STARKVILLE — After a stellar season, the Mississippi State baseball team will send 22 players to compete in summer baseball leagues around the country, coach John Cohen announced Tuesday.
The Bulldogs, who won the Southeastern Conference regular season title, will send 11 players, including seven rising sophomores, to the prestigious Cape Cod League, the most under Cohen in eight years.
The Bulldogs had a school-record 11 players taken in last week’s Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. But only two (Brent Rooker and Jack Kruger) were listed as summer ball participants.
Dakota Hudson, Reid Humphreys, Daniel Brown, Jacob Robson, Zac Houston, Nathaniel Lowe, Gavin Collins, Vance Tatum and Austin Sexton were not listed. Many indicated on social media they had played their last game at MSU after a 6-5 loss to Arizona Saturday in the Starkville Super Regional.
Humphreys told WJTV of Jackson he was leaving school early to sign with the Colorado Rockies. The outfielder/pitcher was drafted as a pitcher.
Three signees were also drafted. George County High School first baseman and left-handed pitcher Walker Robbins was taken in the fifth round by the St. Louis Cardinals. His father told the Clarion-Ledger last week he expected his son to sign with the Cardinals. MLB.com’s Jim Callis reported Heartland (Ill.) Community College right-hander and MSU signee Colin Holderman signed with the New York Mets for $400,000. Huntsville (Ala.) High School right-hander Douglas Ashcraft was drafted in the 12th rounds by the Los Angeles Dodgers, but has not indicated what he will do.
Outfielder Rooker, who was taken in the 38th round by the Minnesota Twins, will play with the Brewster Whitecaps in the Cape.
Joining him will be shortstop Ryan Gridley, left-hander Konnor Pilkington and right-hander Paul Young.
Jake Mangum, the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year, will play with the Bourne Braves. Catcher Elih Marrero will join Mangum.
Right-hander Ryan Rigby and left-hander Jared Padgett will play with the Cotuit Kettlers. Left-handers Ethan Small (Wareham Gateman), Kale Breaux (Chatham Anglers) and Trysten Barlow (Hyannis Harbor Hawks) round out the Cape Cod participants.
First baseman Cole Gordon will play for the Plymouth Pilgrims in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, while Cody Brown will play in the Cal Ripken League for the Bethesda Big Train. Right-hander Ryan Cyr will play for the Lima Locos in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League.
Right-hander Logan Elliot will play in the Northwoods League with the Green Bay Bullfrogs.
Catcher Kruger, who was taken in the 20th round by the Los Angeles Angels, right-hander Blake Smith and utility infielder Hunter Stovall will play in the California Collegiate League. Kruger, a Calabasas, California, native, will play for the Conejo Oaks. Smith and Stovall will play for the Santa Barbara Foresters.
Right-hander Keegan James (Strausburg Express) and outfielder Tanner Poole (Waynesboro Generals) will play in the Valley Baseball League. Right-hander Jacob Billingsley and outfielder Brent Blaylock will play for the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs in the Florida Collegiate Summer League.
Rising sophomore infielder Luke Alexander was not listed. Cohen said the Belmont native will have surgery next week to repair a broken hamate bone in his left hand.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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