First round pick Gunnar Hoglund on the mound to start Ole Miss fall ball

OXFORD | Gunnar Hoglund threw the first pitch of the first Ole Miss fall intrasquad on Friday, beginning his candidacy for a primary role with the pitching staff come spring.

Hoglund, a freshman right-handed pitcher and left-handed hitter, spent the month of June uncertain about his baseball destination after the Pirates took him 36th overall in the MLB First Year Player Draft.

But as the signing deadline approached, a deal never materialized, and Hoglund started summer school in late June and focused on Ole Miss for at least the next three seasons.

“It was a win-win for me and when the Pirates drafted me in the first round we started talking to them and negotiating, but in the end we just didn’t meet up,” Hoglund said. “I’m here and excited and ready to go. I’ve wanted to be an Ole Miss Rebels since I committed.”

The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder picked Ole Miss over fellow finalist Duke and a plethora of other major offers. During his senior season at Fivay High School, Hoglund made national headlines after not walking a hitter during the first 50 innings of the season while piling up 107 strikeouts. He told RebelGrove.com he only had six three-ball counts during that stretch.

Hoglund finished his final prep season undefeated with a 0.27 ERA.

The Rebels don’t return a weekend starter from last season, so there’s ample opportunity for him to find a niche as a freshman.

“He’s a super talented kid,” Ole Miss recruiting coordinator Carl Lafferty said. “All of our pitchers will throw this fall. We don’t return a weekend starter technically, so it’s an open audition, and he’s one of the main guys in that competition.

“He’s also a left-handed hitter with power and swung it well his last two high school years. He always showed power but now hie’s also showing feel for barrel and ability to hit. Everyone wants left-handed juice, and he has that.”

Hoglund will split time at designated hitter and first base as a position player this fall but for now won’t hit on days he’s scheduled to pitch. There’s the chance for Hoglund to be a legitimate two-way presence on the Ole Miss roster.

However it took a stressful summer for the Ole Miss coaches to receive that gift. With the 36th selection the slot value for Hoglund’s spot was $1,967,000, as he was drafted within an hour of Ole Miss ending its season in the Oxford Regional.

But instead of reporting quickly to Bradenton, Florida, days passed, and Hoglund said communication stopped for good with the Pirates the first couple days of July.

“We’ve had several kids like that and you just have a relationship with them where they know you care about them,” Lafferty said. “You want them to be at Ole Miss but that’s part of the world we live in with college baseball and professional baseball. You have to ride the process out with them and communicate with them as often as you can. You hope they make the best decision for themselves, based on the information out there. I didn’t feel completely good about it until the deadline passed.”

Hoglund and junior college transfer Zack Phillips started the Friday intrasquad, but Ole Miss will let the pitching competition shake out over the next few months. Parker Caracci and Max Cioffi aren’t throwing this weekend, and Greer Holston and Houston Roth are also delayed a couple weeks into fall practice because of summer workloads.

Will Ethridge, Jordan Fowler, Kaleb Hill, Doug Nikhazy and Taylor Broadway are a few others on the staff potentially vying to replace Ryan Rolison, Brady Feigl and James McArthur.

"It’s a different pace of play and competition is better, but it’s still the same game,” Hoglund said. “I just need to play my game and be myself. I have some goals. I’m working on my curve and slider right now and just started to implement the slider. With the curve, just tighten it up and make it more consistent.”

Ole Miss has another intrasquad Sunday at 5:30 p.m. and hosts fall games against Delta State on October 13 and Little Rock on October 27. The fall practice period ends with the Pizza Bowl on November 2.