THE WORLD'S LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE SCOUTING ORGANIZATION
| 2,384 MLB PLAYERS | 15,801 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
2,384 MLB PLAYERS | 15,801 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
Create Account
Sign in Create Account
Draft  | State Preview | 4/21/2012

State Preview: Mississippi

Photo: Perfect Game

In the weeks leading up to the draft, Perfect Game will be providing a detailed overview of each state in the U.S., including the District of Columbia, as well as Canada and Puerto Rico. These overviews will list the state's strengths, weaknesses and the players with the best tools, as well as providing scouting reports on all Group 1 and 2 players as ranked in Perfect Game's state-by-state scouting lists.




Contributing: David Rawnsley/Allan Simpson

Mississippi State-by-State List
2011 Mississippi Overview

Mississippi’s 2011 prep class was labeled the deepest and strongest in the state’s draft history, and with every top prospect spurning an offer to turn pro immediately in favor of attending in-state colleges, that scenario could be repeated in 2014 at the college level.

This year, things are pretty much back to normal as the 2012 Mississippi draft class fits the state’s recent trends almost to a “T.” As usual, the state is strong in two areas: highly-athletic high-school outfielders, and college pitching.

The top college arm is Mississippi State righthander Chris Stratton, a potential third- to fourth-rounder at the start of the season who has rocketed up draft boards this spring and barged his way into the first round. He signaled his arrival as a prime-time prospect when he went head-to-head with Louisiana State’s Kevin Gausman in the opening game of the Southeastern Conference season and outpitched one of the draft’s leading candidates to go first overall by striking out 17. He has only cemented his top-round status since by ranking second nationally with 88 strikeouts 66 innings.

The two high-school outfielders earning high-round grades are Petal High’s Anthony Alford and Stone County High’s D.J. Davis, and they rank as two of the more-intriguing athletes in the nation’s entire prep class. Alford’s draft status is somewhat tentative as he is heavily-committed to playing football at Southern Mississippi, and he could fall right out of consideration as a result.

Davis, meanwhile, has been one of the draft’s fastest risers with his combination of blazing speed and power potential, and like Stratton had his own coming-out game this spring before dozen of scouts when he launched two mammoth home runs.

Mississippi in a nutshell:


STRENGTH:
Athletic high-school outfielders.
WEAKNESS: College position players.
OVERALL RATING (1-to-5 scale): 3.

BEST COLLEGE TEAM:
Mississppi.
BEST JUNIOR-COLLEGE TEAM: Meridian.
BEST HIGH SCHOOL TEAM: Oak Grove HS, Hattiesburg.

PROSPECT ON THE RISE: D.J. Davis, of, Stone County HS, Wiggins.
It is difficult to find a review of Davis’ performance this spring that isn’t glowing. A little-known prospect before last summer’s East Coast Professional Baseball Showcase, Davis ran an event-best 6.38 seconds in the 60. He then showcased his blinding speed and reckless abandon on the bases by hitting .375 with a tournament-leading five stolen bases at the World Wood Bat Association fall championship in Jupiter, Fla., in October. From all reports, he has only continued to get better in all phases of his game this spring, and gave a graphic demonstration of his evolving power potential when he slammed a pair of long home runs in a game before the watchful eyes of some 50 scouts, including several scouting directors and prominent front-office officials.

WILD CARD: Anthony Alford, of, Petal HS
. While Davis’ name was virtually unknown until last summer/fall, both baseball scouts and football recruiters have been familiar with Alford for years. He led Petal High to Mississippi 6-A state baseball titles as both a sophomore and junior, and is even better-known as one of the top dual-threat quarterback prospects in the country. His football commitment to Southern Mississippi significantly complicates his chances of being an early-round selection in the baseball draft in June, and big-league clubs may ultimately determine he is too high a risk to warrant spending a premium pick. Alford’s chances of passing up football are considered all the more unlikely because his former football coach at Petal High is now an assistant at USM, and he’s also a close friend of the son of Golden Eagles baseball coach Scott Berry

BEST OUT-OF-STATE PROSPECT, Mississippi Connection:
Lex Rutledge, lhp, Samford University (Attended high school in Tupelo).
Top 2013 Prospect: Bobby Wahl, rhp, University of Mississippi.
Top 2014 Prospect: Connor Barron, ss, University of Southern Mississippi.

