Wallace of State by Montreal in 1992), a No. 5 (Drew Pomeranz of Ole Miss by Cleveland in 2010) and three No. 8’s (Donny Castle of Coldwater High by Washington in 1968, Kirk Presley of Tupelo High by the New York Mets in 1993 and Paul Maholm of State by Pittsburgh in 2003). Dave Clark of Jackson State was No. 11 by Cleveland in 1983. … Last year, 14 players were drafted out of Mississippi, including No. 15 Jacob Gonzalez from Ole Miss by the White Sox. In 2022, 23 players from Mississippi schools were selected over the 20 rounds of the draft, Landon Sims of MSU going 34th overall. … Back in 2018, Baseball America conducted a survey of which state produced the most pro talent per capita and Mississippi ranked fourth, with 149 high school alums appearing on affiliated rosters from 2011-17. … In Baseball America’s 2024 Draft Preview skill rankings, Griffin — the No. 1 high school athlete — is No. 2 in power, No. 2 in defense (outfield) and No. 4 in speed among all draft-eligible prep players. Montgomery — a touted prep draft prospect when he was at Madison Central — ranks No. 3 in power and as the No. 5 athlete among the college class. Jordan is No. 5 in power. … In Lindy’s 2024 Baseball preview magazine, Lewisburg High’s Samuel Richardson, a third baseman, was rated the No. 35 draft prospect, but he appears to have slipped off the radar over the course of the season. … Quite a few of the state’s best all-around athletes have chosen football over baseball: See Senquez Golson, A.J. Brown, Jerrion Ealy, Anthony Alford (who later returned to baseball and spent some time in the big leagues). Also on that list is Steve McNair, a relative unknown baseball talent when a Seattle scout first saw him in 1991. Dan Jennings, a former William Carey player, happened upon a game at Mount Olive and was mesmerized by the home team’s shortstop. “This is my day. The baseball gods are smiling on me,” he told espn.com in a story a few years ago. The Mariners drafted McNair in the 35th round and offered $15,000 plus college tuition. He chose to play football at Alcorn State — and, yes, the rest is history. … Charlie Condon, the Golden Spikes Award winner from Georgia, is a possible No. 1 overall pick (Cleveland has the choice) — and, yes, there is a Mississippi connection. Georgia’s hitting coach, who has helped Condon blossom from an unrecruited prep player to a college star, is Will Coggin, a former Mississippi State player and assistant coach. Coggin coached Brent Rooker and Jake Mangum, among other draftees, in Starkville. … A name to watch for in the later rounds of the draft, according to an MLB Pipeline article, is Landon Hairston, an Arizona high school outfielder. He is the son of ex-big leaguer Scott Hairston, who is the son of ex-big leaguer Jerry Hairston Sr., who is the son of ex-big leaguer Sam Hairston, a Crawford native who starred in the Negro Leagues in the 1940s.