SARASOTA, Fla. — When it comes to college baseball, there’s nothing like the Southeastern Conference.
Each of the six schools with the highest attendance during the 2023 season resided in the SEC, led by LSU (447,527), Arkansas (370,940) and Mississippi State (332,838). The atmosphere is electric and the competition intense, which makes it no surprise that many of the top prospects in each MLB draft class come from the decorated league.
In 2020, the Orioles owned two first-round draft picks and used them to select players out of the SEC: Arkansas outfielder Heston Kjerstad and Mississippi State shortstop Jordan Westburg. Though they didn’t know each other personally, they overlapped as conference rivals for three years and grew familiar with each other’s game.
“I didn’t know Heston that well when we got drafted,” Westburg said. “I just knew we played against each other and spent a little bit of time together during the USA trials our sophomore summers. But it was cool, [another] alumnus of the SEC, that’s cool. Getting to know him now. Obviously, a great person, a great baseball player.”
Baseball draws talent from all over the world, but few nonprofessional levels simulate the kind of crowds players can expect when they get to the major leagues. Even the biggest SEC stadiums only have a maximum capacity of 15,000 — less than one-third of Camden Yards’ capacity of nearly 46,000 — but the high energy of college crowds still offers one of the loudest environments in amateur sports.
“It was a lot of fun,” Kjerstad said. “Mississippi State and Arkansas have unreal fan bases, great crowds and everything, so being able to play in that almost gives you a little mini effect of hopefully what’s coming in the future. Still doesn’t compare to a big league stadium and big league crowd, but it’s definitely a lot of fun when you’re in college to be able to have an atmosphere like that.”
In the years since they’ve left the SEC, much has changed across the college sports landscape. Name, image and likeness (NIL) has allowed student-athletes to profit from their success, and the transfer portal has become a form of leverage for players to use in deciding which school to attend. While big crowds are as common as ever, Westburg believes SEC programs, and college sports as a whole, are headed in the wrong direction.
“When they first came out with NIL or allowed it, I was like good for those guys, that’s good for college baseball,” Westburg said. “I know that I would have loved to get some free meals when I was a college student, but now I think it’s ruining college sports. I really do. I think it’s out of control. I think that it’s ruining the competitiveness. I think it’s ruining programs. I think that it’s enabling players who are only caring about themselves and money to play an amateur sport. That’s what the professionals are for, right?
“For me, because there was no NIL, I went to the school that I wanted to play for because of the atmosphere, because of the history, because of the culture that was instilled there. The Mississippi State teams I think of before my time were gritty, bulldog-style baseball, find a way to get it done. Now when you think of a lot of these good college baseball teams, it’s who has the highest payroll? Who gets the most amount of transfers?”
Kjerstad and Westburg were on track to start their professional careers together as Orioles prospects, but Kjerstad’s career was put on hold when he was diagnosed with the heart condition myocarditis shortly after being drafted. The young outfielder missed the entire 2021 season and didn’t make his professional debut until after his 23rd birthday.
As a result, Westburg moved ahead of him through the organizational ranks before reaching the majors in 2023. He wasn’t up long before Kjerstad caught up, however. The latter made his debut only two and a half months after Westburg. Both made strong impressions during their first tastes of the majors last season and earned invitations to spring training, where they have lockers next to each other in the Orioles’ clubhouse.
“He’s a great guy, good guy to have in the locker room, good guy to talk to, same age, same path going through college and everything,” Kjerstad said. “So, we can relate or talk about our journeys together so it’s always nice to have someone that’s [on] the same path as you so that way y’all know each other’s stories.”
As the Orioles evaluate who to carry on their 26-man roster for opening day, both Westburg and Kjerstad are strong candidates to make the team. After spending their college career competing against one another for conference titles, they have the chance to establish themselves at the major league level as integral players in the Orioles’ long-term plans.
