Jake Mangum, the all-time Southeastern Conference hits leader,, turned 29 earlier this month. He’s a young man, unless we’re talking about his baseball age. Baseball-wise, to use a golf analogy, he’s making the turn and heading to the back nine.
Mangum, perhaps the most popular player in Mississippi State history, now has played five seasons in the minor leagues for three different Major League franchises without getting a chance to play in a big league regular season game. The Tampa Bay Rays last November placed Mangum on their 40-man Major League roster, but they can only keep 26 to begin the regular season. Every projection I’ve seen does not include Mangum in that number. And, frankly, this long-time baseball observer does not understand why.
A switch-hitter, Mangum has hit at every level. He runs the bases exceedingly well. He is an outstanding fielder, who can play any of the three outfield positions with remarkable range and a strong, accurate arm. From all accounts, he is a team player, indeed a leader.
But Mangum is also walking, talking, line drive-hitting proof of how Big League baseball has morphed over the years. It is now all about power, all about the long ball.
When I talked to Mangum Tuesday, he was enjoying only his second day off this spring training at the Tampa Bay Rays facility in downtown St. Petersburg. Ten days away from the Rays’ season opener, Mangum does not know whether he would begin the regular season with the Major League club – or back in Class AAA with the Durham Bulls.
“Obviously, I really hope to be in the Major Leagues on opening day,” he said. “But I don’t control that. If I’m back in Triple A, I’ll keep working, keep hitting and believing that good things will happen.”
Know this: Mangum has done everything within his power to make his Major League dream come true. Look at the numbers.
Yes, look at the numbers. As this is written, Mangum has hit .429, having played in 15 of the Rays’ 20 spring training games. He has hit safely in 12 of 28 at bats, with three doubles and two home runs. He leads the Rays in runs batted in with nine. And, yes, that’s a small sample size, but Mangum’s stats are far better than any of the projected Rays’ outfield starters. Center fielder Jonny DeLuca has hit .188 with no extra base hits. (DeLuca hit .217 with the Rays last season.) Mangum would hit better than .188 cross-handed.
Again, the knock on Mangum has always been that he doesn’t hit for power. (He has hit 24 home runs, 101 doubles and 21 triples over five minor league seasons.) But he has worked his tail off to build muscle and add pop. This past Sunday, Mangum smashed two home runs and drove in four runs in a victory over the Washington Nationals.
“First time I’ve homered twice in one game in my life, all the way back to little league,” Mangum said. “Best thing about it, I hit one to the pull side and the other to the opposite field.”
Mangum, dating back to his days at Jackson Prep and then Mississippi State, always has used the whole field from both sides of the plate. Pitch him inside, and he’ll pull it down the line for extra bases. Pitch him away, he’ll go to the opposite field. That hasn’t changed, except for the fact that he is added muscle and therefore bat speed.
“Every year, you get a little stronger,” Mangum said. “I’ve been training hard, working on my body. Look, baseball is hard, hitting a baseball against Major League pitching is really, really difficult.
“It’s such a challenging game, but I feel really good at the plate right now,” Mangum said. “I am not trying to hit home runs. I am just trying to hit the ball hard on a line as many times as I can. If I get under it a little and it goes out, that’s great, too.”
Mangum says he has a good relationship with Rays manager Kevin Cash, who he calls “a winner.”
And Cash has had good things to say about Mangum, praising his defense, his ntensity, his hitting and his persistence. “Those guys that stick at it, trying to get that opportunity to make their mark in the big leagues, it’s easy to root for them. It’s easy to pull for them,” Cash told Adam Berry, who covers the Rays for mlb.com.
Said Mangum, “I’m doing what I love and I’ll do it as long as they’ll let me. I love baseball.”
Surely, someday, hopefully soon, baseball will love him back.
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