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Showcase | Story | 12/28/2019

McCants paves his own way

Jeff Dahn

Photo: Jordan McCants (Perfect Game)

FORT MYERS, Fla. – If everything goes according to plan and the MLB June Amateur Draft doesn’t interfere with those plans, a two- or three-year span beginning in the spring of 2022 could be very interesting at the McCants household in the Florida Panhandle community of Cantonment.

As it stands right now, top 2021 shortstop prospect Jordan McCants will be starting his freshman season at Mississippi State that spring, while his older brother, TJ McCants, will be preparing for his sophomore season at Ole Miss. Will the McCants’ residence truly be a house divided when the Bulldogs and the Rebels meet on the baseball field in the spring of 2022 and beyond?

“It is already a house divided because they’re so competitive against each other and that’s what pushes them and makes them better,” Jordan's and TJ’s father, Torianno McCants, told Perfect Game on Saturday.

“But it was their decision and we’re going to support them 100 percent no matter where they go,” he said. “Ole Miss recruited Jordan as well but he kind of wanted to pave his own way and he decided to go to State. We embrace both schools; we love both schools.”

Torianno McCants was speaking Saturday from just outside one of the back practice fields at the jetBlue Park Player Development Complex, where Jordan McCants was gearing up for three days of play at the blockbuster PG National Underclass Showcase-Main Event, which concludes Monday.

This year’s Underclass-Main Event features nearly 800 players from all across the country, Puerto Rico and Canada, and with this being Jordan McCants’ first PG showcase experience, he couldn’t be faulted for feeling a little overwhelmed when he arrived at the jetBlue complex early Saturday morning.

“I was a little nervous at first, but I’ve got to get through it and just show off all the work I’ve been doing,” McCants, a junior at Pensacola (Fla.) Catholic High School, told PG shortly after he had completed his workout session but before he had taken BP or played in his first game. “It was a little nerve-wracking at first – I didn’t think there was going to be that many people here.”

Despite the numbers, don’t be surprised to see McCants rise above the fray. He is a 6-foot, 160-pound left-handed hitting shortstop ranked No. 153 nationally (No. 32 Florida) in the class of 2021. He exudes tremendous upside and possesses a solid work ethic that should help him to continue to develop and define his game throughout the remainder of his prep career.

“Everywhere I go to play, I try to give 110 percent and show off my hard work and dedication,” McCants said when asked if he approached his first go-around at a PG showcase any differently than he does a tournament game. “So that’s basically what I came here to do today, the same thing, just give 110 percent on everything I do.”

“We thought it was important just so (Perfect Game) was able to see him play and evaluate him,” his dad, Torianno, said when asked why they put the Main Event on Jordan’s calendar. “We thought he might be ranked (higher) if he actually came to a showcase.”

It’s not as if the young McCants’ talents and abilities have gone unnoticed, however. He played in six PG WWBA tournaments with the East Coast Sox travel ball program the last two years, and earned all-tournament recognition at three of them, including last summer’s PG WWBA 16u National Championship.

“I love the environment, the organization and just everything about it,” he said of his relationship with the EC Sox. “Keeping God first and letting everybody know why you’re here because of the Lord and thanking him every day with the devotions we do at every tournament.

“The coaches are awesome – it’s just an amazing organization – and I would advise anybody who is looking for a travel team to look up the East Coast Sox and see what they’re doing.”

After playing with the MLB Breakthrough Series 16u team at the PG WWBA Underclass World Championship here in Fort Myers in early October, McCants joined the East Coast Sox Select squad for the PG WWBA World Championship a week later.

That’s the monster scouting event that has been held over in Jupiter, Fla., the last 21 years and it proved to be an unforgettable experience for the 17-year-old underclassman.

“It was definitely eye-opening seeing the best competition from (the class of) 2020,” McCants said. “With all the ace pitchers we faced … it was a great experience. Being out there, you weren’t known as the younger guy, you were just known as another player. …

“It was kind of hard getting around with all the golf carts if you were going from one side of the (complex) to the other, but I loved it; it was awesome,” he added. “If I could do it again right now, I’d fast-forward to next year’s Jupiter.”

