Mississippi State Baseball Prepares For the 2023 MLB Draft

College baseball is not different than other college sports when it comes to sweating out a professional draft. However, baseball is different because a program could lose a guy to the MLB Draft before he even gets to campus.

Mississippi State lost Braves star Austin Riley to the MLB Draft back in 2016. MLB teams will be sweating out the Draft as they prepare to build their franchise around young stars, but college coaches everywhere are selfishly hoping that some of their top signees make it to campus and current players stay on campus.

Mississippi State has a few players that they know will more than likely including current Bulldogs Colton Ledbetter and Kellum Clark and high school signee Colin Houck. The key for the Diamond Dawgs will be to get some “swing” guys to be a part of next year's roster.

Cade Smith, Aaron Nixon, and Amani Larry are a trio of swing guys. These three have a Senior season they could return for, and the Bulldogs will need them.

Smith, who struggled with injuries this season down the stretch, was the best weekend starter for MSU. Nixon, who also dealt with injuries, was a big piece of the backend of the bullpen for MSU. With the struggles on the mound this year for the Bulldogs, they must get one, if not both, of these guys back.

Larry, who started 52 games for MSU at second base and batted .297, is someone who the Bulldogs would love to have back, but he is even more of a need if they miss out on a couple of high school guys. Dylan Cupp, a shortstop out of Cedartown, Georgia, is ranked as the Number 103 prospect by MLB.com in this year's draft.

Cupp is a guy that the Bulldogs expect to make it to campus, but the draft is unpredictable, so Lemonis should take nothing for granted. With David Mershon expected to hold down one of the spots in the middle infield, MSU might need to keep looking to fill the other position.