STARKVILLE — The doubt of it all was all but gone.
By roughly 9 p.m. Monday, Mississippi State first baseman Brent Rooker knew with almost certainty he was going to be the 35th pick in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player draft and the newest member of the Minnesota Twins organization roughly half an hour later.
That doesn’t mean there wasn’t any suspense.
After not showing any signs of distress or nervousness in his final season as a Bulldog, Rooker appeared to be anxious in the final moments before his selection was announced.
“That got me a little bit,” said Rooker, who was named National Player of the Year by Collegiate Baseball and became MSU’s first Southeastern Conference Player of the Year. “Those last five picks leading up to it were a little nerve-racking.
“It’s an awesome experience. I’m extremely blessed to even go through that experience. I know there are so many people who would love to do that, and I just can’t express how blessed I am to know that my name was going to get called.”
The Twins also had the No. 37 pick, so projections had Rooker going to the Twins in one of those two spots. For a few minutes, it looked like Rooker could have been taken before then.
Rooker and his representatives fielded calls from the Texas Rangers, the owners of picks Nos. 26 and 29. Ultimately, the Rangers chose high school outfielder Bubba Thompson with the 26th pick and high school shortstop Christopher Seise with the 29th. It wasn’t long after that Rooker learned his fate.
“Extremely happy for Brent and his family,” MSU coach Andy Cannizaro said. “Just a tremendous worker, the co-national player of the year that’s earned every bit of it. He is a big-league hitter that’s going to have a lot of success.”
Rooker, a finalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, told The Dispatch after his selection he plans on signing with the Twins and forgoing his final year of eligibility at MSU. Rooker said he expects to hear from the Twins this morning and to find out where he might be assigned. The most likely options are the Single-A affiliate Cedar Rapids Kernels, the High-A affiliate Fort Myers Miracle, or the Double-A affiliate Chattanooga Lookouts.
“My time at Mississippi State has been everything I ever could have asked for,” Rooker said. “It’s been the best experience of my life, the best four years of my life. I owe everything to this University and this baseball program.”
The selection bumped Rooker up 1,108 spots up from the 2016 draft when the Twins selected him in the 38th round. Rooker catapulted into the top 40 picks thanks to a season in which he hit .387 with 23 home runs and 82 RBIs. He also hit a school-record 30 doubles. His 96 hits was eighth in program history for hits in a season, while his 23 home runs was fifth in the MSU record books.
Rounds three through 10 of the draft will be today. MSU’s Jake Mangum and Ryan Gridley could be selected.
MSU also had signees Reynaldo Rivera and Quentin Holmes taken on the first day of the draft. The Detroit Tigers selected Rivera, an outfielder from Chipola College in Florida, with the 53rd pick. The Cleveland Indians selected Holmes, an outfielder from Monsignor McClancy Memorial High School in Queens, New York, with the 64th pick. MSU expects decisions from both in the coming days.
Rooker’s selection gives MSU back-to-back first round picks since 2012 and 2013, when Chris Stratton and Hunter Renfroe were selected. He also is the program’s 186th overall draftee and the school’s 14th first-round pick.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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