Feature Photo from Sidelines archive
Story by Willie Phaler
Jaden Hamm, a right-handed former pitcher for Middle Tennessee baseball is now playing professionally and has seen success at the beginning of his young career.
The hot start to Hamm’s days in pro ball has been headlined by winning pitcher of the year in the Advanced-A Midwest League.
A three-year pitcher at Middle Tennessee, Hamm was drafted in the fifth round, 143rd overall by the Detroit Tigers.
Hamm chose to play college ball in Murfreesboro with professional baseball in mind, along with a path to being able to play as a freshman. Hamm credits much of his success to former Middle Tennessee pitching coach Kyle Bunn.
“Bunn had a good track record of coaching guys that got drafted and I wanted to learn from him at MTSU,” Hamm said of his former coach.
Hamm had a very successful career for the Blue Raiders, sporting a 4.56 ERA across 150 total innings in three years. Hamm was named to an All-Conference USA team twice in his career, being awarded second-team honors in 2022 and first-team honors in 2023.
The success Hamm had while in blue and white gave him a glimpse of what he was capable of.
“Receiving those C-USA awards stood out,” said Hamm. “I thought maybe I’m making an impact because other coaches are seeing that.”
Hamm didn’t quit earning honors once he got to pro ball. In his first full season in the Midwest League for the Advanced-A West Michigan Whitecaps, Hamm earned Pitcher of the Year along with Pitcher of the Month for April. Hamm was also named to the postseason all-star team for the league.
Outside of official league awards, Hamm earned honors from many baseball publications such as MLB Pipeline and Baseball America. Hamm is the seventh-ranked prospect in the Tigers organization according to Pipeline. Baseball America ranks him as the second-ranked pitcher in the system and the 100th-ranked prospect in all minor league baseball.
“It is awesome getting all these awards and that writers who do this for a living are putting my name out there,” Hamm said.
Hamm’s awards came off the back of his wonderful 2024 season. With Advanced-A West Michigan, Hamm had a 2.64 ERA, with 122 strikeouts in 99 innings across 24 games.
One of the things Hamm points out as being a part of his professional success is a change in mentality with the level of competition.
“You can be humbled really quick because you are facing professional hitters every day,” Hamm said. “I’ve learned that I cannot get behind in the count and have to go at these guys with my best weapons.”
Hamm also mentioned that he feels the level of competition he has seen in his time between low-a and high-a has not been that different from the C-USA competition he saw while at Middle Tennessee.
He believes Middle Tennessee baseball has achieved a culture of players getting drafted and succeeding professionally. He credits this partly to former Middle Tennessee teammate Aaron Brown, who was drafted by the Houston Astros in 2021.
“It opened my eyes my freshman year when I saw Aaron get drafted,” Hamm said.
Hamm may be on to something, as MTSU has five alums currently playing in affiliated ball.
“Our culture is to try and develop guys,” MTSU head coach Jerry Meyers said. “We want guys to stay here and get better.”
Even if pro ball doesn’t work out for everyone, the goal is to always give players a chance to make it there.
“It is not always a perfect trajectory,” Meyers said. “It’s my job to help players get better and the whole staff is that way.”
While Hamm has been developing in the minor leagues, his parent organization, the Detroit Tigers has been on the up and up, including an unexpected run in the MLB postseason.
“It lit a fire within the organization,” Hamm said of the playoff run.
With the Tigers seeing a major spark of success this past season, Hamm believes that Spring Training next year will have a different feel.
“It’s going to be different when we go back to spring training because they [the Tigers] are going to expect the best out of everyone,” Hamm said. “There’s going to be a lot more opportunity because of what was established last year.”
Willie Phaler is a sports reporter for MTSU Sidelines
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