Mississippi Professional Athletes

Ole Miss in the Majors: October 13–17, 2026

Mississippi has long been a pipeline to professional baseball, and the 2026 season offered a fresh reminder — most notably in Toronto, where a former Rebel pitcher turned one of the sport's most pleasant rookie surprises of the year.

Spencer Miles Is Making the Blue Jays Think Hard

Spencer Miles didn't arrive in Toronto with a guaranteed role. He left with something far more valuable: a decision that the Blue Jays front office now has to make before Spring Training.

After an unexpected breakout rookie campaign, Miles has positioned himself squarely in the conversation for a permanent spot in Toronto's 2027 starting rotation, according to Sports Illustrated. That's not a throwaway line about upside — that's a franchise weighing a real roster commitment to a player who wasn't supposed to be a centerpiece this soon.

The details of Miles' season underscore how quickly the narrative shifted. Rookies who enter the league without clear roles typically spend their first year proving they belong. Miles apparently did more than that — he forced the organization into a genuine rotation calculus. For a Blue Jays club that has spent years trying to stabilize its pitching, that's not a small thing.

For Ole Miss fans, it's exactly the kind of late-career-emergence story the program has quietly become known for producing. The Rebels have sent a steady stream of arms to pro ball in recent drafts, and Miles looks like the one who may stick at the top of a major league rotation first.

Around the League

The Ole Miss alumni list in MLB is long, and while Miles dominated the narrative this week, a few other Rebels were in action.

Nick Fortes suited up for the Rays on Tuesday, October 13, as Tampa Bay dropped a 7–3 decision to Cleveland. Fortes, who has spent recent seasons establishing himself as a capable defensive backstop at the major league level, was in the lineup as the Rays navigated a difficult stretch. The result wasn't what Tampa wanted, but Fortes' continued presence on an MLB roster speaks to his durability and value behind the plate.

Elsewhere on the active alumni ledger, the Ole Miss pipeline remains impressively broad: Jackson Jobe is developing with the Tigers, Gunnar Hoglund is working his way through the Athletics' system, and veterans like Lance Lynn (Cardinals) and Drew Pomeranz (Cubs) continue to log innings at the big league level. The Rebels have players in nearly every division, a testament to the program's sustained ability to develop professional-caliber talent in Oxford.

Ole Miss has a horse in the postseason race, and his name is Nick Fortes.

The Rays officially named the former Rebel catcher to their 26-man ALDS roster ahead of Game 1 against the New York Yankees, giving Mississippi fans a front-row seat to October baseball. Tampa Bay earned the matchup the hard way — 98 wins, an AL East title, and a first-round bye that secured home-field advantage through the AL playoffs. Drew Rasmussen gets the ball for Game 1, with Fortes among the backstops tasked with guiding a pitching staff that carried the Rays to the top of the American League all season.

Fortes was hitting .258 heading into the postseason, with his most recent regular-season appearance coming in a 7-3 loss to Philadelphia on September 27. The stat line won't dazzle, but durability and game-calling matter more in October — and the Rays wouldn't have put him on a 26-man postseason roster if they didn't trust him in big moments. Fortes isn't the only Ole Miss arm in the Tampa Bay organization, either: Mason Nichols, another Rebel product, is on the Rays' pitching staff, though he was not included on the ALDS roster.

The Rest of the Rebels

While Fortes owns the spotlight this week, a few other Mississippi alums wrapped up their regular seasons with notable moments.

Lance Lynn, back in St. Louis at 39 years old, spent the year pitching through a Cardinals rebuild that went 77-85 and missed the postseason for the fourth straight year. That hasn't dimmed Lynn's voice on what comes next: the veteran right-hander is already sharing his read on how the Cardinals can shore up their rotation heading into 2026. Lynn's longevity and savvy have made him something of an organizational sounding board in St. Louis, even as the front office retooled around him.

Over in Pittsburgh, shortstop Jacob Gonzalez drew a walk in a 4-2 Pirates win over Detroit on September 27, closing out his season with a .220 average. Gonzalez hasn't exploded offensively yet, but he's gotten big-league reps at a position of need for a Pirates squad still searching for its identity.

Ryan Rolison turned in a quiet but solid final appearance of the season for the Cubs on September 30 — one inning of work with two strikeouts against San Diego in a loss. The lefty's season was marked by depth contributions out of the Chicago bullpen, and he'll head into the offseason with another year of service time banked.

The Big Picture

A dozen-plus Ole Miss alumni populate MLB rosters from Tampa Bay to Arizona to Pittsburgh, a depth of professional talent that reflects the program's sustained pipeline under the Swayze Field lights. But this October, the story belongs to Fortes. The Rays vs. Yankees ALDS sets up as one of the marquee clashes of the postseason, and a former Rebel will be crouching behind the plate for at least part of it. Not bad for a school whose football program usually commands the headlines in the fall.

Ole Miss fans who haven't been watching the AL East all season now have a very good reason to tune in.

The Series That Belonged to Oxford

When the Detroit Tigers and Pittsburgh Pirates met for the final series of the 2026 season, it quietly doubled as an Ole Miss reunion. Three Mississippi alumni — Tigers pitcher Jackson Jobe, Tigers reliever Jacob Waguespack, and Pirates shortstop Jacob Gonzalez — all saw action across the two-game stretch, and the Rebels made their presence felt on both sides of the ledger.

Jobe Closes Out His Season in Style

Jackson Jobe was the headliner. The Tigers' right-hander took the ball Friday night in Detroit and delivered exactly what Ole Miss fans have come to expect: five and a third innings, two earned runs, and eight strikeouts in an 8-7 Tigers win. Jobe earned the victory, gutting through a furious Pittsburgh late rally that nearly erased a comfortable early lead. His final ERA on the season sits at 3.91 — a legitimate mid-rotation number for a pitcher still ascending.

Prior to the game, Jobe had publicly praised Verlander, acknowledging the gravity of the moment for the franchise — with Tigers legend Justin Verlander set to make his farewell start the following afternoon.

Waguespack Holds His Own in Relief

Jacob Waguespack contributed on the other side of the Tigers' series win Saturday, tossing 1.1 innings of relief and recording two strikeouts. It was a tidy, low-leverage appearance to close out what has been a quietly strong season — Waguespack finished with a 2.49 ERA, a mark that reflects steady, dependable work out of the Detroit bullpen all year.

Gonzalez Provides the Pirates' Bright Spot

Jacob Gonzalez had the best day at the plate of any Ole Miss alum in the series. The Pirates shortstop went 1-for-the-day Saturday with a home run and an RBI in Pittsburgh's 4-3 win over Detroit — the kind of finish-strong moment that gives a hitter something to build on heading into the offseason. Gonzalez closed the season hitting .223, a number he'll want to improve on in 2027, but the home run in the finale was a bright note.

Around the League

A few other Rebels were active during the week. Nick Fortes continued to be one of the more reliable catchers in the American League, homering Friday for the Rays in a 2-0 shutout of the Phillies and finishing the season with a .262 average. Ryan Rolison had a mixed closing stretch for the Cubs, appearing in multiple games late in the week with middling results, though his 3.14 ERA reflects a useful season for Chicago's bullpen. Spencer Miles wrapped his promising campaign for the Blue Jays on a high note — one scoreless inning with two strikeouts against Cincinnati on Saturday — and has drawn praise from the Toronto organization as a potential rotation piece in 2027.