Ole Miss signees Steven Jennings, Caden Lemons taken in second round of MLB Draft

Published 10:41 pm Monday, June 12, 2017

Steven Jennings and Caden Lemons have signed baseball scholarships with Ole Miss, but there’s a good chance neither makes it to campus.

The right-handed pitchers were taken in the second round of the Major League Baseball Draft Monday night. Jennings went first to the Pittsburgh Pirates with the 42nd overall pick while Lemons was drafted four picks later by the Milwaukee Brewers.

Jennings’ signing bonus is slotted at $1,635,500, according to Baseball America. The slot value for Lemons is $1,493,500. The deadline for teams to sign their draft picks is July 7.

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The Pirates’ selection of the 6-foot-2 Jennings, who played football and baseball at Dekalb County (Tennessee), fell in line with where he was projected to go as a top-50 draft prospect, coming back from a torn ACL in the fall to put together the kind of spring scouts “raved about,” MLB.com senior writer and analyst Jim Callis said before the draft.

Lemons was a top-100 prospect whose increased velocity during his senior season at Vestavia Hill (Alabama) increased his draft stock, Callis said. The 6-6, 175-pound Lemons still has room to fill out but topped out in the high 90s with his fastball this spring.

A third arm in the Rebels’ signing class, Dyer County High (Tennessee) southpaw Jordan Fowler, is expected to go in the early rounds. Fowler is ranked the 209th prospect by Baseball America.

The draft will continue with rounds 3-10 Tuesday before the final 30 rounds are held Wednesday.