Mississippi State baseball earns Top 15 recruiting class from Collegiate Baseball
The following is courtesy of Mississippi State media relations:
The Mississippi State baseball program and head coach Chris Lemonis have received the second top-25 ranking for the 2020 recruiting class, as Collegiate Baseball ranked the 22-person class No. 11 nationally on Friday (Sept. 18).
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. 24) and 2019 (No. 9) classes each landing in the top 25 nationally.
Already, the incoming class was tabbed as the No. 17-ranked group in the country by Baseball America.
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.
Graduate transfer Scott Debrule joins the program from Jacksonville University, where he was a two-time All-Atlantic Sun pick and ended 2020 among the top 15 active Division I leaders in hits (2nd; 249), at-bats (2nd; 770), games played (3rd; 197) and runs scored (15th; 138). Freshman Stone Simmons will enter his second collegiate season with the Bulldogs after Furman dropped its program following 2020. After leading all Texas private school pitchers in ERA and victories as a senior in high school, Simmons became the Paladins No. 1 starter by the end of his true freshman season.
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 Collegiate Baseball Top 40 Recruiting Classes
1. Miami (Fla.)
2. Vanderbilt
3. LSU
4. Arizona
5. Florida
6. UCLA
7. Texas
8. South Carolina
9. Arkansas
10. Arizona State
11. Mississippi State
12. Florida State
13. TCU
14. Texas Tech
15. Georgia Tech
16. Georgia
17. North Carolina
18. Ole Miss
19. Auburn
20. Virginia
21. Louisville
22. Oklahoma
23. Oklahoma State
24. Houston
25. Tennessee
26. Stanford
27. USC
28. Clemson
29. Washington State
30. Duke
31. FIU
32. Wake Forest
33. Missouri
34. San Diego
35. East Carolina
36. Michigan
37. Kentucky
38. Texas A&M
39. Oregon
40. NC State
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