By Robert Wilson
Jake Mangum is headed to the show.
The former Jackson Prep and Mississippi State outfielder was called up by the Tampa Bay Rays and will join the team for this weekend opening season series against the Colorado Rockies in Tampa.
Rays starting outfielder Josh Lowe suffered an oblique injury in Friday’s game and was placed on the 10-day injured list making room for Mangum’s call up.
Tampa and Colorado play its second game of the series Saturday at 3:10 p.m. Central.
The 29-year-old Mangum was on the 40-man roster with the big league club in the spring training and hit .429 with 2 doubles, 3 home runs, 5 runs, 9 RBIs and a .750 slugging percentage in 15 games, but was sent down to Class AAA Wednesday. He was one of three players vying for a backup outfield role. Mangum hit a league high .317 with six home runs, and 20 stolen bases for Durham last season.
“God is good,” Mangum said on his twitter account, @jakemangum15. “He was with me every step o the way through the good and the bad. Even on the days when I didn’t feel His presence. Thank you everyone who has helped me get here today. Can’t even begin to tell y’all how many people that is.”
TV sportscaster Ryan Bass from Tampa added more about Mangum’s trip to the major leagues on his twitter post today. Bass said Mangum had to take a three-hour uber from Norfolk, where Durham was playing, to Durham to pack a big and fly out this morning to Tampa.
“(My uber driver) Amy’s an angel. She was fantastic,” Mangum said about the 3-hour, late-evening ride.”FaceTimed my dad and my mom was with him,” Mangum said after he got the news from Bulls skipper Morgan Ensberg. “It was their wedding anniversary, so that was really cool. I didn’t cry too bad until I saw my mom cry…it was just a lot of special phone calls and text messages. It was special moment.”
Mangums aid his mom Stacy and father drove through the night to get to town. They got into their Tampa hotel at 8am.
“They’re sleeping right now,” Mangum joked. “They’ll be at the game today. We got a pretty good crew coming, so we’re excited.”
Mangum was a fourth-round draft pick by the New York Mets in the 2019 Major League Draft. He was traded to the Florida Marlins in December, 2022 and then traded to the Rays in December, 2023. Mangum has played five seasons in the minor leagues and has a .296 career batting average.
Mangum finished his career at MSU (2016-2019) with a SEC record 383 hits, fourth most in NCAA history. He hit .357 in his college career with 73 doubles, 10 triples, five homers, 126 RBIs and 56 steals. Mangum helped MSU reach the College World Series his junior and senior seasons. He holds school records with 262 games played, 1,074 at bats, 73 doubles and 45 hit by pitches.
Mangum was a three-time high school All-American at Prep. As a senior, Mangum hit .504 with 46 runs and 46 RBIs and had an 8-0 pitching record and a 1.48 earned run average.
“We are just so proud of Jake and what he has done as a baseball player and as a young man to represent not only a program and school, but Mississippi State and the state of Mississippi,” said Prep coach Brent Heavener, who was associate head coach with Chuck Box when Mangum was at Prep. “He’s one of the hardest working people I’ve ever been around. He has kept his goal in his sight, and it’s paid off. Jake has been a standout at every level that he has played at. And it’s no question that he is ready for this moment. I think it says a lot about our program that we have two players in the major leagues (Prep grad Will Warren is a pitcher for the New York Yankees) and another one that won’t take long to get there (Prep grad Konnor Griffin was a first-round draft pick in the 2024 Major League Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates). There are a lot of people in Jackson that are now Tampa fans. I know I speak for myself, the coaches and all his teammates that were pulling for him and can’t wait to see what happens.”
Mangum is the son Stacy and John Mangum. John played defensive back for Alabama and the Chicago Bears. Jake is the nephew of former Ole Miss and Carolina Panthers tight end Kris Mangum. Jake’s grandfather, John Mangum, Sr., played football at Ole Miss and Southern Mississippi and Boston Patriots in the American Football League. Jake’s sister Abbey is on the MSU dance team and Jake’s sister Bailey graduated from MSU.
