Mississippi State pitching signee won’t sign MLB contract, will play for Bulldogs instead
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The Mississippi State pitching staff just got a lot better — and a lot taller — for the 2027 season.
Bulldogs signee Denton Lord announced on Instagram on Sunday that he’ll be playing in Starkville next season and won’t be signing an MLB contract. Lord’s announcement on social media came after the fifth round of the MLB Draft on Sunday in Philadelphia.
The 6-foot-8 Lord, a prized right-hander from Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., who pitched South Walton to the Class 3A championship in the Sunshine State, was rated as the No. 80 prospect in this weekend’s MLB Draft. Later Sunday, Lord was selected in the 17th round (515th overall pick) by the San Diego Padres.
But Lord had already made clear earlier Sunday that he would be pitching in the SEC next season and not heading to the pros, regardless of which franchise selected him.
Lord’s fastball will be an immediate threat for Mississippi State in 2027, as it averages around 94 miles per hour and tops out at 98 mph. He’s als known for having a dangerous curveball and changeup, which the Bulldogs will be seeing soon enough as Lord gets ready to leave the state of Florida for the SEC in 2027.
For a while, it looked like Lord was going to stay in the Sunshine State and head to Gainesville, but he flipped his commitment from Florida to Mississippi State last November as Brian O’Connor was launching his first season in Starkville.
Lord’s announcement on Sunday provided more good news for the Bulldogs, who also found out that shortstop signee Noah Danza withdrew from the MLB Draft before it even began.
Now, Lord and Danza won’t be eligible for the draft again until 2029.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
