MSU/ George County alum Logan Tanner picked in 2nd round by Cincinnati Reds
The by-product of Mississippi State and Ole Miss going back-to-back as College World Series champions and Southern Miss hosting a Super Regional for the very first time has come to light over the last 24 hours with a dozen players combined from the three schools getting selected in the first ten rounds of the MLB First Year Player Draft. Three of those players hail from right here in the six coastal counties.
Starting with George County’s own Logan Tanner in Sunday’s second round, going 55th overall to the Cincinnati Reds with a slot value of $1.37 million dollars.
Tanner now the highest-drafted catcher to ever come out of Mississippi State where he hit 24 career home runs and threw out 37 percent of base stealers during his three years in Starkville.
He could have been a high draft pick coming out of high school as a pitcher, but Tanner says he didn’t want to play every fifth day, he wanted to play every day and now he’s getting the chance to do that as the 15th George County player ever drafted. George County Head Baseball Coach Brandon Davis said, “To see him come there and that high of a draft pick, the highest catcher drafted out of Mississippi State ever, it’s really something. It’s kind of surreal, like you knew it when you were coaching. When you coach those guys at a young age, you have a really good idea that they have a chance to do some special things in baseball, if they don’t get hurt, if things work out for them and they keep working hard, and it did for him.”
Tanner said, “It’s awesome. I bet on myself going to school and not taking any money out of high school and being able to play every day and being able to prove myself that I can play every day, catch and hit every day and just being able to do that and achieving what I wanted to do at the position I wanted to do it at has just been awesome. And being able to go through college and mature as a player and as a person has been huge for me and I think that making that decision was the best decision I’ve made.”
According to MLB Pipeline, Tanner is the 41st ranked draft prospect from the class of 2022. He says he already got a Cincinnati Reds hat today and wore it all day on the golf course.
