Most baseball players have to wait between making their commitment to play in college and signing an official letter of intent. There are strict rules about these things, and often there is a gap of a few weeks between making the decision and putting pen to paper.
For Cole Ketchum, that gap was more than three years.
“When he came in as a ninth-grader, after a few coaches saw him pitch early in the season, he got offered by Ole Miss,” Heritage Academy baseball coach Chris Ball said Wednesday before a signing day event in the school library.
Ketchum actually had more than one offer way back then.
“In ninth grade when I committed, I was between Mississippi State and Ole Miss, and I just really felt like i was at home at Ole MIss,” Ketchum said. “I felt like it was the place I was supposed to be.”
Teammate Caleb Hall felt the same way about his choice, Meridian Community College, where the baseball team is No. 5 in the NJCAA Division II rankings.
“I just feel more comfortable there,” said Hall, sporting a green bowtie for the occasion. “I’ve got a couple of friends who are there right now, and one of my teammates here the past year, he’s committed there. I feel like I’ll be very comfortable there.”
That teammate is Rhett Ketchum, who elected not to be part of the signing day event but who has committed to Meridian after a junior year in which he hit .429 with 9 doubles, a triple, 6 home runs and 34 RBIs in 37 games for the Patriots.
Ball said Hall, who transferred to Heritage for his junior year, has “more upside than any kid I’ve ever coached.”
Hall’s junior year included a 6-1 record with a save in 15 appearances, pitching to a 1.16 ERA in 48 ⅓ innings and holding opponents to a .150 batting average.
“His ceiling is super-high,” Ball said. “This is really a stepping stone; I see him playing in Division I after that.”
Cole Ketchum, of course, is already ticketed to that level, but Ball notes that the pandemic has changed everything.
“With COVID and everything that’s happened the past two years, it’s kind of a logjam,” Ball said, noting athletes at several levels were permitted to take an extra year of eligibility because of seasons disrupted or canceled by COVID-19. “For any kid to get a scholarship, whether it be a junior college or especially Division I, they have to be exceptional talents because there are so many kids who are on their sixth year or so.”
Ketchum came to Heritage Academy before his ninth-grade year, with Hall following two years later. That they found themselves sharing signing day meant a lot to each of them.
“Ever since I transferred here, me and him have been really close,” Hall said. “Being able to have this opportunity with him is unbelievable.”
“It means the world to be able to share it with him,” Ketchum said a few minutes later. “I’m so glad that he got to come over here to Heritage and experience everything like I did.”
And that experience is a special one, said their baseball coach.
“We win a lot here, we’ve had a lot of success … but this is what it’s all about,” Ball said of signing day. “They came here to develop and play with really good players and become really good. They could have been big fish in a small pond, but they came here to be big fish in a big pond.”
Hall knew what he was getting himself into, and he knows what it has meant.
“They’ve developed me well as a player and as a person, because all the people around me lead with good leadership, and it’s just worn off on me,” he said.
But Hall has contributed to the program as well. The last time he saw the mound, he was keeping the Patriots alive in the MAIS 4A playoffs, tossing five shutout innings against Bayou Academy, needing just 60 pitches to win Game 2 of their playoff series. He and Ketchum drove in 3 runs apiece during the 11-0 win that forced a deciding third game, won by Bayou.
But it’s their arms that have received the attention from college coaches, and Ball said Ketchum’s is among the best around.
“Cole is a very electric pitcher who commands three pitches, pounds the strike zone very well, throws in the low 90s, and is probably one of the best pitchers in the state,” Ball said.
Ketchum posted a 6-4 record with a 1.58 ERA as a junior for the Patriots (26-11), but the numbers that really jump off the page at you are these: 85 strikeouts and 17 walks in 53 ⅓ innings.
Ole Miss had to be relieved that Ketchum’s 3-year-old verbal commitment is finally real.
“It means a lot after three or four years to finally sign the paper and make it official,” said Ketchum, who plans to study business or marketing in Oxford.
Hall might well have another signing day two years from now, but for now, he’s too busy enjoying this one.
“It means the world to me,” he said. “I’ve been dreaming of it every since I was little. I’m just living my dream.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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Flanked by his parents, Heritage Academy senior Cole Ketchum signs his letter of intent to play baseball at Ole Miss on Wednesday at the school library. Tom Rysinski/Dispatch Staff
Caleb Hall signs a
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