HIGHEST DRAFT PICKS

Draft History: Will Clark, 1b, Mississippi State University (1985, Giants/first round, 2nd pick).
2006 Draft: Chris Coghlan, 3b, University of Mississippi (Marlins/1st round, 36th pick).
2007 Draft: Wendell Fairley, of, George County HS, Lucedale (Giants/1st round, 29th pick).
2008 Draft: Lance Lynn, rhp, University of Mississippi (Cardinals/1st round, 39th pick).
2009 Draft: Billy Hamilton, ss, Taylorsville HS (Reds/2nd round).
2010 Draft: Drew Pomeranz, lhp, University of Mississippi (Indians/1st round, 5th pick).
2011 Draft: Conner Barron, ss, Sumrall HS (Marlins/3rd round).

2011 DRAFT OVERVIEW

College Players Drafted/Signed:
14/13.
Junior College Players Drafted/Signed: 3/2.
High School Players Drafted/Signed: 10/1.

BEST TOOLS

Best Athlete:
Anthony Alford, of, Petal HS.
Best Hitter: Alex Yarbrough, 2b, University of Mississippi.
Best Power: Matt Snyder, 1b, University of Mississippi.
Best Speed: D.J. Davis, of, Stone County HS, Wiggins.
Best Defender: D.J. Davis, of, Stone County HS, Wiggins.
Best Velocity: Chris Stratton, rhp, Mississippi State University.
Best Breaking Stuff: Chris Stratton, rhp, Mississippi State University.
Best Pitchability: Kendal Graveman, rhp, Mississippi State University.

TOP PROSPECTS, GROUPS ONE and TWO

GROUP ONE (Projected ELITE-Round Draft / Rounds 1-3)

1. CHRIS STRATTON, rhp, Mississippi State University (Jr.).
Stratton stamped himself as a legitimate first-round candidate when he went head-to-head with LSU righthander Kevin Gausman in the opening game of the Southeastern Conference schedule, and outpitched one of the top candidates to go No. 1 overall. Stratton struck out 17 in 8-2/3 innings, while walking two and allowing four hits. His fastball was a steady 92-94 mph, peaking at 95, but the difference-maker in his dominant outing was a nasty 85-87 mph slider, a pitch that he added to his repertoire in just the last year. Stratton has also resorted this spring to emphasizing a two-seam fastball vs. a four-seamer, and has responded by going 7-0, 2.71 with 88 strikeouts in 66 innings, while walking 16 and allowing just 49 hits. His performance to date has been a significant upgrade from his first two seasons at Mississippi State, when he served as a weekend starter but went only a combined 10-10, 5.25 with 152 strikeouts in 154 innings. At 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, Stratton has an ideal pitcher’s frame. He also has a quick arm and a very easy, clean delivery that he repeats consistently. Stratton has always had a good feel for pitching and adapted well in the fall to changes in his style and approach to his craft. The addition of a slider not only provided him a second dominant pitch, but essentially solidified his case to be a starter down the road as he now has four solid pitches for the role, including a curve and changeup as his No. 3 and 4 pitches.

This is PG 'DiamondKast' Level content.
You must be either an DiamondKast, Crosschecker Rankings & Scouting Reports, or Scout subscriber to read the rest.

Sign in Subscribe Now

Draft | Rankings | 12/24/2025

Top 2027 Collegiate Draft Prospects

Isaiah Burrows
Article Image
With the 2025 cycle officially behind us and the calendar nearly flipping over to 2026, it is time to start looking ahead to the future. More importantly, start looking ahead to the next season of college baseball and what that may mean for draft-eligible players with big dreams of continuing their journey. While the 2026 MLB Draft is now on the horizon, we are looking ahead to the future even further – to see which players have already made impacts upon their arrival to college campuses. We have already dropped our 2028 Top 75 collegiate prospects board, but this one is our Top 100 college prospects who will be eligible for the 2027 class. These are the Top 100 players in our eyes for this group, and many of them have already shown up on campus and been impactful in many ways. Whether its our top-ranked player in Oregon State’s Dax Whitney or ninth-ranked William Schmidt...
College | Story | 12/25/2025

