Houston Roth to sign with Baltimore Orioles

Published 11:35 am Thursday, June 27, 2019

The final Rebel member of the former Oxford High trio is heading to the professional ranks.

Ole Miss pitcher Houston Roth announced Wednesday evening that he would forego his final year of college eligibility and turn to professional baseball.

Roth, the 29th round draft pick by the Baltimore Orioles, played just about every role for Ole Miss this season. He started games, closed games and came in for long relief. Now, the Oxford native will be taking the next step in his baseball career with the Baltimore organization.

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“In my time here, we’ve set so many records and won a lot of games. I wouldn’t trade the past three years of my life for anything,” Roth said. “Oxford has been home to me my entire life and I cannot begin to tell you what an honor it has been to perform in front of you all. I’ve made all my dreams of playing baseball in Oxford for the past 15 years come true by wearing Ole Miss across my chest. Now it’s time for me to chase my dreams elsewhere.”

Along with Grae Kessinger and Thomas Dillard, both of whom signed professional contracts over the past two weeks, Roth was one of the three Rebels that came straight from Oxford High School to Ole Miss.

In his junior year, Roth was arguably the Rebels’ most consistent arm. He finished the season with a 3.78 ERA over 21 appearances and got even better as the season progressed. Over the last six weeks of the season, Roth pitched 18.1 innings allowing just three runs.

As a late-round selection, Houston Roth is guaranteed no signing bonus. Yet he chose to leave the Rebels to get his professional career underway regardless.

Theoretically, he was slated to have a good chance of being the third Rebel starter in the weekend rotation for the 2020 season. His departure leaves a hole in the weekend rotation that Mike Bianco and Co. will have to find a way to fill.