caught in a draft
On the eve of the MLB draft, a flashback to the 2006 draft gives a little perspective on how hard it is to get to the big leagues. Three Mississippi-connected players who were selected that year and signed made The Show, and all three are there now: Chris Coghlan, Alex Presley and Jarrod Dyson. Coghlan was a supplemental first-round pick by Florida, fellow Ole Miss product Presley went in the eighth round to Pittsburgh and Dyson, from Southwest Mississippi Community College, was taken in the 50th round, 1,475th overall, by Kansas City. (Tyler Moore was drafted by Washington in 2006 out of Meridian CC but didn’t sign; he was drafted again by the Nationals in 2008 out of Mississippi State and signed.) According to Baseball America’s draft database, 30 Mississippians were picked in 2006, including Hillcrest product Justin Reed (fourth round), UM’s Garrett White (sixth) and Southern Miss’ Marc Maddox (ninth). Maddox made it to Triple-A, the other two never got past A-ball. Other notable names in that draft: Mississippi Valley State’s Zach Penprase, Millsaps’ Garner Wetzel and State’s Jeffrey Rea (who didn’t sign). P.S. So sad to hear about the passing of Bill Marchant, who succeeded the legendary Boo Ferriss as Delta State coach in 1989 and proceeded to leave his own stamp on the program. Marchant, who coached the last three years of his eight-year tenure in a wheelchair after a 1993 car accident, posted a 283-127-1 record with the Statesmen. His final team, in 1996, went 53-8, the winningest season in DSU history, and made the NCAA Division II World Series. Marchant also played at Delta State (for Ferriss) and taught there after he retired from coaching. “Being here was a dream come true for me, and the coaching part was something that I always wanted to do, and I enjoyed every minute of it,” he told gostatesmen.com in a 2015 interview.