Jordan Westburg: from bananas to Baltimore
Just about every great player leaves behind a legacy. Perhaps it's a record, like former Mississippi State outfielder Jake Mangum's Southeastern Conference career hits total. Maybe it's a nickname, like former Bulldogs Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro – or Thunder and Lightning. Or possibly, it's a....piece of fruit?
It's quite possible in the future that when Mississippi State baseball fans remember shortstop Jordan Westburg, the first thing to come to mind will be a banana. Westburg was chosen in the first round of this past week's MLB Draft by the Baltimore Orioles. With a slot value of more than $2 million dollars, he'll almost certainly begin his professional career. No matter how far Westburg goes in his life though, in MSU circles, he'll always be the man that for a few weeks made the banana the symbol of Bulldog baseball.
Back in June of 2018, former MSU pitcher Cole Gordon described the origins of Westburg's rally banana, which originated in that year's Tallahassee regional.
“I was pitching when it started,” Gordon recalled. “Apparently Jordan was hungry, so he got a banana. Then he got another one and started playing with it and messing around. He used it as a radar gun. He put sunscreen on it and bug spray at one point. I think one game, it was at the spa, so it had a towel and was able to relax the whole game. We’ve just kind of used it for a lot of things and kept it funny and kept it loose.”
Once the Bulldogs roared back through the loser's bracket in Tallahassee, then won the Super Regional at Vanderbilt to get to Omaha, Mississippi State and Bulldog fans everywhere were officially bought all in on the banana.
Retailers sold MSU/banana themed T-shirts, which quickly sold out. Fans in Omaha seemed to almost adopt banana yellow as another school color. Even the Chiquita banana company joined in, sending a tweet in support of the Bulldogs.
“The fans have really taken it to a new level,” Gordon said back then. “It’s funny to watch. It’s cool for Jordan. He started something that you really don’t think is going to be that big and it has taken off.”
Westburg, perhaps powered by potassium, went on to become the 48th player all-time to hit a grand slam in the College World Series back in 2018. He also tied the all time CWS record with his seven-RBI game. And by the way, this was when he was just a freshman.
It was just the beginning of two more solid seasons from Westburg as a Bulldog. Here is his full MSU bio, courtesy of Mississippi State media relations:
Westburg was off to the best start of his career before the 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as he was hitting .317 with 17 runs scored, 11 RBIs and eight extra base hits in 16 starts at shortstop. He had scored a run in 10 of the 16 games to start the season and led the team in slugging percentage (.517), doubles (6) and hit-by-pitch (7), while tying for team best in home runs (2), runs scored (17) and total bases (31).
A preseason second-team All-SEC pick in 2020, he reached base in 78 of 82 games dating back to the start of the 2019 season and owned a 30-game reached base streak spanning 2019 and 2020. Finishing No. 15 on the career hit-by-pitch charts, Westburg was on base 23 times via the HBP and walked 55 more for a .385 career on-base percentage. In his career, he owned four reached-base streaks of 10-or-more games and produced 38 multi-hit games.
The 48th student-athlete to hit a grand slam at the College World Series, Westburg tied the CWS record for RBIs in a game with seven versus North Carolina on June 19, 2018. He was invited to the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team trials, before spending the 2019 summer in the Cape Cod Baseball League where hit .326 with four home runs.
It all culminated on Wednesday when Westburg was taken by the Orioles with the draft's 30th overall selection.
So assuming Westburg indeed signs with the Orioles, he's now on a path towards Baltimore. And if times get tough as he tries to get to the big leagues, maybe, just maybe, Westburg can turn back to the power of the piece of produce that put him on everyone's radar two years ago.