Hattiesburg’s Joe Gray made history Monday night by being drafted in the First-Year MLB Draft. The Milwaukee Brewers picked the outfielder and power bat with the 60th overall pick in the second round.
“Man, I haven’t felt this good in my life,” Gary said moments after being picked. “This is unreal. I absolutely was crying just a minute ago. This week has been on the scariest thing I’ve ever been through in my whole life. This is unreal.”
The selection has a $1,086,900 million slot value, but teams can wiggle a little bit with that number. He was also slated as the 61st overall prospect by MLB.com.
“So, the number had kind of opened up a little bit with them just a hair,” Gray said. “My agent called me and told me what the Brewers had for that pick, and I just went in the house and asked my mom and dad, ‘Is it yay or nay?’ We went ahead and with the ‘Yeah.’
“My legs are still shaking.”
There's a chance, at least for part of a season, that Gray will play less than 90 minutes south of Hattiesburg for the Brewers' Double-A affiliate, the Biloxi Shuckers, very soon.
“That is unreal,” he said. “I’m going to have the community and state of Mississippi behind me. I’m just ready to get the show on the road. I know I have a lot of work to do. I’m going to take care of it, I’m going to do what I have to do and at the end of the day, my goal is to be in the major league and be a hall of famer. Whatever I have to do to do that, I’m going to do it.”
Gray now has a decision to make. He signed with Ole Miss, the 2018 SEC Tournament Champions, in the fall, and if he chooses to roam the outfield for the Rebels, he won’t be eligible for the MLB draft until after his junior season in 2021.
While leading his team to a 5A State Championship, Gray hit .491 from the plate as a senior, and he added six homers, 16 doubles, five triples, 36 RBI and 60 runs. He capped off his five-year varsity career with a .454 average, 20 home runs, 146 RBI and 155 runs.
On top of his production from the plate, he locked down center field with a 0.976 fielding percentage. Hattiesburg’s home ballpark, Smokie Harrington Field, has a 455-foot center field, making it deeper than every major league field in the country.
Gray was named PineBeltSPORTS Player of the Year in 2016 and 2018 as a sophomore and senior.
Contract negotiations won't take place until after the conclusion of the draft later this week, Gray added.
“We have some room to think about it," he said. "We'll figure out what's the next move.”
