Mississippi’s Baseball Talent Bubbles Up in MLB Draft – Mississippi Scoreboard

By Mike Christensen

The names started to pop up on the draft tracker pretty early on Day 1 and continued popping by way of the ultimate spherical on Day 3. All informed, 23 gamers from Mississippi colleges had been chosen over the 20 rounds of this week’s Main League Baseball draft.

“It’s a testomony to baseball within the state what number of children had been drafted,” mentioned a giant league scout who has coated Mississippi for a few years. “It simply reveals you the depth of expertise right here. And there have been a couple of extra who may’ve been picked however weren’t due to the restricted variety of rounds.”

By comparability, Louisiana and Alabama, extra populous states, had 15 and 14 gamers drafted, respectively. Georgia, one of many nation’s baseball hotbeds, had 28 gamers picked.

There have been no first-round picks from Mississippi this 12 months — there have been two in 2021 — however the closing complete was virtually twice the quantity picked a 12 months in the past, when the draft was additionally simply 20 rounds. It had been 40 rounds for a number of years earlier than dropping to 5 rounds in 2020 due to the pandemic.

The 2022 picks ranged from Mississippi State pitcher Landon Sims at No. 34 general to Arizona to Meridian Neighborhood School outfielder Ke’Shun Collier at No. 593 in Spherical 20 to the Chicago Cubs.

There have been some surprises, per traditional. The third participant chosen from the state wasn’t ranked among the many high 200 draft prospects by both Baseball America or MLB Pipeline. That was Southern Miss left-hander Dalton Rogers, who went 99th general within the third spherical to Boston. The primary participant picked from nationwide champion Ole Miss was right-hander Derek Diamond, who had a troublesome junior 12 months (4-4, 6.89 ERA). He was chosen within the sixth spherical, a hundred and seventieth general by Pittsburgh, 11 picks larger than School World Sequence hero and employees ace Dylan DeLucia.  

Ole Miss noticed seven of its gamers drafted. Seven MSU gamers additionally had been picked, together with the primary place participant from the state to go, catcher Logan Tanner at general choose No. 55 in Spherical 2 to Cincinnati. 5 USM gamers had been drafted, all pitchers. William Carey’s Chris Williams Jr. was picked from the NAIA college within the 18th spherical by Detroit. South Panola outfielder Emaarion Boyd went within the eleventh spherical to Philadelphia and Tishomingo County shortstop Spence Coffman within the nineteenth spherical to San Diego as the one highschool gamers chosen.

“It’s an enormous badge of honor to be drafted,” the scout mentioned. “It’s a lot tougher to be drafted now than it was.”

Twelve gamers from the state had been drafted on Day 3, which included Rounds 11-20. Late spherical picks do make it to the large leagues. Brian Dozier was an eighth-rounder out of USM, Corey Dickerson an eighth-rounder out of Meridian CC and Mitch Moreland a Seventeenth-rounder out of State. All three turned All-Stars. Jarrod Dyson was a Fiftieth-round pick of Southwest Mississippi CC, performed 12 seasons within the majors and gained a World Sequence ring. 9 gamers within the 2022 MLB All-Star sport had been drafted after the tenth spherical.  

MSU’s Sims, who has electrical stuff, seemingly would have been a first-rounder had it not been for an elbow harm that required Tommy John surgical procedure in March, ending his junior season and suspending the beginning of his professional profession at the least till 2023.

“Monitor document counts,” the scout mentioned. “Expertise-wise, (Sims) was high 40, simple. Whether or not he was high 10, 15, that’s debatable. Is he going to start out or relieve? However he was rewarded for his expertise. Gamers that good can overcome an harm; we’ve seen that with different guys just lately.”

Sims posted a 1.44 ERA as a freshman and sophomore reliever at State and was a key determine within the nationwide title run in 2021. He was moved to starter this previous season. “It’s a giant fastball that may miss bats and a plus slider,” Diamondbacks scouting director Ian Rebhan informed mlb.com. “We predict he has an opportunity to be a starter.”

Tanner was the fourth catcher drafted in what was thought to be a superb 12 months for school backstops. Ole Miss catcher Hayden Dunhurst went within the sixth spherical to Kansas Metropolis because the twelfth catcher drafted. Dunhurst was rated the perfect defensive catcher within the nation by Baseball America, and Tanner was No. 3. The query about each is the bat.

“Each of these guys have loads of expertise,” the scout mentioned. “Each had higher numbers as sophomores, and there may be loads of elements in that, so that you take a look at their full physique of labor.”

Tanner hit .285 with seven homers this season; he hit 15 bombs in 2021. Dunhurst batted simply .231 with six homers however had some huge knocks within the postseason.

USM, which gained its NCAA regional earlier than falling to Ole Miss in a Tremendous Regional, was among the many nationwide leaders in employees ERA below pitching guru Christian Ostrander. The Golden Eagles’ ace, All-America first-teamer and Ferriss Trophy winner Tanner Corridor, isn’t eligible for the draft till subsequent 12 months. Rogers, who had a 1.95 ERA and 6 saves in 23 video games, was adopted by Tyler Stuart (sixth spherical/New York Mets), Landon Harper (14th spherical/Atlanta), Ben Ethridge (fifteenth spherical/Minnesota) and Garrett Ramsey (sixteenth spherical/Boston).

“Pitching was the power of their crew and that actually confirmed within the draft,” the scout mentioned. “The pitching coach (Ostrander) there does an outstanding job of creating pitchers.”

Stuart (4-0, 3.38 ERA, in 22 video games for USM) was a part of a Mets draft haul that was rated No. 1 by mlb.com.

Ole Miss right-hander DeLucia (8-2, 3.68) actually captured the eye of scouts together with his postseason work, and he was drafted within the sixth spherical by Cleveland. Rebels nearer Brandon Johnson (4.32 ERA, 12 saves) was picked within the ninth spherical by Kansas Metropolis.

4 Ole Miss place gamers had been chosen: Dunhurst, first baseman Tim Elko (tenth spherical/Chicago White Sox), outfielder Kevin Graham (14th spherical/Arizona) and infielder Justin Bench (Seventeenth spherical/San Francisco). Elko, who belted a school-record 24 homers, and State’s Brad Cumbest (15 homers), who went to Colorado within the ninth spherical, had been among the many high energy hitters within the state.

Additionally drafted out of MSU had been pitcher Preston Johnson (seventh spherical/Baltimore), pitcher Okay.C. Hunt (twelfth spherical/Pittsburgh), pitcher Jackson Fristoe (twelfth spherical/New York Yankees) and infielder Kamren James (sixteenth spherical/Tampa Bay).

Carey’s Williams was drafted as an outfielder however was all-conference as each a hitter and pitcher. The left-hander is the primary Crusaders participant drafted since 2018.

Velocity is the important thing software for each of the highschool draftees, who’ve a troublesome name to make deciding between professional ball or school. The 6-foot-1, 177-pound Boyd, a Northwest Mississippi Neighborhood School commit, was rated No. 245 by mlb.com on its draft prospect chart. Coffman, 6-1, 174, a three-sport standout at Tishomingo, signed with Southeastern Louisiana.

A number of prep prospects who appeared in pre-draft rankings presumably selected to honor their school commitments. Some however not the entire school gamers have eligibility remaining and may choose to return to highschool if the signing bonus provide doesn’t meet their expectations.