OXFORD — Mike Shirley got a small taste of what it means to sit in the right field stands at Swayze Field last June during his trip to Omaha.

Shirley is the director of amateur scouting for the Chicago White Sox — a team that has selected four Ole Miss players in the last three MLB drafts — and found himself at the College World Series last summer. Shirley said he was there initially watching Oklahoma ace Cade Horton who, of course, faced the Rebels in the clinching game of the College World Series final.

Horton had himself quite a day, striking out 13 Ole Miss batters on his way to becoming the seventh overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft by the Chicago Cubs a few weeks later. But in the sixth inning of a scoreless game, Ole Miss shortstop Jacob Gonzalez stepped to the plate and hit a solo home run to right-center, giving Shirley one the fabled beer showers that have become standard fare in Oxford.

Gonzalez ended up tying the game with an RBI single in the eighth inning and scoring the final run in the Rebels’ 4-2 win over the Sooners, giving Ole Miss its first national title. Though Charles Schwab Field was technically a neutral site, Shirley said it felt like an Ole Miss home game.

“Those are huge moments in people’s lives. You can’t take those away. … Jacob hits a home run, I’m getting showered with beers right behind the plate. I’ll be honest with you, I was not a happy scout, thinking I’m at the game working, I’m getting showered with beers,” Shirley said with a laugh. “It was an overwhelming experience just being there, watching how that team unfolded.

“ … It was such a neat experience. You think about a small town in Mississippi had so much support for one university, one championship team.”

The White Sox selected pitcher Taylor Broadway in the sixth round of the 2021 MLB Draft, star first baseman Tim Elko in the tenth round of the 2022 MLB Draft and took Gonzalez and catcher Calvin Harris in the 2023 MLB Draft in the first and fourth rounds, respectively. The White Sox also signed pitcher Drew McDaniel as an undrafted free agent following the 2022 draft. Broadway has since been traded.

The story of the 2022 Rebels has been well-documented — the team reached No. 1 in the country, fell to 7-14 in SEC play and was on the outside looking in of the NCAA Tournament before a late-season rally got them into the postseason as one of the final teams in the field. Ole Miss didn’t look back from there, going 10-1 in the NCAA Tournament en route to the College World Series crown.

Winning matters when selecting a prospective player, Shirley said, as do the requisite physical skills.

“I think what we know we’re getting (from an Ole Miss player) is, we’re getting SEC-qualified players, players that have been given the freedom to develop in an environment that’s productive for them,” Shirley said. “ … Off a national championship winning team, there’s some good depth of talent off that roster that’s been appealing to us. We’ve been lucky to secure three formidable pieces off that national championship team.”

Shirley said he has seen Gonzalez, Harris and Elko play since their high school days.

Gonzalez was a highly-touted prospect in the pandemic shortened 2020 MLB Draft — it was just five rounds compared to the standard 20 — and the Southern California native was only able to play a few games his senior year at Glendora High School. Still, Gonzalez was a bona fide star that Shirley said was around a “$2 million type player coming out of high school,” referring to his potential signing bonus.

“We felt that even back then, Jacob had the skills and the talent we were looking for,” Shirley said. “Obviously needed some physical development at that point, but he’s always been on our radar in terms of the bat skill, just how easy he plays the game.”

There is also something to be said for a player’s mental makeup and how he handles adversity. Prior to his heroics in Game 2 against Oklahoma, Gonzalez had been mired in an 0 for 12 slump. He kept his head down and played the same way he always does, and it paid off in the biggest moment.

Gonzalez might be on the quieter side in terms of his on-field demeanor, but he is confident and unflappable through it all. He has “a bunch of courage in there” according to Shirley.

Gonzalez hit .319 with 40 home runs and 158 RBIs in three seasons with the Rebels and was a first-team All-SEC selection in 2022. Gonzalez also, Shirley notes, walked more times in his career than he struck out. Shirley admits he did not expect Gonzalez to be available with the 15th pick, and he anticipates he will remain at shortstop.

“Jacob Gonzalez is a (member of the) White Sox right now because of his makeup, his personality, his will to win,” Shirley said. “ … His dad’s a high school baseball coach, think about the environment in which you grew up like that. And, winning matters. I mean, you live in households with coaches, life’s always a little easier when you’re winning. And I think those expectations start to morph into players, especially if that’s how you grew up.”

Harris, meanwhile, was on the White Sox’s radar early as well because of the Area Code Baseball Games. Harris, an Iowa native, played on the midwest team — represented by the White Sox — as a prep player. Shirley has known Harris since he was about 16, he said.

Harris was a second-team All-SEC pick in 2022 after hitting .321 with 12 home runs and 46 RBIs. He also played in the outfield during the Rebels’ national title run while Hayden Dunhurst was behind the plate.

“We always knew he was a winning player, a tough kid. He’s got that strong, Midwest value, but it matters. Because once again, it’s consistency, it’s balance. It’s not high or low, but it’s tough,” Shirley said. “ … His consistency model matters as well.”

Then, of course, there is Elko, the legendary captain who hit 46 home runs in his career and famously played on a torn ACL during the 2021 season. Elko hit .300 with a career-high 24 home runs in 2022 and was one of the key components that kept the Rebels together when times turned tough during their trying championship season. He’s already brought that leadership to the minor leagues, Shirley said.

Elko is hitting .294 with 20 home runs this season and has moved up to high-A ball with the Winston-Salem Dash. He has also provided great defense at first base, Shirley noted.

“Not too many people play this game running around on one leg,” Shirley said. “A lot of the players today, they ain’t doing that. Tim Elko went out there on one leg for Ole Miss. I think that says a lot about who you are, what you do, when you care about a program or you care about others that much that you want to help no matter what. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to be looking for?”

Shirley says he has close friends who know Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco quite well. Those friends have spoken glowingly of Bianco, Shirley said. That that creates a level of trust with the program — you know exactly what to expect you select a player from that program.

“You know what you’re going to get from the player, the expectation. I think Mike does a great job raising men … and really good baseball players,” Shirley said. “And I think that’s what you’re getting in Ole Miss kids is that, you’ve seen some similarity in the kid and the player, the balance they kind of bring to the table. They know they have to show up. They know the fans in Oxford want them to be great every day. And then Mike prepares them to show up every day.”