Hunter Elliott wasn’t expected to sign with the Dodgers after Los Angeles took him in the 20th round of this month’s MLB Draft, but the proverbial sigh of relief from the Ole Miss staff likely didn’t come until Thursday.
The left-hander announced his intentions to remain a Rebel with a Twitter post reading, “See you at Swayze” along with a picture of him from the 2022 season.
The Dodgers never got close to signing Elliott with the approximately $150,000 they had available without going over the luxury threshold. Elliott turns 22 years old later this year.
Elliott, a freshman hero of the national title team in 2022, had surgery on May 3, 2023 and has pitched in only two games for Ole Miss since starting the championship-clinching victory against Oklahoma in the College World Series 25 months ago.
Texas Rangers team physician Dr Keith Meister performed the operation.
In that 2022 postseason, Elliott threw 25.1 innings and allowed four earned runs in Ole Miss wins over Miami, Southern Miss, Arkansas and Oklahoma. The Rebels won the last seven games he pitched in that season.
Elliott suffered a UCL sprain following his five-inning start on opening day in 2023 against Delaware and shut down for eight weeks before returning against LSU on April 22. He threw 49 pitches and gave up five runs in one-plus innings versus the Tigers.
Elliott, assuming he gets back to original form, is the headliner and lates positive in a string of current players returning to Ole Miss for next season. Right-handers Riley Maddox, Connor Spencer and Mason Nichols all announced their returns recently.
Xavier Rivas, who is five months removed from Tommy John surgery, signed with the Yankees after New York took him in the 16th round.
Grayson Saunier (Texas), Liam Doyle (Tennessee), Wes Mendes (Florida State) and JT Quinn (Georgia) all signed with new schools out of the transfer portal after throwing notable innings for Ole Miss this past season.
Ole Miss’ incoming freshman class is intact outside of Slade Calwell, the Arkansas outfielder the Diamondbacks took in the first round. He’s expected to sign with Arizona and bypass college. From a pitching standpoint, California product Cade Townsend is the class headliner.
The Rebels picked up right-handers Alex Canney (Tampa) and Will McCausland (St. Joseph’s) out of the transfer portal.
Ole Miss hired Joel Mangrum as pitching coach following the season. Mangrum was the minor league pitching coordinator for the Cleveland Guardians.
Elliott is expected to be fully healthy for fall practice in a couple months. He’s in the final stages of his recovery throwing program – a plan that typically lasts 14 months under Meister.