2025 Year in Review: College

Craig Cozart
Article Image
The LSU Tigers Win It All Again For the second time in the last three years, the LSU Tigers, led by head coach Jay Johnson secured the national title. The national championship was the eight in LUS program history as they swept Coastal Carolina in the MCWS championship series. As a result, Johnson was virtually a unanimous choice for National Coach of the Year on media outlets and is the fastest coach to win multiple CWS championships at a single school. The tournament’s Most Outstanding Player was Tigers’ lefthanded ace and Perfect Game First-Team All-American, Kade Anderson highlighted by his complete-game shutout in Game 1 of the CWS Finals. The roster was a tremendous blend of offensive firepower, frontline pitching and elite defense, leaving opponents with very few avenues to victory. PG Second-Team All-American, Jared Jones was the heart of the lineup with his 20...
High School | General | 12/24/2025

2025 Year In Review: High School

Cam McElwaney
Article Image
IMG Academy Takes Home the National Title Every year IMG Academy comes into the spring with top-to-bottom one of the top rosters in the country and every year have the expectation of winning the national championship. Well in 2025 they did just that after finishing the spring 24-1, winning the High School Showdown, and winning 15 straight games to end their season. Their high end offensive ability was on full display throughout the year and they will once again be one of the most talented teams in the country in ’26 as they look to go back-to-back. Two Top-10 Picks in the MLB Draft Headline National Players of the Year It was another loaded crop that took home the National Players of the Year as both Ethan Holliday, the National Player of the Year, and Seth Hernandez, National Pitcher of the Year, heard their names called within the first-10 picks in the MLB Draft. Another first...
Draft | Rankings | 12/23/2025

Top 2028 Collegiate Draft Prospects

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
The college players in the 2028 draft class have yet to step on campus, but they're positioned to make an immediate impact. Several high end talents either turned down significant money last year or honored strong college commitments, resulting in their arrival on campus this fall. The class is currently led by a trio of high-upside arms in Jack Bauer, Angel Cervantes, and Cameron Appenzeller. They are followed by a deep group of bats that rounds out a strong, high end Top-10. Rk. Name Level Pos. B-T School Hometown State 1 Jack Bauer C LHP L-L Mississippi State Frankfort IL 2 Angel Cervantes C RHP R-R UCLA Lynwood CA 3 Cameron Appenzeller C LHP L-L Tennessee Springfield IL 4 Brayden Jaksa C C R-R Oregon Fremont  CA 5 JD Stein C SS R-R Wake Forest Carmel IN 6 Mason Ligenza C OF L-L Pittsburgh Brockton PA 7 Ty Peeples C OF L-R Georgia Lavonia GA 8 Lucas Franco C SS L-R TCU Katy TX 9...
Juco | Story | 12/23/2025

2025 Year in Review: JUCO

Blaine Peterson
Article Image
Looking Back at the 2025 Top 10  Matt Barr (‘25 Niagara, ‘26 Minnesota Twins) Bursting onto the scene last winter, footage of an indoor bullpen rocketed Barr onto the radar of many. Explosive fastball reaches near triple digits with incredible spin numbers across the secondaries. Huge numbers at Niagara earned him the title of the first Juco player drafted in 2025. JC Vanek (‘25 Chipola, ‘26 Kansas City Royals) Just a professional hitter. Vanek for two years at Chipola was an impossible out. While there are questions if the power will ever reach what it takes to play first base at the big league level, the bat and quality defensive skillset at first base may carry. Donovan Becerra (‘25 New Mexico, ‘26 Texas Tech) One of the more high octane arms anywhere in the country last year. Can reach back for upper 90’s and has shown serious swing and...
Draft | Story | 12/22/2025

