By Robert Wilson
Jackson Prep, Mississippi State and minor league baseball fans have seen Jake Mangum do this hundreds of times.
Only this time it was in a major league regular season game.
Mangum, a switch-hitter batting from the left side of the plate, connected on an 88 miles per hour slider on the outside of the plate and went with the pitch for a single between shortstop and third base with one out in the bottom of the third inning for the Tampa Bay Rays in their 6-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates Monday night at Tampa.
It was the first major league hit for Mangum, who playing in his second major league regular season game, but the 29-year-old right fielder wasn’t finished.
Far from it. Mangum had three more hits on the night and also scored one run, had two runs batted in and stole two bases.
Mangum is playing like he left off in the spring training before the Rays sent him back to Class AAA last Wednesday.
Mangum, batting eighth in the lineup, got his second hit Monday with one out in the bottom of the fourth inning, hitting a single to right field to score two runs. Then, Mangum, batting from the right side, hit a ground rule between right field and centerfield with one out in the bottom of the sixth and scored a run. On a full count with no outs in the bottom of the eighth, Mangum singled to right field for his fourth hit.
After his fourth hit, the Tampa crowd of 10,046, was shouting MAN-GUM, MAN-GUM!
Mangum even has his own billboard that says “Mississippi State to the Show. Tampa, meet your new Mayor, Jake Mangum. Mayor was Mangum’s nickname in Starkville.
“It was really cool for me. My high school guy was (Pirates second baseman) Adam Frazier when he played at Mississippi State and to take the field against him, that was awesome for me,” said Mangum on his interview with TV sports broadcaster Ryan Bass of Tampa. “Tonight was unbelievable. Great team win. Now, we can go get to win the series tomorrow night. This has been three days of craziness. Getting to the big leagues day one, being in the dugout, playing in game two, and then tonight, getting the first hit out of the way. Then after that first hit, it was like, take a deep breath, let’s win a ballgame. This clubhouse has been so much fun. So phenomenal. What the staff has preached all spring training is coming to fruition. This is all surreal. Glory to God. I would not be here without Him. I’m far for perfect, but He’s been with me very step of the way.”
Mangum went 0 for 3 with a walk in his major league debut Sunday after a whirlwind 24 Friday night and Saturday morning. He didn’t play in Saturday’s game.
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.
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, Saturday. “He was with me every step of 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.”
Bass added more about Mangum’s trip to the major leagues on his twitter post Saturday. 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.”
Mangum said his mom Stacy and father drove through the night to get to town. They got into their Tampa hotel at 8 am Saturday morning.
Lifelong friend Gardner Minshew, a Brandon High alumnus who is now the backup quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, also came to support Mangum in Tampa. Minshew was one of about two dozen family and friends who came to Tampa to cheer on Mangum.
“We are all here to support, couldn’t be prouder of him,” Minshew said on an interview this weekend with Bass. “He deserves it so much. I’m excited for him to get his opportunity. I couldn’t be happier for him. He has sacrificed so much over the years, so much work he has put in, many ups and downs. Even though he has hit like .400 for his life and it seems like it would never happen, has happened. Nobody is more ready. So happy to be here for him. His mindset has been so impressive. I talked to him when he had got sent down to Durham and he handled it like a champ. He’s going to keep hitting and he’s going to get his chance eventually. It’s here and the Rays have made a good decision. It’s time to go, man.”
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.
