Ross was ‘perfect’ final off-season piece, now likely slotted for middle of Ole Miss batting order
Ole Miss baseball on Saturday (October 14) hosts Jacksonville State for its first exhibition of the fall intrasquad season.
Expect to see FAU transfer slugger Jackson Ross penciled right smack dab in the middle of the order.
Ross was the final addition for the Rebels in an off-season portal haul that was among the best in the country. Ole Miss also brought in, among others, Duke transfer third baseman Andrew Fischer and Coastal Carolina left-hander Liam Doyle.
Ross started all 59 games for FAU last season and was a first-team All-CUSA selection. He hit .345 with 14 home runs, 20 doubles and 50 RBI.
“It was a perfect piece,” Ole Miss hitting coach Mike Clement said, “because we were pretty left-handed-hitting dominant, and (pitching coach Carl Lafferty) and I talked a lot about, ‘Man, we’d love a middle-of-the-order, right-handed bat.’
“That’s easier said than done. He came open, and we were able to beat Florida to get him.”
Ross through three weeks of scrimmages has six home runs and seven walks in 32 plate appearances.
He’s officially recorded 24 at-bats and only struck out once. His on-base-plus-slugging is pushing 2.000. Ross last season slugged .605 with a 1.042 OPS and .437 on-base. He had a FAU-high 26 multi-hit games and homered in six of the final eight.
“He’s an incredibly mature hitter (and) doesn’t chase,” Clement said. “Strike-zone discipline like (now-former Ole Miss shortstop Jacob Gonzalez). He’s a right-handed hitter, far different player, but disciplined to take the balls and swing at the strikes like Jacob was. Incredibly mature.
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“He’s been not even as-advertised; he’s been better than we expected. He’s been special. The thing that’s most impressive to me about him — because we knew he had power, we knew he could hit — that doesn’t goes into slumps, really, is the ability to walk. When you have a power-type hitter that’s going to have a lot of extra-base hits (and) doesn’t swing and miss a ton, at our level, that’s rare.
“He’s going to be that guy.”
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Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco typically slots his best all-around hitter in the three-hole.
Ross, then, certainly seems as well-suited as anyone to handle the duties come Jacksonville State and moving forward.
Positionally, however, Ross is more unsettled. He’s likely ticketed for first base or an outfield corner. Arizona State transfer Luke Hill is at short, with Fischer at third and returning slugger Ethan Lege at second.
“Jackson Ross is probably going to be one of the older players in the SEC,” Clement said. “From Lakeland, Florida. Junior college, FAU, to here. He probably got overlooked because (FAU first baseman Nolan Schanuel) was like the 11th pick in the draft and the (Los Angeles) Angels sent him to the Big Leagues, basically.
“(Ross) probably went a little more under the radar — until he came here. And then, because of, obviously, the following of our program and all that, I think people’s eyes were opened up to what he is.”
