By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – For the second time in the past seven months, a former Tennessee Tech baseball player has been pegged to join the Colorado Rockies organization as junior right-handed hurler Hunter Mann was selected by the club based in Denver in the 14th round of the 2023 MLB Draft Tuesday afternoon.
Mann, who was the 412th overall selection in this year's annual draft, joins former Golden Eagle slugger Jason Hinchman in the Rockies organization. Hinchman, the Ohio Valley Conference's all-time leader in home runs, had his contract selected by Colorado in January after playing with the Glacier Range Riders, an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, an MLB Partner League that began play in 2022.
Joining the Golden Eagle squad for the 2023 campaign after transferring from Columbia State CC, Mann started the year in the bullpen, picking up a save in his debut in the purple and gold. He quickly transitioned into a starting role, making his first start of the year against No. 7 Vanderbilt before joining the weekend rotation four days later.
The junior tossed a pair of special outings at the beginning of April, fanning 12 batters in six innings of work in a tough loss at Morehead State. He followed it up with 11 punch-outs and no walks in another six innings on the hill in a win over Lindenwood.
The performance against the Lions earned the hard-throwing righty Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week honors. After becoming the first Tech hurler to record double-digit strikeouts in back-to-back starts since Hess did so in 2014, he moved to the top of the Golden Eagle rotation, locking down that spot for the remainder of the season.
He saved his best performance of the year for last, putting the purple and gold on his back in the first game of the OVC Tournament. He twirled seven shutout innings while limiting SIUE to just four hits and two walks and added 10 more Ks to his season total. Mann finished the 2023 campaign as the league's leader in strikeouts, compiling 91 over 70 innings of work.
Making 13 starts and 18 total appearances, he posted a 4-6 mark with a 6.17 ERA and team-highs in starts, wins, strikeouts, and innings pitched. His 91 punch-outs represented the ninth-best mark by a Golden Eagle in program history, as did his 11.70 strikeouts-per-nine-innings mark.
With his selection, Mann became the 38th Tennessee Tech baseball player picked up in the MLB Draft and the team's first representative since all-time great Kevin Strohschein was chosen in the 21st round of the 2019 Draft by the Washington Nationals. The Brush Creek, Tenn. native represents the 25th Golden Eagle selected in the draft under the direction of Tech head coach Matt Bragga and the first since the legendary coach's return to Cookeville in 2022.
The 20th pitcher in program history to be selected in the MLB Draft, Mann will look to continue a proud tradition of Tech hurlers to make it to the big leagues. All six Golden Eagles to make it to The Show have been pitchers, a run started by Erik Sabel in 1999 with the Arizona Diamondbacks when he became the first Tech baseball player to debut in the majors.
Each of Tech's other five Major Leaguers have played in the past 10 years, all former members of Bragga's program. Stephen Pryor debuted in 2012 with the Seattle Mariners and was followed by Ryan Dennick's first appearance in 2014 with the Cincinnati Reds. In 2015, Adam Liberatore joined the Los Angeles Dodgers at the top level of the game before David Hess made his big league debut with the Baltimore Orioles in 2018. Tech's current MLB representative, Ethan Roberts, currently pitches for the Chicago Cubs, making his first appearance on Apr. 9, 2022.
Photo by Thomas Corhern
