Mississippi State Head Coach Brian O'Connor during the Brian O'Connor Welcome Event at Dudy Noble Field at Polk-Dement Stadium in Starkville, MS. / Mississippi State Athletic
While we wait for Mississippi State's football team to complete its closed scrimmage and coach Jeff Lebby's post-scrimmage press conference where he'll repeatedly say something about needing to watch the film first, the baseball team has provided us with something to hold us over.
The Bulldogs' 2026 recruiting class received a boost Saturday morning with former Virginia commit Zach Geertsma, a short stop from New Jersey, announcing his commitment to Mississippi State via Instagram.
He won't be apart of the 2026 Bulldogs, but the addition of a highly-rated high school player only reinforces how much of a home run hire Brian O'Connor was.
Geertsma is the fifth high school player to commit to Mississippi State after originally being committed to Virginia. The others are: catcher Hunter Strohm, shortstop Noah Danza, RHP Daniel Nienaber and outfielder Michael Hanna.
Mississippi State's roster is already at a championship-caliber level for the upcoming season, thanks in large part to the former Virginia players that followed O'Connor Starkville via the transfer portal.
Left-handed pitcher Tomas Valincius and outfielder Aidan Teel were two of the highest rated players in the transfer portal. Also, former Cavaliers James Nunnallee, Chone James and William Kirk followed O'Connor to Starkville.
Perhaps the most important former Virginia commit to come to Starkville instead is LHP Jack Bauer, who holds the record for highest recorded fastball velocity for a high school pitcher at 103 miles per hour.
But O'Connor wasn't made the second-highest paid SEC coach to have just one great season. The expectations are for multiple great seasons (great = a trip to Omaha).
That's why Geertsma's announced is noteworthy. He's a talented shortstop that posted a .453 batting average with 443 this, 43 runs, 33 RBI and eight home runs as a junior. Additionally, his team went undefeated last season.
Shortstop was a position of need for the Bulldogs that was addressed by the transfer portal addition of Drew Wyers, but planning for the future, Geertsma is a great addition.