Okay, so I wanted to see how many Mississippi State baseball players made it to the MLB in 2024. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, let me tell you, it turned into a bit of a wild goose chase, but a fun one!
First, I hit up the usual spots – you know, the big sports websites and some official MLB pages. I figured they’d have a straightforward list, but nope. I found some articles mentioning the “rich tradition” of Mississippi State players in the pros, and even saw that they had 50 players in professional baseball this season. Cool, cool, but not exactly what I was looking for.
Then I stumbled upon this website, Baseball Almanac, which claimed to have a comprehensive chart of every Mississippi State player in the MLB. It seemed promising! They had a list, starting way back in 1909 with Willie Mitchell. That’s some history right there! The list went on with names like Bunny Hearn and Rags Faircloth. I gotta say, those old-timey baseball names are something else. But here’s the thing, they didn’t have a filter for just 2024, so I had to get my hands dirty.
I started digging through the list, noting down the players and their debut years. This is where things got a little tedious. I mean, we’re talking about over a hundred years of players! But hey, I was committed.
I also learned a bit about baseball positions and their corresponding numbers. Did you know that the pitcher is number 1, the catcher is 2, and so on? I had no idea! I felt like I was getting a mini-education in baseball while doing this.
After a while, I decided to cross-reference the names with current MLB rosters. I used the information I found about Mississippi State providing weekly updates on their players. I figured if any of these guys were still playing in 2024, they’d be mentioned in those updates.
My Findings
- Willie Mitchell: Played from 1905-1909, debuted on 09-22-1909.
- Bunny Hearn (Elon): Played from 1908-1909, debuted on 09-17-1910.
- Rags Faircloth: Played from 1911-1912, debuted on 05-06-1919.
- Ray Roberts: Played from 1914-1919, debuted on 09-12-1919.
- (And many more…)
This whole process took me way longer than I expected. But, I managed to identify a bunch of players who were active in 2024! It wasn’t just about finding the names. I learned a lot about baseball history, the positions, and how players move from college to the pros. Plus, it was pretty cool to see how many players from Mississippi State have made it to the big leagues over the years.
So yeah, that’s my little adventure in tracking down Mississippi State baseball players in the MLB for 2024. It wasn’t as straightforward as I thought, but I definitely learned a lot along the way. And hey, now I know who Bunny Hearn is!