2025 Year in Review: Draft

Isaiah Burrows
Article Image
2025 Year in Review: Draft We’ve reached the end of the 2025 calendar year, and while we’ve already jumped in on the 2026 cycle with some of the fall events and post-draft content we’ve had here at Perfect Game, there’s still one more piece on the docket, and that’s the 2025 Year-In-Review piece here from the PG Draft staff.  The 2025 MLB Draft took place in July, when many highly talented players heard their names called and continued their journey through the game to the next level. There’s already been some of those names making noise in the minors and guys who are moving up prospect lists and becoming names to know for MLB fans digging deep into the future of their organizations. While we are going to “close the book” on 2025 with this article, these players still have many years ahead of them, and many blank pages to continue...
College | Recruiting | 12/22/2025

Recruiting Notebook: December 22

Jheremy Brown
Article Image
Lucien Saint Cyr, INF, Class of 2026 Commitment: Bucknell Saint Cyr announced his pledge to Bucknell, giving the Bison an interesting blend of present tools and projection. Saint Cyr stands 6-foot-1 and offers room to fill in his medium frame, profiling in the middle infield defensively. The New York product starts wide at the base in the right-handed box, keeping his hands high behind the ear. He works into a subtle outward step load, firing through a compact barrel that showcases bat speed and gap-to-gap impact. For head coach Scott Heather and Bucknell, they land a high-quality Northeast infielder in the ’26 cycle, adding to a class that takes the quality over quantity approach. Patrick Diaz ('26, NY) 102 EV off the bat. Impact to the pull side. #PGNational @PGMidAtlantic @PG_Uncommitted pic.twitter.com/NN0L3FRdO9 — PG Showcases (@PGShowcases) July 9, 2025 Patrick Diaz,...
High School | General | 12/19/2025

Huntington Beach HS World Series Recap

Steve Fiorindo
Article Image
MVPitcher: Duncan McLeod The uncommitted junior toed the slab in three of the four games for Team Mick, tossing 3 2/3 innings.  Zero walks, zero hits and 6 punchouts for the lefty who was used both as a starter in the series clinching game 4 and he closed out game 3 on Friday in quick fashion.  McLeod was very efficient as well, needing just 42 pitches over all his outings.  In the game 4 start, over two innings he punched out 3, with one strikeout with all of his offerings.  The mid 80’s fastball regularly played up, set up with efficient use of the secondaries, with the breaking ball 73/74 and fading change-up 72-74.   Owen Bone (2026) at it again... Solo shot in the 5th to tie things up. Back to back days with a home run for Bone. #PGHS pic.twitter.com/2JC9qETI5h — Perfect Game California (@California_PG) December 13, 2025 MV Hitter: ...
Tournaments | Story | 12/19/2025

13u Tourney All-American Team

Jheremy Brown
Article Image
What a year it was in 2025 on the national landscape at the 13u level as Perfect Game continues to expand its reach around the country, providing an even bigger schedule of events coast-to-coast which has allowed players all over show out and gain their deserved recognition. Whether in Texas for the Houston 1000 or the 13u WWBA in West Palm Beach, we saw huge, eye opening performances from the players placed below, knowing that we could EASILY build a third team and likely a fourth without much effort.  As we do every year with this exercise, it's worth pointing out the trickiness of this age group and putting the teams together with the 13u group. While the players are all members of the Class of 2030, some are younger for the grade, which allowed them to play at the 12u level where's it's a smaller field, shorter mound distance and different bats, so we'll separate them out and...
Tournaments | Story | 12/18/2025

14u Tourney All-American Team

Tyler Russo
Article Image
Player of the Year: Asher Williams It was an incredible year for Williams that was rewarded with a trip to the 14U Select Fest, before some more impressive play in the fall. He came to the plate almost 250 times in PG tournaments throughout 2025 and reached base in well over half of them, hitting to a .500 AVG while slugging a 14U circuit best 12 bombs and driving in 113 runs. The numbers on the surface are ridiculous, but when you look at the high-level events he put them up in, it makes it even more impressive. Pitcher of the Year: Tristan Blalock Blalock earns this honor after a dominant 2025 where he struck out 85 batters in just 48.2 innings of work with a minuscule 1.58 ERA. This included several strong performances at many national level tournaments and showcases where he was able to bully some of the best hitters in the country. It’s hard not to fall in love with...
Loading more articles...