‘See you at Swayze’: Hunter Elliott is back for a final Ole Miss baseball season
Veteran left-handed pitcher Hunter Elliott announced Thursday he’s returning for one final Ole Miss baseball season.
Ole Miss went into the 2024 MLB Draft hoping to build out its pitching staff for next season by keeping a handful of veterans from signing. The Rebels did just that.
Ole Miss had unexpected, and significant, freed-up NIL dollars following the departures of Andrew Fischer and Liam Doyle, who are both now at Tennessee. Those dollars were earmarked, in part, for aggressive bids to retain Mason Nichols, Riley Maddox, Elliot and/or Connor Spencer.
Ole Miss went 4 for 4.
Nichols and Maddox quickly announced their respective returns. Elliot was expected back, despite being taken by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 20th round of the draft a little over a week ago. Spencer is back to serve again as Ole Miss’ primary closer, even as he was drafted in the same round (16th, by the Oakland Athletics) as Xavier Rivas (New York Yankees). Rivas was always considered a toss-up, but he’s since signed, cementing his departure.
Elliott was a freshman All-American in helping Ole Miss to its first-ever national championship in the summer of 2022. He’s made just two starts since, however. An elbow injury and subsequent surgery forced him to miss all of last season.
See you at Swayze pic.twitter.com/Z1QA2nEs0F
— Hunter Elliott (@elliotthunter10) July 25, 2024
Elliott finished second on the team in ERA and strikeouts last he pitched.
He also had a 5-3 record with a 2.70 ERA in his first college season. He was 2-0 with 28 Ks and four runs allowed in the postseason.
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Ole Miss landed Tampa transfer RHP Alex Canney earlier this month over Florida and Oklahoma. Decorated signees Cade Townsend and Owen Paino are officially in the the fold for next season as well.
Other notable off-season additions for Ole Miss include: Kentucky catcher Austin Fawley; JUCO two-way JP Robertson; outfielders Isaac Humphrey (Louisville), Mitchell Sanford (UNO) and Ryan Moerman (Illinois); and Illinois State infielder Luke Cheng.
Elliott, though, could end up being the biggest addition of all. He underwent Tommy John surgery to repair the damaged UCL in his pitching elbow in May of 2023.
