By Robert Wilson
Jackson Academy alumnus, 2022 Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year and Mississippi State freshman All-American outfielder Dakota Jordan apparently will be finding a new place to play baseball for next season.
DI baseball announced on twitter that Jordan entered the transfer portal Tuesday.
Jordan was one of the bright spots for Mississippi State this season, which suffered its second consecutive subpar season since winning the national championship in 2020.
The 6-foot, 220-pound Jordan hit .307 (second best on the team) with 10 home runs, 9 doubles, 1 triple, a team-high 40 runs batted in this season. He hit a team-high .333 with eight home runs in SEC games. Jordan made 34 starts in left field, four in centerfield and three at designated hitter.
Jordan was named second team freshman All-American by Perfect Game.
Jordan has continued his outstanding play this summer.
The New England Collegiate Baseball League named Jordan the first Player of the Week of the season. Jordan hit .429 with 4 RBIs and led the Gulls to a 5-0 start to their season.
Two other MSU position players who started this season have also entered the transfer portal. Third baseman Slate Alford, who hit .248 with nine home runs and started 40 games, and shortstop Lane Forsythe, who hit .248 and started 36 games. Alford has committed to Georgia. Forsythe has not committed.
Jordan has been invited to the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Training Camp, which will feature 56 of the top non-draft eligible college players for a five-game Stars vs. Stripes intrasquad series in Cary, North Carolina, Sunday through June 29. USA Baseball will announce a 26-man Collegiate National Team roster after training camp to represent the country in a friendship series against Chinese Taipei and Japan June 30-July 12.
As a senior at JA, Jordan set school records with 16 home runs (fifth highest in the nation, two behind the leader, according to MaxPreps), a .524 batting average, a .635 on-base percentage, a 1.180 slugging percentage, 57 runs batted in and tied the school record with 55 runs. Jordan was four short of tying the MAIS home run record, set by Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Hunter Renfroe of Copiah Academy in 2010.
Jordan broke school records of Matt Denny (12 home runs, 56 RBIs and .938 slugging percentage in 2011), David Mooney (.512 batting average in 2005), Trent Tyre (.589 on-base percentage in 2018) and tied Edwin Smith’s run record in 2018.
Jordan was rated No. 30 among high school players by Athlon Sports for the Major League Draft in July but wasn’t drafted because he let it be known he was going to MSU.
Jordan, who originally signed to also play football at MSU, set the JA school record with 877 receiving yards as a senior. Jordan broke Langston Anderson’s mark of 765 yards in 2016 despite missing the first game. Jordan was in San Diego playing baseball in the Perfect Game Showcase.