He’s already come a long way. Jordan McCants began playing baseball as a 4-year-old with his dad coaching both he and TJ, a 2020 middle-infielder ranked No. 144 nationally.

The brothers are extremely close and have been playing with each other since their T-ball days. They are extremely competitive, a character trait that has benefitted both of them as they make their baseball journey through high school and on into college.

Yes, they are fierce competitors but, according to Jordan, at the end of the day they’re brothers first and they love and root for each other every step of the way. Jordan has always looked up to his older brother and considers him to be an outstanding role model.

The McCants brothers are the sons of Torianno and Felicia McCants, both of whom were with Jordan at the jetBlue Park complex on Saturday. They were collegiate athletes themselves, with Torianno playing baseball at Pensacola State College and Felicia playing basketball at the University of West Florida.

“He’s the reason why I picked up a bat in the first place, the reason that I’ve kept playing (baseball),” Jordan said of his dad. “He’s just helped me keep my head on straight.”

This showcase experience is a first for Jordan McCants but it is not a first for the McCants family. TJ McCants was at the PG Sunshine East Showcase here in Fort Myers in 2017 and then performed at the 2019 PG National Showcase out in Phoenix in June.

“It’s been awesome,” Torianno said, speaking of watching both his sons grow and prosper in the game. “I’d been their coach their entire lives until they got to high school and I turned them over to their coaches. It’s just been amazing to sit back on the outside of the fence and watch them play their game and see their maturation from then until now. It’s been an awesome ride.”

Having watched his sons perform on several of PG’s biggest stages, Torianno didn’t doubt for a minute that Jordan could come in here and immediately fit in.

“It’s amazing to come out and see the type of talent that attend these Perfect Game events,” he said. “Just to talk to the parents and see where everybody’s coming from. We’re from Florida and it’s amazing to talk to people from Detroit from New York from Chicago.”

As for Jordan, well, it’s pretty simple: “I just like interacting with everybody from all over the place,” he said Saturday. “It lets me know that everybody is doing the same work as me and I need to work even harder when I get back home.”

He went on to say that when he heads back home to the western reaches of the Florida Panhandle on Monday he hopes to do so knowing that he has made some new life-long friends who enjoy playing the game of baseball as much as he does.

A young man of deep faith, McCants also hopes he’s able to share a few words about God and the teachings of Jesus Christ, all while putting forth maximum effort on the field.

“Just keep going 110 percent like I’ve been saying,” Jordan said. “When I leave I want to be able to say I did the best that I can do and just praise God while I’m doing it.”

His dad also hopes Jordan can keep things in the proper perspective, which he certainly seems capable of doing.

“We want him to come out and play to the best of his ability but we also want him just to understand the level of competition that he’s out here competing against,” Torianno said. “Just to understand that he’s got a lot of work still to do and just to go home and continue to work and progress.”

McCants said he put a lot of thought into his decision to commit to Mississippi State, and his parents ultimately let him decide where he wanted to continue his academic and baseball careers. He said he has a deep fondest for both Ole Miss and State, but ultimately felt like MSU provided the best fit.

Jordan also said he knew there were going to be a lot of people who would wonder why he would choose to join a top college program that just happens to be the arch-rival of the one his brother committed to, but he and TJ decided to go to the school at which they were most comfortable.

“He just accepted it,” Jordan said of his brother. “He said 'I’m still going to love you, you’re still my brother,' so I just chose Mississippi State.”

Jordan McCants can still look forward to two more seasons of high school baseball at Pensacola Catholic and another important summer and fall performing at PG events in 2020. And then, two or three years down the road, the McCants family can look forward to visiting those rockin’ SEC stadiums in Starkville and Oxford and cheer on their sons.

“That’s going to be some fun times, going to watch those games,” Torianno McCants said. “The biggest thing is going to be me and Mom deciding who’s going to wear Ole Miss and who’s going to wear Mississippi State shirts when we go to the game.” Fun times, indeed.

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