take it on the run
While no one is conjuring up images of Billy Hamilton circa 2012, speed is still a tool that many Magnolia State products bring to the game. To wit: Seven different Mississippians in the minors rank among the stolen base leaders in their respective leagues. Emaarion Boyd, former South Panola High star, is tied for second in the High-Class A Midwest League with 15 bags for Beloit in the Miami system. Boyd, hitting just .225 this year, has 106 steals all told in 222 pro games. Konnor Griffin and Dakota Jordan, both former Gatorade players of the year in the state and 2024 draftees, have 13 steals apiece, both playing in Low-A ball. Patrick Lee, a well-traveled former William Carey University standout from Pascagoula, has 11 steals in Low-A ball this year and 46 in two minor league seasons. In the Double-A Southern League, Cooper Pratt — another Gatorade POY out of Magnolia Heights — and Southern Miss alum Matthew Etzel are tied for fifth in the league with 10 steals each. Ex-Ole Miss star and Decatur native Kemp Alderman, also in the SL, has eight steals. Braden Montgomery, still another Gatorade POY from Madison Central, has swiped seven bases over two levels of A-ball, already surpassing his college season-high. In the big leagues, the leading Mississippian is Jake Mangum, the former Jackson Prep and Mississippi State star — on the injured list since April 24 — who has eight steals for Miami. Mangum totaled 81 steals over five minor league campaigns. The standard for all base stealers in the minors was set by Hamilton, the ex-big leaguer out of Taylorsville High. He nabbed 155 bags in 2012 in the Cincinnati system, a record that’ll never be broken. He stole 326 bases in his MLB career and is still out there performing thievery at age 34, with seven steals in 10 games in the Mexican League.