How Macnamee finally found his pro baseball home
STARKVILLE — Elijah Macnamee had his foot pressed on the pedal as he barreled northbound up U.S. Route 45 on Friday afternoon.
He was somewhere just south of the Mississippi-tennessee border when he let his mind wander a bit.
"Here I go," Macnamee thought. "This is what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm going to go get paid to do what I love."
A few nights before beginning his trek, Macnamee had no idea he'd soon pack his belongings and head north to become the newest member of the Evansville Otters, an independent professional baseball team based in Indiana that plays in the Frontier League.
Macnamee sat inside the batting cages at Dudy Noble Field with Mississippi State hitting coach Jake Gautreau. They had just finished a hitting lesson.
"He looked as good as ever," Gautreau said. For what? Macnamee had no idea. For the first time since he started playing ball as a kid, the Bulldog baseball legend had no team to call his own. He wasn't selected in the 2019 MLB Draft in early June. Many of his teammates were, and they've already started their pro careers with MLB affiliates across the country.
Jake Mangum is in New York playing for the Mets organization. As is Cole Gordon. Dustin Skelton and Colby White are also in the Empire State playing for Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays affiliates, respectively.
Marshall Gilbert is in Virginia with a Pittsburgh Pirates affiliate, and Keegan James is in Colorado with the Colorado Rockies organization. The list goes on, but Macnamee has been stuck in Mississippi ever since the Bulldogs lost in the College World Series last month.
Macnamee didn't have any definitive takers in free agency, either.
The player who captivated the hearts of one of the most fervent fan bases in all of college baseball didn't have a setin-stone plan to play professionally. It was seemingly the end of the road for 'Big Hit Mac.' Gautreau wouldn't let it be so. Still sitting in the cages, contemplating Macnamee's future, Gautreau suggested something Macnamee hadn't given much thought throughout the last month and a half.
"I think you should go to Evansville," Gautreau said.
The first phone call
Macnamee going undrafted in June was a shock to almost everyone.
It stunned Macnamee himself, of course. Here was a hitter with well over 100 RBIS in his three-year Mississippi State career, a guy who hit two walk-off home runs in the same NCAA postseason and a guy with a .441 career slugging percentage getting passed up for high schoolers and college football players who seemingly have no desire to ever step foot in a batter's box or on a pitcher's mound.
Gautreau had a hand in making Macnamee the player he is today. Naturally, he was dumbfounded that one of his best disciples didn't land in the draft.
"The last several weeks have been really rough on all of us," Gautreau said. "When you care about him as much as we do and believe in him as much as we do, we hurt with him."
It shattered Macnamee's mother's psyche. Here was a mom, Jennifer Horton, who watched her son blossom from an aspiring youth player in the Houston area to a standout junior college product to one of the most important players on a Division I powerhouse that appeared in back-to-back College World Series during his final two years there.
“As a mother, it’s a struggle knowing your son deserves more or better and not understanding why he didn’t get it even though he was being heavily scouted," Horton said. "It was the hardest thing.”
It even surprised Bobby Segal, the hitting coach for the Otters. Segal, who played at Indiana University from 200306 and has coached in college and professionally since 2008, called Mississippi State volunteer assistant Kyle Cheesebrough as soon as the draft concluded and it was clear Macnamee was not selected.
“I just reached out to Kyle and told him that if Elijah still has that taste in his mouth and wants to play professional baseball, let me know," Segal said. "I told him I would love to be his coach and hopefully get him on the right track.”
The waiting game
The Otters are in a league that operates independently from the MLB. It was never Macnamee's dream to play independent baseball. It's never really any young baseball player's dream to play it.
“I wasn’t even thinking about it," Macnamee said.
Instead of taking Segal up on the opportunity right away, Macnamee took some time off after Mississippi State's loss to Louisville on June 20. He went to Madison, Mississippi, with his girlfriend to get away from baseball for a few weeks.
"You could really tell how relaxed and stress free he was," said Ashley Holsenback, Macnamee's girlfriend. "It's always a good thing for him when he has that time to clear his mind."
“That downtime helped his brain and body," Horton added. "I think it also helped him realize that life is not always fair. He had to stay focused and positive about the things that he wants so that he can eventually get there.”
Macnamee returned to Starkville earlier this month to resume training with Gautreau with a new perspective. He started seriously thinking about playing in Evansville.
Macnamee fielded calls from Major League organizations in the weeks after the draft, but none of the teams ever had good news. They usually called to tell him that they had interest in him but could not offer him a spot on any of their rosters.
That's when Macnamee remembered something Segal told him directly after the draft.
“I pray that you get your free agent deal," Segal said. "I know how good of a player you are. But I’m always here for you if you need it.” Macnamee needed it indeed.
