Super frosh: Jake Mangum takes home Ferriss Trophy (original) (raw)

CLEVELAND — Moments after being named the top college baseball player in Mississippi, Jake Mangum was huddled around a pair of teammates with a sheepish grin on his face that suggested he was not sure what to say or do next.

Who could blame him? One of Mangum’s Mississippi State teammates, Dakota Hudson, will be a first round pick in next month’s MLB Draft. A third Bulldog finalist, Reid Humphreys, and Ole Miss’ J.B. Woodman would have also been deserving winners, and the fifth finalist, Delta State’s Will Robertson, missed the C Spire Ferriss Trophy ceremony because he was in Florida scoring the go-ahead run to keep the Statesmen alive in the DII regional.

There were guys not even at the Cleveland Country Club that in past years would have won the Ferriss Trophy easy. And who was the best of all of them? The freshman, Mangum.

“Just, ‘Wow,’” Mangum said. “It’s hard to believe, it really is.”

The former Jackson Prep star won a vote of scouts and the state’s coaches probably because he is leading the Southeastern Conference in hitting, at .427. That’s third in the NCAA, and first among all freshmen nationally. Mangum also has nine doubles, three triples, a home run, 25 RBI and has struck out only 12 times in 171 at-bats. On Monday he was also named the SEC freshman of the year.

Mangum was in the lineup on opening day, batting ninth, but did not get a second start for another 11 games and was not a regular until the end of March. But he’s hit leadoff and played somewhere in the outfield every day since April 5, a six-week stretch in which the Bulldogs secured the SEC regular season championship.

When coach John Cohen and the Bulldogs received a verbal commitment from Mangum, the veteran coach figured he was going to be a good player for them. But leading the SEC in batting as a freshman? No, he told the crowd, he did not see that coming. Mangum has been so hot, though, that it’s reached the point, Humphreys said, where teammates joke when Mangum does not get a couple of hits.

“I didn’t really come in expecting anything,” Mangum said. “I came in thinking, just work your tail off and hope for the best. Just be there for whoever needs you.”

The first thing Mangum did was thank his parents, especially his dad, who threw so many hours of batting practice in the backyard cage that Mangum joked he probably tore his arm up in the process. And then he went about giving just about everyone else but himself any credit for this accomplishment.

“The guys on my team have helped me out so much this year. Dakota, Reid, so many others,” Mangum said. “There are so many people that deserve this award and should have been here. It’s been a special year for Mississippi.

“Just hard work and my teammates that have helped me out and told me what to expect. There are so many veterans on this Mississippi State team that have just been through so much and shared knowledge with all the young guys on the team like me. That’s why we’re having success, the older guys.”

Here’s what Mangum did not want to say: he’s as big of a reason as any for why the Bulldogs are the No. 1 seed in this week’s SEC Tournament, are No. 3 nationally according to the USA Today coaches poll and (you have to imagine) a total lock for a national seed a year after not making the postseason at all.

Which is why in the midst of a banner year for Mississippi baseball, it was a freshman who was named No. 1.

Contact Hugh Kellenberger at (601) 961-7190 orhkellenber@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @HKellenbergerCL on Twitter.