Mississippi State baseball earns top signing class ranking
The talent keeps on coming to Starkville. Yet another highly-ranked recruiting class has come to play for Mississippi State baseball. Here are the details, courtesy of MSU media relations, as the Diamond Dogs have picked up a Top-25 class ranking from Baseball America:
Make it three straight seasons that a Top 25 recruiting class has arrived on campus for the Mississippi State baseball program and head coach Chris Lemonis, as Baseball America tabbed the Bulldogs 2020 class as the No. 17-ranked group in the country entering fall workouts.
For Lemonis and his staff – including assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Jake Gautreau, and assistant coaches Scott Foxhall and Kyle Cheesebrough – this marks three straight classes ranked by the publication, with the 2018 (No. 12) and 2019 (No. 6) classes each landing in the top 15 nationally.
Overall, Mississippi State’s recruiting classes have been ranked on 10 occasions by Baseball America, with five of those top-10 classes.
The 22 newcomers include two Division I transfer student-athletes, eight junior college products and 12 freshmen. In all, nine states are represented, including 10 student-athletes that hail from the Magnolia State. Baseball America does not factor Division I transfers into their recruiting rankings.
Of the freshmen, seven were ranked among the Perfect Game top 500 national prospects and 11 of them ranked inside the top 16 in their respective states. Right-handed pitchers Jackson Fristoe (Paducah, Ky.) and Mikey Tepper (Fort Mill, S.C.) were the top-rated recruits from their respective states, while Kellum Clark (No. 4), Cade Smith (No. 6), Shane Lewis (No. 9), Peyton Puckett (No. 12) and Blayze Berry (No. 16) were each among the top 20 in-state prospects.
Three of the top junior college pitchers landed on campus, as left-handed pitchers Cameron Tullar and Kole Alford are joined by right-hander Parker Stinnett. Among junior college prospects nationally, the trio ranked No. 31, 29 and 30, respectively, while fellow pitchers Preston Johnson (No. 101) and Drew Talley (No. 127) also ranked among the top JUCO prospects in the country according to Perfect Game.
2020 Baseball America Top 25 Recruiting Classes:
- Miami
- LSU
- Vanderbilt
- Arizona
- Florida
- South Carolina
- Stanford
- Texas
- Arkansas
- Georgia Tech
- Florida State
- Georgia
- TCU
- Auburn
- Texas Tech
- Oklahoma
- Mississippi State
- North Carolina
- Tennessee
- Oklahoma State
- Ole Miss
- Louisville
- Arizona State
- USC
- FIU
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