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‘Best available’ remains for Ole Miss baseball in transfer search

Ben Garrettby: Ben Garrett07/02/25SpiritBen
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Ole Miss assistants Carl Lafferty and Mike Clement

Ole Miss baseball is up to eight additions through the NCAA Transfer Portal. 

The Rebels aren’t necessarily done, either. 

Fortunately, though, they can be selective as the calendar flips to July and they prepare for the roster impact of the MLB Draft. Ole Miss has so far checked pretty much every box on its shopping list, including a bevy of left-handed pitchers and potential rotation options.

“That portal class from a year ago was huge for us,” Ole Miss hitting coach Mike Clement said on Monday. “We don’t win 43 games without them, and we feel like we’re off to a good start in the portal again this year.

“We’re excited about all five of the arms, but in particular the left-handers. We feel like we got two, really, front-line left-handers that can help us. One with SEC experience and the other coming off an injury but has huge upside. Really good, draft-pick-like upside. We definitely feel good about it.”

Murray State infielder Dom Decker was the latest land for the Rebels. 

He committed on Sunday following a visit to Oxford. The other new Rebels are Grant Richardson (LHP, Grand Canyon), Tristan Bissetta (outfielder, Clemson), Daniel Pacella (outfielder, Illinois State), Wil Libbert (LHP, Missouri), Marko Sipila (RHP, San Diego State), Owen Kelly (RHP, Saint Louis) and Landon Koenig (RHP, North Dakota State).

RELATED: Mangrum was key in Ole Miss landing high-upside Missouri LHP Wil Libbert

Clement was referencing Richardson and Libbert, in particular, as candidates for the weekend rotation. 

Richardson was the first portal commitment. He started out in the bullpen in 2024 before transitioning to a starter role. Richardson worked 50.2 innings and struck out 70 — the highest strikeout rate per nine innings in Grand Canyon history. 

Libbert threw more innings (53.2) than any other Missouri pitcher as a redshirt freshman last season. He started 11 of his 14 total appearances and finished the year with a. 6.04 ERA and 3-4 record.

Ace LHP Hunter Elliott has a season of eligibility remaining and could return, depending on the outcome of the 2025 MLB Draft, set for July 13-14.

“The biggest left-handed pitcher we could get back is one that was on our staff a year ago,” Clement said. “We’re hoping for that one. The draft is so fickle it’s really hard to know. But there’s no one that cares more about Ole Miss baseball than Hunter Elliott. He’s made that very well known to us. It’s going to have to be right for him to sign. If I were scouting for the Chicago Cubs it would be right. I’m clearly biased and have seen every pitch he’s thrown in college. I hope they miss him.”

Clement said Ole Miss is still evaluating more portal options but nothing is pressing.

“We’ve checked the boxes or filled the spots that had huge need for us,” he said. “With that said, we’re probably not done. We’d probably take one more position player and one more arm. The nice thing about being where we’re at is we’d like best available. We feel we have a chance to get best available if he’s out there. I would guess we’re probably not done yet, but we’re really happy with where our roster currently sits. But you never know.”

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