Mississippi
Virginia outfielder Aidan Teel transferring to Mississippi State baseball, Brian O’Connor
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STARKVILLE — Another player from Virginia is transferring to Mississippi State baseball.
Aidan Teel, who was a Third Team All-ACC selection in 2025 as an outfielder, committed to the Bulldogs on June 7, according to his Instagram bio.
Teel, who’ll be a senior next season, started all 50 games in center field with a .317 batting average, seven home runs, 51 runs and 40 RBIs.
He’s following new MSU coach Brian O’Connor, who was hired on June 1 after 22 seasons at Virginia. O’Connor was formally introduced on June 5 at Dudy Noble Field.
Teel is the fourth Virginia player to transfer to Mississippi State, joining All-ACC Freshman Team pitcher Tomas Valincius, outfielder James Nunnallee and designated hitter Chone James. MSU also landed Illinois Second Team All-Big Ten outfielder Vytas Valincius in the transfer portal. All four of them committed on June 6.
Teel has played his entire career at Virginia. The Mahwah, New Jersey, native missed the 2023 season with an injury, but returned in 2024 as an outfielder and pitcher. He did not pitch during the 2025 season. MLB.com has Teel ranked as the No. 177 prospect in the 2025 MLB draft.
Teel’s older brother, Kyle, made his MLB debut on June 6 with the Chicago White Sox.
Twelve Mississippi State players have entered the transfer portal as of June 7, with freshman infielder Lukas Buckner the latest to do so.
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
Mississippi
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Between 2015 and 2023, the most recent data available, median rents here rose by nearly 30%, according to the U.S. census. The number of short-term rentals in the county has nearly tripled from May 2024 to May 2025, according to data from AirDNA, which tracks listings from Airbnb and similar services, as landlords increasingly cater to steel industry workers.
“Housing is a huge need,” said Blytheville Mayor Melisa Logan.
“I used to say a ‘housing desert,’ but now I’m in a housing crisis.”
Logan said she’s tried to find solutions to these housing woes. She said she spends time networking with developers and builders, hoping they might bring projects to Blytheville.
She’s also encouraged by steelmakers’ efforts to incentivize full-time employees to stay local. “If you trust us to come and earn your living,” Logan said, “you should trust us enough to raise your family.”
Roughly half of the county’s steelworkers live outside of Mississippi County, according to Chitwood, of the Great River Economic Development Foundation.
A new program called “Work Here, Live Here,” sponsored by Big River Steel Works, Hybar and other companies, will give steel industry workers who stay in their jobs for at least four years up to $50,000 to build or purchase new homes in the area. One hundred and sixty three have already signed up.
“You get these families in. They make the school districts better. They bring in restaurants, hotels,” said Dan Brown, vice president and chief operating officer of Big River Steel Works. “The community starts building up.”
We’re a little more than 48 hours away from the opening rounds of the 2025 MLB Draft and finding out where Mississippi State signees and players will be headed in the professional ranks.
One of the most intriguing players Mississippi State fans should keep an eye on is Jack Bauer. For one, great name. For another, ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel has tagged Bauer as one of the two players in the draft with the highest ceilings.
Even if you’ve never seen an episode, you’re probably aware of the tv series, 24, where each season takes place over a span of 24 hours. The main character of the series is named Jack Bauer, played the talented Kiefer Sutherland.
Recently, MLB.com posted an article talking to Sutherland about the baseball player named after his famous character.
“To see someone excel at that level at such a young age, and the fact that he has the last name Bauer and his parents chose to call him Jack. … It’s kind of fun for me,” Sutherland told me, laughing, in a recent phone call. “Like I said, I’m not the most avid baseball fan, but now I’ve got something to root for.”
Bauer, the left-handed high schooler who hit 103 mph, is aware of the connection, too. He wore the number 24 in high school because, as he put it on the MLB Pipeline podcast, he wanted to “play into the number a little bit.”
Hopefully, he continues to wear the number wherever he plays next season. Speaking of which…
In McDaniel’s latest mock draft, Bauer is not selected in the first two rounds. Bauer is mentioned (see previous comment about highest ceiling) as a rumor that the Los Angeles Dodgers will select Bauer and Quentin Young with the last two picks of the first round, but McDaniel has other players being selected.
It’s interesting, but Mississippi State fans shouldn’t start getting their hopes up too high that Bauer will come to Starkville. As a recent 247Sports story explained (very well I might add), players selected in the first 10 rounds are expected to sign with the professional team that drafted them.
But “expected” doesn’t mean “guaranteed” so, we’ll pull out my favorite cliché, anything can happen.
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