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Mississippi State

Pico Kohn grabs MLB Draft selection with Yankees in fourth round

3rupauk8_400x400by: Robbie Faulk07/14/25RobbieFaulkOn3
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Pico Kohn (Photo by Mississippi State Athletics)

After deciding to come back to school for his fourth season at Mississippi State, LHP Pico Kohn is getting his chance at a professional baseball career.

The Alabama native saw his dream realized on Monday with a selection to the New York Yankees in the fourth round of the draft. Kohn turned down opportunities in the draft in 2024 and became State’s Friday night starter in 2025 after missing a large portion of his redshirt sophomore season.

Kohn is the 251st Diamond Dawg selected in the MLB Draft all-time, seventh among SEC teams.

After a standout career with Chilton County in high school, Kohn made an immediate impact with the Diamond Dawgs in the 2022 season. In a year where State struggled to pitch it, Kohn had some good moments as a true freshman. He pitched in 21 games with just two of those being starts and he was 2-2 with a 4.91 ERA while striking out 35 batters in 36.2 innings and surrendering 18 walks.

Kohn missed all of 2023 with an elbow injury that would require Tommy John surgery in the middle of the season, but he would make his way back to the mound in the middle of the 2025 season. Pitching coach Justin Parker did a good job of restoring Kohn’s arm and he also instilled some more confidence in him as he began to do some good things for State.

Entering the State pitching staff later on in the year, Kohn would throw in nine games with eight starts and he logged 29.1 innings while finishing with a 3.38 ERA. Kohn walked 11 batters and struck out 35 and he ended the year with one of his best performances as he threw 7.0 innings, gave up two earned runs and a walk and struck out eight batters in the season finale at the Charlottesville Regional against Virginia.

Kohn got a full season in 2025 and took over the Friday night job for Parker from the beginning. There were career highs across the board this season as he started 15 games and pitched 80.0 innings with 29 walks to 114 strikeouts. Opponents batted just .227 against Kohn and he finished with a 4.73 ERA.

Now, the talented lefty is getting a chance to take his talents to the next level. He’s the first State player to be drafted in 2025 but the Diamond Dawgs have had two signees taken to this point with Jojo Parker and Landon Harmon selected on Sunday.  

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