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Mississippi State waiting for MLB Draft to learn prospects' decisions
Purvis' Jojo Parker (1) winds the ball during the MHSAA class 6A baseball championships against West Lauderdale at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss., Friday, June 2, 2023. Hannah Mattix/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK

It’s been fairly quiet on the Mississippi State baseball front.

The Bulldogs have already built the top-rated transfer portal class and, at this point, it’ll be difficult to change that. For now, though, the silence will likely continue until next week when the MLB Draft has concluded.

The MLB Draft is scheduled to begin on Sunday with the first three rounds and the final 16 rounds on Monday. Sunday’s coverage will be televised on ESPN and MLB Network beginning at 5 p.m. Monday’s coverage will air on MLB.com at 10:30 a.m.

Once the draft is complete, we’ll begin to learn who will be going pro and who will be going to college.

In the lead up to the MLB Draft, ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel has released his final top 250 prospects and nine players with ties to Mississippi State are included in that list.

Here’s the full list of players ranked by McDaniel:

7. JoJo Parker
61. Jack Bauer
76. Landon Harmon
99. Jacob Parker
110. Parker Rhodes
162. Trent Grindlinger
186. Aidan Teel (Virginia transfer)
224. Pico Kohn (No college eligibility)
226. Peter Mershon

JoJo Parker, barring some crazy wand-waving magic by O’Connor, won’t be coming to Starkville. Here’s what McDaniel had to say about the Purvis, Miss. shortstop:

“Parker has steadily climbed from a second- or third-rounder last summer to a late first-rounder early in the spring to now a clear top-10 prospect in the class… Parker is not the biggest, strongest or fastest but could be one of the rare players who is such a good hitter that it floats his whole profile, helping him get to all of his solid-average raw power (roughly 20 homers annually), and then if he ends up at second/third base long term, he'd offer some of the upside of a high school player with some of the certainty of a college player.”

His twin brother, Jacob, could also go the professional route. To put it bluntly, all nine of those Mississippi State-related players could go professional if the money is right (Kohn doesn’t have any collegiate eligibility remaining).

What Bauer does will be one of the most intriguing storylines after the MLB Draft. I’ll let McDaniel, the expert, explain what makes him intriguing.

“Prep LHP Jack Bauer hit 103 mph this spring (the hardest high school pitch ever thrown) and has a plus-plus slurve/sweeper, but he also walked a ton of hitters, so some teams aren't interested at a seven-figure price and some might be willing to take him in the comp/second round for big money.”

Basically, Bauer will get drafted and then Mississippi State fans have to hope whatever team selects him can’t meet his salary demands and Bauer comes to Starkville.


This article first appeared on Mississippi State Bulldogs on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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