Home run king Hunter Hines drafted by the Nationals in the 10th round
A year after being unselected in the MLB Draft, Hunter Hines is seeing a dream fulfilled.
Mississippi State’s all-time leader in home runs, Hines was taken with the 291st pick in the draft and in the 10th round by the Washington Nationals. He came back to school for his senior season after missing out completely on the draft in 2024.
The return was ultimately a great decision for Hines who has a slot value at his pick of $193,800. After batting .257 as a junior and striking out 74 times, Hines raised his average to .280 and dropped his strikeouts to 60 – second fewest of his career.
Hines will go down as one of the best home run hitters in school history. He beat out Bulldog great Rafael Palmeiro for the all-time record when he hit a home run against Missouri in the final series of the season. Hines finished his career as the only State player ever with 70 home runs.
The Madison Central alum hit 16 or more home runs in all four seasons with the Diamond Dawgs with three of those being 16 long balls. His best year was his sophomore season when he batted .297 with a career-high 22 home runs and 61 RBI. He hit 16 home runs and had 52 RBI as a freshman.
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The most underrated part of Hines game was his improvement as a defensive first baseman. After committing six errors during his sophomore and junior seasons, Hines had just one as a senior and became a stone wall for the Bulldogs defensively over at first.
The power hitter is the fourth former Diamond Dawg drafted in the first 10 rounds of the MLB Draft. He’s the first positional player as State has seen starting pitchers Pico Kohn, Evan Siary and Karson Ligon drafted. The Bulldogs also had transfer pitcher Davion Hickson drafted along with high school signees JoJo Parker and Landon Harmon taken.
