From the Coast to the pros: Here’s every South MS player vying for a Major League spot
Major League Baseball Spring Training is in full effect as teams gear up for the 2025 MLB season.
The Mississippi Coast is represented in the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues, as well as in the farm systems of MLB organizations.
The Coast has eight athletes currently playing organized ball and four of them are sitting on 40-man rosters with strong odds of making it to Opening Day.
Another is on a spring training roster while four more are on minor league rosters awaiting assignment.
Here’s the list of pros from the Coast.
On an MLB 40-man roster
INF Colt Keith, Detroit Tigers
Biloxi High School
The Ohio native graduated from Biloxi High in 2020 and was taken by the Tigers in the 5th round of the amateur draft. He signed the largest pre-debut contract in Tigers history in January, 2024 and made his first big league appearance on March 28.
Keith hit 13 home runs as a rookie and is off to a hot start in spring training, recording five hits in his first 13 at-bats.
RHP Trevor McDonald, San Francisco Giants
George County High School
McDonald joined Keith in making his MLB debut in 2024, five years after being taken in the 11th round of the 2019 draft straight out of George County. McDonald’s debut came at the end of the season on Sept. 29 and saw him pitch three shutout innings in relief against St. Louis.
The 24-year-old Mobile native is currently working for an active roster spot in spring training.
LHP Justin Steele, Chicago Cubs
George County High School
Steele’s 8.3 career WAR is first among active Coast players. The four-year Cub was an All Star in 2023 and finished fifth in NL Cy Young voting that year.
Steele has 98 career appearances and 87 starts with a lifetime ERA of 3.24. His 2025 $6.55 million salary is the most of among active MLB players from the Coast.
LHP Garrett Crochet, Boston Red Sox
Ocean Springs High School
Crochet was a first round pick out of Tennessee in the same draft as Keith in 2020. He debuted just months later for the Chicago White Sox, but has since changed the color of his stockings after a December trade sent him to Boston.
Crochet is coming off an All Star season and is vying to be the Red Sox ace ahead of Tanner Houck, Lucas Giolito and Walker Buehler.
Spring Training invite
Konnor Pilkington, Washington Nationals
East Central High School
The former Mississippi State Bulldog is working his way back into contention for a spot on an MLB roster after showing promise for the Cleveland Guardians in 2022. Pilkington spent the entire 2024 season in the Arizona Diamondbacks system and signed a minor league contract with a spring training invite with Washington over the offseason.
Minor Leagues
- RHP Bubba Hall, Washington Nationals (East Central High School)
- C Logan Tanner, Cincinnati Reds (George County High School)
- RHP Brendan Hardy, Colorado Rockies (Harrison Central High School)
- RHP Colby White, New York Yankees (Poplarville High School)