Two more phone calls
Still sitting with Gautreau in the batting cages early last week, Macnamee gave Segal a call. He didn't answer. He didn't return the call for nearly 24 hours.
“I was kind of getting nervous, Macnamee said. "I was like, ‘No way. I had this opportunity then all the sudden I don’t even have that anymore.’”
The night after his hitting session with Gautreau, Macnamee and Holsenback were walking into Newk's Eatery in Starkville when his phone finally rang.
It was Segal. Macnamee stepped back outside to talk.
"I wasn't sure what the Evansville coach was going to say so I was watching Elijah's facial expressions trying to figure out what was going on," Holsenback said. "I was just standing there by myself praying that he would get a chance, and he did. He came in after and told me he leaves in two days. His mood completely changed and he was so happy and just wanted to get there already."
After listening to Segal ask for his hat size and uniform dimensions, Macnamee spent the next 36 hours packing and getting ready to start the next chapter of his life. For a while, he didn't know if it included baseball. Now that he was assured it would, he was as relieved as ever.
“I’m very excited because I know that this was not my original path, but God’s plans are a lot different," Macnamee said. "I’m taking that in and understanding that. I’m so excited to go play out there. I know they’re excited to have me out there too.”
What the future holds
Macnamee knows he isn't taking the beaten path to the MLB. It's not certain he'll be able to climb out of the Frontier League and into a major league organization. But it isn't impossible. One of Segal's former players in Evansville, Josh Allen, lit up the Frontier League en route to claiming league MVP in 2016. He had a batting average of .354. Then he hit 15 home runs in 2017.
The following season, Segal and the Otters shipped Allen to the American Association to play for the St. Paul Saints. Segal figured he would get more attention from MLB scouts there. That much was true.
After starting the season in St. Paul, Allen shortly thereafter found himself playing with the likes of Tim Tebow for the New York Mets AA affiliate, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Segal has connections with many MLB scouts. He has helped players like Allen get noticed throughout his coaching career.
“Our job is to bridge guys and get them right back into affiliated leagues if they have been there and if not then to hopefully give them their first chance at playing affiliated baseball," Segal said.
A good fit
Success stories like Allen's don't happen overnight. Macnamee is, after all, only a few days removed from driving up highway 45 to join his new team in Florence, Kentucky. The Otters had a road series there this past weekend, and that's where Macnamee met them.
Macnamee took batting practice on Saturday and made his debut on Sunday. He went 1-for-3 and drove in the game-winning run via a sacrifice fly in a 5-4 Otters victory.
"Nobody should be surprised," Gautreau said.
At Friday night's game, Macnamee saw a familiar face on the opposing team. It was Johnathan Tripp, the 25year-old Florence Freedom closer. Tripp used to pitch for Texas Tech, and Tripp's father used to be Macnamee's youth coach.
“I think that kind of opened his eyes up," Segal said. "There’s definitely a load of talented players that have played at a high level of college baseball and are still playing independent, still trying to hang on for the love of the game and to hopefully to get picked up by an affiliated organization at some point.”
Macnamee took an open-minded approach into this new adventure. He said he expects the Otters fans to embrace him like Mississippi State fans did during his three seasons in Starkville, and he will return the admiration as he always has.
"We all know Elijah is definitely loved for his performance and his big hits, but he is even more loved for his smile and the genuine respect that he shows everyone at all times," Gautreau said.
Roaring like a lion
Macnamee's iconic smile gets even wider when he realizes that this is still professional baseball, albeit not at the level he thought he'd be playing at right out of school. He takes solace in the fact that he's getting paid to do what he loves, and he's going to give it everything he has as he pursues his passion.
The last thing Gautreau said to Macnamee before he left Mississippi stuck with him. Gautreau told him that though his path to the MLB isn't as clear cut as he once thought it'd be, it doesn't change anything about the player he is. Gautreau told Macnamee that when he is healthy and confident, "he's just as good as anyone."
“It’s not like my dreams are gone," Macnamee said. "It’s all there. It’s just a harder path. A different path. It depends on how hard I want to work, but I know how hard I do work so I’m just going to continue to do me and be who I am and enjoy it.”
Macnamee took Gautreau's words to heart, but it's an image he has inked over that heart of his that truly embodies the mental makeup he's had throughout this process. It's a tattoo of a lion. "He's starting to roar," Horton said, fighting back tears.
“I always told him that I couldn't wait until the day he roars so loud like a lion. I’m sure there are days when lions are hungry or they don’t feel good, but they always keep fighting. That’s how I see him. He’s just a complete overcomer. He could have easily thrown in the towel. He didn’t.”
Contact Tyler Horka at thorka@gannett.com. Follow @tbhorka on Twitter. To read more of Tyler's work, subscribe to the Clarion Ledger today!